Impact assessment framework for projects under arts in education program of Indian foundation of arts (IFA)

Abstract

Indian Foundation for the Arts (IFA) is an independent, professionally managed, philanthropic organization which aims to enrich the practice, knowledge, public access to, and experience of the arts in India, by providing strategic support for innovative projects and capacity building across different arts. IFA runs multiple grant programs, Arts In Education (AIE) being a prominent initiative under the IFA umbrella which is concerned to enhance the role of arts in education. The objective of the project is to structure an impact assessment framework which IFA can employ to assess the performance of the programs it provides monetary support to under the AIE program. IFA is currently funding a significant grant to Bhartiya Gyan Vigyan Mission (BGVM), to continue where a pilot project ended. In order to evaluate the performance of BGVM to justify the grant, an impact assessment framework needs to be developed which would lay down key criteria and appraisal tools needed for this exercise. The study started out with detailed interviews held with key personnel at IFA, Ms. Arundhati and Mr. Sanjay. This was followed up with in-depth study of various documents related to the pilot project as well as the current proposed project, including project proposal and final report for the pilot project. Grants made by IFA in the past under the AIE initiative were also studied, which has helped the team to consolidate the learnings from these past experiences. A field trip to Chamrajanagara district was conducted, where the pilot project has been operationalized. The study resulted in the evolution of a generic framework which can be applied to Arts in Education program after incorporating project specific details. Three critical dimensions were identified under this framework along which the impact assessment should be carried out, namely the Project specific criteria, Project externalities as well as Value for IFA. Together, these three dimensions cover various yardsticks exhaustively which can be employed to assess the impact of Arts in Education programs. The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude towards the entire IFA management for taking out time for team discussions as well as providing vital inputs towards development of the evaluation framework. The team is also thankful to Prof. Ramnath Narayanswamy for providing this learning opportunity.