Europe: Understanding and Integration Our peripheral geography, our island disconnection and our familial relationship with the United States have in ways acted as barriers to a deep sense of ‘Europeanness’ amongst the people of Ireland. We believe a defining legacy of our bid will include: ~~ The creation of the first generation of Irish people who genuinely see themselves as European. ~~ The creation of new, real and lasting social and cultural bonds with our European neighbours. ~~ An increased appreciation and understanding of the culture, heritage, values, traditions and beliefs we share with our European family. 2.4 Describe your plans for monitoring and evaluating the impact of the title on your city and for disseminating the results of the evaluation. In particular, the following questions could be considered: 2.4.1 WHO WILL CARRY OUT THE EVALUATION? Galway has developed a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework based on ECOC Policy Group’s recommended practice and an additional suite of objectives and performance indicators specific to Galway’s bid. The organisational structure for the impact and monitoring programme will consist of three core components: ~~ Lead Organisation – An independent research team from the world renowned ‘Insight Centre for Data Analytics’ in the National University of Ireland, Galway will carry out both the monitoring and evaluation as part of the ECOC ~~ Data and Legacy Sub Committee – A sub-committee of the board of Galway 2020 will be established to provide advice and assistance to both the Insight Centre of Data Analytics and the Galway 2020 team but the monitoring structure will be independent of the sub-committee (6.18.7). ~~ Galway 2020 Liaison – An evaluation and monitoring point of contact within the Galway 2020 team will act as the primary liaison between the Insight Centre, the subcommittee and the Galway 2020 team. An allocation of 1.5% of Galway’s overall project funding has been set aside for the implementation of the evaluation and monitoring process. It is the intention of the Insight Centre of Data Analytics to supplement the funding of the monitoring and evaluation programme with monies derived from project-specific industry partnerships and Science Foundation Ireland funding.
16 Galway 2020 / Bid Book Two
2.4.2 OVER WHAT TIME FRAME AND HOW REGULARLY WILL THE EVALUATION BE CARRIED OUT? Galway is committed to the implementation of a 10 year longitudinal research strategy commencing in January 2017 (-3 years) and running to completion in 2027 (+7 years). After 2027 the monitoring and evaluation framework will be maintained by the body responsible for Galway’s long term cultural strategy as an indication of Galway’s long term commitment to the legacy of the ECOC (see detailed schedule table 2.4a). 2.4.3 WILL CONCRETE OBJECTIVES AND MILESTONES BETWEEN THE DESIGNATION AND THE YEAR OF THE TITLE BE INCLUDED IN YOUR EVALUATION PLAN? A preliminary set of objectives have been outlined as part of the evaluation framework table outlined herein (see table 2.4b). The final sign off on these objectives will be completed after an additional period of research and development with relevant stakeholders in the first half of 2017. (See 2.4.4 regarding milestones) 2.4.4 WHAT BASELINE STUDIES OR SURVEYS IF ANY – DO YOU INTEND TO USE? In the absence of a comprehensive set of baseline studies being available for the proposed range of performance indicators, no specific milestones have been outlined at this stage of our bid. The schedule of proposed activities includes plans to establish a complete set of baseline studies and predictive studies by the end of 2017 to determine reasoned performance milestones which will be included in our evaluation plan. 2.4.5 WHAT SORT OF INFORMATION WILL YOU TRACK AND MONITOR? The objectives, indicative indicators and proposed sources of data which will be monitored as part of the ECOC monitoring programme are outlined in table 2.4b. Our monitoring framework metrics incorporate those recommended by ECOC and also some that are of unique interest to Galway. The proposed monitoring framework mirrors the predicted long-term impacts outlined in 2.3.