About the Scorecard
The term good practice is increasingly applied to any new integration initiative or activity seeking to foster inclusion—often with little reflection for why it is classified as such, or what demonstrable impact has been achieved. Good practicehasemerged as a pivotal concept in refugee integration and inclusion, but little guidance and few tools exist to assess various approaches, quantify impact, and designate good practices as such by local practitioners.
This scorecardseeks to address this gap by proposing a set of clear and measurable indicators linked to the key concepts and dimensions outlined in the handbook Effective inclusion of refugees - Participatory approaches for practitioners at the local level. The tool is easily accessible and broadly applicable.
The scorecard allows local actors to quickly identify where their initiatives stand in terms of applying the different dimensions for refugee inclusion outlined in the handbook. It can help practitioners understand strengths, needed course-correction, andareas for improvement over time.
Moreover, the scorecard provides a lens through which we can assess whether activities meet basic thresholds to be classified as good practice. No practice is without flaws and measuring impact can be an imperfect science. By breaking down indicators and key criteria for different dimensions, the tool helps define which aspects might be considered good practice—and whether the sum of these parts then allows an initiative a designation of good practice. We suggest that a a minimum score of 66 to 75% is needed for an individual dimension to be considered good practice. For an overall initiative or activity to be classified as good practice, an overall total score of 70% is desirable, with each of the individual dimensions having met the minimum established thresholds.
Dimension 1
Inclusivity & Participation - Indicators
Does the practice ensure that its services are accessible to diverse groups?
Secures equal opportunities to its target groups (women and men of all ages, LGBTI depending on the specific target group, persons with disabilities and specific needs);
Adopts a participatory, gender mainstreaming, diversity and age sensitive inclusive approach;
Ensures that equality and diversity are an essential part of how services are delivered, taking into consideration the different needs and capacities;
Provides relevant information on the initiative in diverse languages and formats and communication channels, ensuring and age, gender and diversity approach the intended audience;
Makes reasonable adjustments in the way it delivers services to take into account particular needs of the target group (e.g providing childcare for (single) parents, specific adjustments for disabled persons, providing flexible services at flexible hours, adapted and informal support for refugees.
Does the practice involve active participation of the receiving society?
Considers integration as a two-way process and aims at changes also on the side of the receiving society (behaviour, norms, institutions);
Foresees an active role of the receiving society in its implementation (e.g. volunteers);
Involves actions to support exchanges with the receiving society.
Does the practice consult its beneficiaries and involve them in the assessment, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the action?
Organizes regular consultation activities with refugees to ensure their inputs throughout the programme cycle, from the assessment to the evaluation;
Provides beneficiaries with a small compensation to facilitate the consultations;
Provides appropriate feedback mechanisms for beneficiaries to safely express their opinions about the quality of services.
Dimension 2
Relevance & Complementarity - Indicators
Are the objectives of the practice relevant to the needs of the target groups?
identifies and analyzes the needs of the target group through:
Interviews/focus groups with target group;
Desk research;
Surveys.
Does the practice fill a gap in integration support?
Identifies and analyzes existing gaps in integration support and designs actions to fill these gaps;
Complements existing measures by building upon and coordinating with these;
Works with beneficiaries from the onset to develop a long-term integration plan and to facilitate the transition to mainstream social protection, integration and inclusion programmes.
Does the practice consult its beneficiaries and involve them in the assessment, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the action?
employs/refers to relevant guidance and tools at:
National;
EU/international level.
Does the practice lead to a systemic improvement, addressing the needs of a majority of the target group in the target area
Contributes to the strengthening of the capacities of refugees/their communities;
Contributes to the strengthening of the capacities of relevant institutions to support integration (e.g. policy or strategy change; legislative reform; institutional reforms; governance reforms; increased accountability for public expenditures; or improved processes for public consultations);
Addresses discrimination and information gaps as obstacles to long-term integration;
The practice is scalable and includes concrete plans for expansion.
Dimension 3
Effectiveness - Indicators
To what extent are/were the objectives of the practice realistic, monitored, evaluated and achieved?
Achieves its intended results with concrete outputs and outcomes;
Has a clear results framework that facilitates measuring outcomes and impact, with SMART indicators;
Potential risks have been factored into programme design;
Systematically gathers key performance data for regular monitoring and analysis;
Assesses and reviews what progress the practice has made towards achieving its objectives;
Analyses if its interventions contribute to the long-term sustainable changes in integration field.
Dimension 4
Sustainability - Indicators
Has the practice utilized its benefits after the completion of the action?
Prepares and applies a well-defined phase-out plan to ensure sustainable positive changes and use of the products/results of the action.
Does the practice attract structural funding, support from new sponsors or generate its own resources?
Establishes partnerships and relations with relevant stakeholders as integral part of the action to ensure strong support to continue after the primary funding terminates;
Diversifies funding sources and identifies new EU and national funding opportunities for long-term integration (e.g shifting or planning to shift from project-based initiatives that are limited in time, dependent on one (external) donor, to a comprehensive multi-year integration strategy based on secured funding or diverse funding opportunities);
Makes sure that the human resources, expertise and infrastructure are in place to sustain the services at the end of the action.
Dimension 5
Partnership & Cooperation - Indicators
Does the practice have any strategy to establish communication and coordination with other relevant actors to foster the integration of refugees and migrants? (e.g civil society, public authorities, private sector)
Ensures the involvement and participation of key stakeholders in its development phase;
Has developed and implements a strategy to involve them in the action.
Does the practice contribute to discussions on improvement of integration support policies?
Contributes to the development of comprehensive integration strategies involving national/regional/local authorities, service providers and civil society;
Makes sure to work in coordination with relevant partners (local authorities, NGOs, social partners, research, institutions, et c.) to jointly review operations, practices, services and integration outcomes.
Results
Dimension 1
points: 1
50%
Dimension 2
points: 2
50%
Dimension 3
points: 3
50%
Dimension 4
points: 4
50%
Dimension 5
points: 4
50%