Child poverty pathfinders - early implementation process: evaluation

Appendix 2: Interview topic guides

Partner interview topic guide

About the interviewee

• Can you tell me your job title and where you currently work?

Section 1: Context

• What are the current aims and priorities of the Pathfinder? Prompts: What changes are the Pathfinders intended to make to the way child poverty support is offered in the area? -
• What activities do the Pathfinders engage in? Prompts: What new or different forms of support are being delivered at a local level through the two Pathfinders?
• Who does the Pathfinder work with? Prompts: Priority groups? Which communities?

Section 2: Development of Pathfinders

• How do you feel the partnership is working and developing so far? Prompts: Is everyone on the same page, sharing the same commitment, committed to the success of the Pathfinder? -
• How did the Pathfinder decide on its focus and activities? Prompts: How did you find that development/decision making process? Do partners share the same visions and objectives?
• To what extent do you feel that the Pathfinder has been informed by existing evidence of what works on tackling child poverty? Prompts: What key evidence was influential? How was evidence identified and fed into the development of the Pathfinder?
• Are there any obvious gaps in existing evidence about what works in tackling child poverty that you have identified through this process? -
• How do you understand the concept of person-centred support and place-based approaches? Is this influencing service design and delivery?
• How did you find the development of the Pathfinder so far in terms of the way the partnership was set up? Prompts: What do you feel worked well and less well about its development/establishment? Why was that?
• Do you feel the Pathfinder has been adequately resourced through? Has it been adequately funded? Has there been adequate contribution of time from staff? Has there been adequate contribution from senior staff within the partnership organisations?

Section 3: Engagement with Partners and Stakeholders

• To what extent do you feel that the necessary stakeholders are engaged and informed in the Pathfinder? Prompts: If the right stakeholders aren't engaged why do you feel that is? Is there anything that needs to be done differently to engage those stakeholders?
• To what extent do you feel that the required partners are around the table? Are there any missing that you feel it would be important to consider as a partner instead of a stakeholder?
• Who are the partners involved in the Pathfinder? Prompts: What roles do they play? What does the staffing structure look like, and who does what?

Section 4: Governance arrangements

• Could you describe to me a bit about how the governance of the Pathfinder works at the moment? Prompts: How do you find this? How do you expect it to evolve over time?
• How well do you think the governance arrangements work? Prompts: do you think the governance arrangements allow for identifying and implementing the direction of the Pathfinders?

Section 5: The Future and Sustainability

• What would you say are the key success criteria for making a Pathfinder work?
• What are the key challenges to overcome for making a Pathfinder work? Prompts: What advice would you have for other areas looking to develop a Pathfinder? -
• Do you feel that the Pathfinder has been adequately resourced? Prompts: Has there been adequate contribution of time from staff? Has there been adequate contribution from senior staff within the partnership organisations? -

Section 6: Pathfinders fit within the broader service landscape

• What has been helpful in creating a joined-up system? -
• What has been challenging about creating a joined-up system?
• What changes have been implemented within local systems to facilitate the alignment of services as part of the Pathfinder? What changes have worked well in creating this join-up and why? What has worked less well and why?
• To what extent is there a clear understanding in Dundee/Glasgow about the efforts to tackle child poverty and the various stakeholders/services/support available? Prompts: Why do you think that?
• Are there any obvious gaps in provision with tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow?
• Are there any obvious challenges in provision with tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow?
• How do you feel the Pathfinder activity fits within existing provision in the area/city? Do you feel the Pathfinder is contributing to systems change? What has been the impacts so far on the connections between services in the local area?
• How important do you think the Pathfinder is for tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow? Prompts: To what extent is it able to contribute to filling the gaps/addressing the challenges to tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow? To what extent do you feel that the Pathfinder activity complements or competes with other organisations trying to address child poverty in the area/city?

Section 7: Support offered to families

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of delivery at the local level? Prompts: What is working well and what could be improved in the delivery of the Pathfinders at this early stage?
• Do you feel that the Pathfinder is reaching eligible families/families in poverty? Who has and hasn't been reached? Have priority family groups received support? Why and why not?
• How does the Pathfinder identify families in need of support? Prompts: To what extent is the service targeting particular families and how?
• What new or different forms of support are being delivered at the local level through the Pathfinders? Prompts: How do these differ to, or build on, what was being offered before?
• What routes are families taking to become involved with the system? Prompts: Are these routes working well? Are there any gaps or sticking points?
• What are the aspirations / expectations of families who engage?
• What has been the impact on the families supported by the Pathfinder so far?

