One day with the SCiP Alliance Impact Centre: Developing an outcomes framework that meets the needs of Forces children

Recently, we took a step back from our day-to-day work to think about the bigger picture – with help from a friend.

We were privileged to host Dr. Liam Satchell, Director of the Impact Centre at Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance.

The SCiP Alliance leads collaborative work within the Armed Forces sector ‘to build a stronger evidence-base, better policy, and enhanced support for Service children’s education and progression.’

Partnership is an integral goal of our three-year strategy. As a partner of the SCiP Alliance, we’re committed to the success of the Impact Centre. Our session with Liam inspired valuable reflections on what we do and how we can better measure our impact.

We’d encourage others in the UK-wide SCiP Alliance to make use of this fantastic resource.

The Impact Centre

Developing a robust impact framework

Liam’s expertise and passion for evaluation sparked fresh ideas about how we talk about our work and measure our success.

We began by thinking about our goals – what we want to see for babies, children and young people from Forces families – and the values underpinning our work:

• ‘Working with, not for, children and young people’
• ‘Building confidence to share lived experiences’

We took account of our key activities and how we currently monitor our impact. It was, in turns, encouraging to reflect on what we’re doing right and inspiring to think about how we can better evidence the work we do.

What outcomes do we want to see?

We’re proud of what we accomplished in 2024–2025, delivering tangible results across our existing outcomes framework.

Looking ahead, our work will be guided by the meaningful participation of Forces children, ensuring we deliver on the overarching goal of our 2025–2028 strategy: ‘Hear Us. Involve Us. Support Us.’

This session encouraged us to think deeply about how monitoring and evaluation can support this goal:

• How do we capture outputs that reflect increased confidence, belonging, empowerment and rights awareness?
• How can we evidence both the ‘hard’ goals we must report on and the ‘soft’ outcomes that matter most to Forces children?

These are difficult (or as Liam put it, ‘metaphysical’) questions, but asking them will help us become the best version of ourselves.

With support from mission partners and our dedicated team, we feel confident that we can accomplish our goals for 2028 and beyond.