Outcome strength + partnership strength = impact

About CIAT

The City of Melton’s Community Learning Board commissioned the Collective Impact Assessment Tool (CIAT) to evaluate and track learning city or learning community progress and the collective impact being made on priority areas for action. CIAT is designed to be practical, manageable, and relevant for local governments or any organisations that utilise partnerships to deliver strategic priorities and projects. This could include smaller single focus projects or larger multidimensional social or economic ventures for communities, for example Council Plans or Community Learning Plans.

The Collective Impact Assessment Tool generates consistent numerical data about subjective findings. This data can carry equal weight as other research and data sources utilised by local governments and organisations. CIAT calculates how well a partnership delivers on its priority project outcomes or goals. It measures the level of engagement and the level of contribution each partner makes individually and collectively. It also rates how well a project has gone in achieving its outcome measures and its sustainability. These are visually represented on a collective impact assessment graph. The ability to measure the impact of partnership projects is of increasing importance as local governments and organisations recognise the positive economic and social benefits of engaging a community in lifelong learning.