Section 8: Learning and Sharing

• What data do partners collect and share? How is this used to evaluate, inform, and learn across the Pathfinder?
• What have been your key learnings from the development of the Pathfinder so far? What advice would you have for other areas looking to develop a Pathfinder? -
• What would you say are the key success criteria for making a Pathfinder work?
• What mechanisms do you have in place to gather learning? Prompts: Reflect on learning? Disseminate/share learning? What feels to be working well and less well about these mechanisms?
• How is data sharing being used to improve the reach and delivery of the service?

Section 9: Closing

• Is there anything else that you feel it would be helpful for us to know about that we have not spoken about today?

Stakeholder interview topic guide

Section 1: About the interviewee

• First, I'd like to get to know a bit more about you and your role. Can you tell me:
• What is your role?
• How does your work and your organisation link with the Pathfinder?
• To what extent have you been involved in the Pathfinder's development and delivery to date?
• What role would you like to play in the Pathfinder? What do you feel would need to happen to make that work?

Section 2: About the Pathfinder

• What is your understanding of what the Pathfinder is and what it is trying to achieve?
• What are your expectations for the Pathfinder and what it will do?
• How did you find the development of the Pathfinder so far in terms of how the activities and focus was decided?
• What do you feel the focus should be of the Pathfinder?
• To what extent do you feel that the required partners are around the table? Are there any missing that you feel it would be important to consider as a partner instead of a stakeholder?
• To what extent do you feel that the necessary stakeholders are engaged and informed in the Pathfinder? Prompts: Are there any missing that you feel it would be important to include? If the right stakeholders aren't engaged, why do you feel that is? Is there anything that needs to be done differently to engage those stakeholders?
• What changes have been implemented within local systems to facilitate the alignment of services as part of the Pathfinder? What is working well and less well, and why?
• How do you understand the concepts of 'person-centred support' and 'place-based' approaches? Is this influencing service design and delivery?
• Do you feel the Pathfinder has been adequately resourced through? Has it been adequately funded? Has there been adequate contribution of time from staff? Has there been adequate contribution from senior staff within the partnership organisations?

Section 3: Fit within local provision

• To what extent is there a clear understanding in Dundee/Glasgow about the efforts to tackle child poverty and the various stakeholders/services/support available?
• Are there any obvious gaps in provision associated with tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow?
• How does the Pathfinder activity fit within the existing provision in the area/city? Does Pathfinder activity compete with or complement other organisations trying to address child poverty in the area/city?
• How important do you think the Pathfinder is for tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow?
• To what extent is it able to contribute to filling the gaps in tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow
• To what extent is it able to contribute to address the challenges of tackling child poverty in Dundee/Glasgow
• To what extent do you feel that the support offered through the Pathfinder activity is joining up service provision in the area? Have any specific changes taken place to facilitate this join-up? What has worked well and what has worked less well, and why?

Section 4: Using evidence

• How do you feel that the Pathfinder is underpinned by existing evidence around need and what works?

Section 5: Sharing learning

• What is your understanding of the mechanisms in place to share learning?
• In what ways do you feel you and other stakeholders should be involved in sharing learning about the Pathfinder?

Section 6: Early impacts

• To what extent do you feel that the work of the Pathfinder is meeting the local needs of families?
• What has been the impact so far on connections between services in the local area? Do you feel that the Pathfinder is contributing to systems change?
• How are families experiencing the Pathfinder so far? Prompts: How do families find 'navigating the system'? What are the barriers, and could access be improved?
• What has been the impact on the families supported by the Pathfinder? How has the Pathfinder impacted participants lives?
• Have there been any effects on community capacity?

Section 7: Future Development and Sustainability

• What do you think the key opportunities are for the Pathfinder? What should its future development focus on?
• What do you think the key challenges are for the Pathfinder?
• What do you feel needs to happen to help overcome these challenges?
• Do you feel that the Pathfinder has been adequately resourced throughout? Has it been adequately funded? Has there been adequate contribution of time from staff? Has there been adequate contribution from senior staff within the partnership organisations?

Section 8: Other

Is there anything else that you feel would be useful for us to know at this stage that we have not spoken about today?