Example Program Evaluation: Champions of Change Coalition (CCC) STEM

"It's always helpful to have a concrete example to use as a model. See one, do one."
IsabelleKingsley
Isabelle Kingsley
Research Associate | Office of the Women in STEM Ambassador
If you are evaluating your STEM gender equity program—or any program, for that matter—take a look at how the Champions of Change Coalition evaluated the CCC STEM program.
 
The example applies the 5 steps of the National Evaluation Guide for STEM gender equity programs: Define, Plan, Design, Execute and Share.
Download the National Evaluation Guide

It contains practical advice, worksheets and templates to evaluate your program.

5 Steps to evaluate STEM gender equality program infographic
Titles-example

CCC STEM: A coalition of influential leaders to achieve change on gender equity in organisations

The Champions of Change Coalition STEM (previously called Male Champions of Change, or MCC) is a program to engage and activate senior leaders in STEM organisations to accelerate progress in gender equality. The ‘leaders’ include CEOs, Board Directors, Government Department, University and Military leaders. The CCC now encompasses fifteen groups, amounting to more than 230 leaders across Australia.

CCC members use their individual and collective leadership to elevate gender equality as an issue of national and international social and economic importance. They listen, learn and lead with action to achieve significant and sustainable change. The CCC was established through funding from the Australian Government through the National Innovation and Science Agenda. The group is now self-financed through membership contributions.

The image below is a completed Evaluation Planning Tool worksheet for the CCC STEM program evaluation (when it was still MCC). Use this example as a template for your program evaluation. Each section of the worksheet is explained in greater detail further down. You can also access the suite of evaluation reports.

Problem.

Women are underrepresented in leadership positions in STEM. There are many barriers that hold women in STEM back and contribute to the gender imbalance across leadership roles. They include: lack of flexible and inclusive employment experiences, recruitment and promotion practices, pay gap between men and women and lack of action and advocacy for gender equity from leaders, among others.

Audiences.

The MCC STEM targets three key program audiences. The first is the CEOs and leaders who are part of the MCC STEM group. The second is the organisations that are participants in the program who implement actions to improve gender equity. The third is the broader STEM eco-system, including private and public sectors, and research and education institutions. 

The evaluation audiences—those who are interested in the evaluation findings—include: the MCC members (leaders) and participating organisations, research and education institutions, and key partners (e.g. Chief Executive Women, The Australian Human Rights Commission, The Australian Government, Diversity Council Australia, Our Watch, etc).

Goals.

The MCC STEM exists to achieve a significant and sustainable increase in the representation of women in leadership positions in STEM (long-term impact). As part of that goal, leaders become members and commit to striving for gender balance across leadership roles in their organisations as well as a commitment to eliminating the barriers that hold women in STEM back (short-term outcome). They implement actions from the Male Champions of Change Strategy to achieve four main outcomes (medium-term outcomes):

  • Improve gender balance in leadership, recruitment, graduates and promotions
  • Improve pay equity between men and women
  • Create flexible and inclusive employment experiences
  • Promote leadership, advocacy and impact on gender quality social issues

 Activities.

To achieve these goals, the MCC STEM leaders meet four times a year, supported by Implementation Leaders who also meet quarterly. The MCC STEM approach is to listen, learn and lead with practical action. The approach is based on a set of guiding principles of the Male Champions of Change Strategy. Leaders engage in listen and learn sessions within their organisations to identify key issues and opportunities for action. The quarterly meetings are a space for sharing approaches, learning and discussing challenges.

Actions taken by the members centre around five key pillars:

  • Stepping up as leaders
  • Creating accountability
  • Disrupting the status quo
  • Dismantling barriers for carers
  • Gender equality in society

The MCC STEM members use measurable objectives, target specific outcomes and continuously monitor and assess the effectiveness of their actions through an ‘action tracker’.

Some of the inputs for these activities include: MCC staff and Implementation Leaders (human resources), venues for meetings and events (material resources), funding (financial resources), etc.

Some of the outputs from these activities include: meeting events (x 4), ‘action tracker’ reports, other reports and resources, etc.

Evaluation.

The MCC STEM has identified two evaluation priorities to assess through regular data collection and evaluation:

  1. Assessment of practical actions undertaken by MCC STEM organisations grouped under five areas:
    • Stepping up as leaders
    • Creating accountability
    • Disrupting the status quo
    • Dismantling barriers for carers
    • Gender equality in society
  2. Assessment of progress on gender equality indicators:
    • Gender balance in women’s representation in leadership
    • Gender balance in women’s representation overall
    • Gender balance in recruitment and promotions
    • Reduction of the gender pay gap
    • Reported levels of employees’ access to the flexibility they need
    • Employee engagement measures for women and men reflect an inclusive employment experience
    • Fewer men and women leaving employment during or at the end of parental leave
    • Visible leadership by MCCs

These areas are tracked and reported in an annual Impact Report where members of the group are asked to collect and report data. The report uses colour coding to assess progress in the categories above. The group also assesses its actions every six months through an ‘action tracker’ which asks organisations to report on the actions agreed.

The reports are publicly published on the MCC website and shared with stakeholders, funders and government.

Learn more about our publications

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Find more resources

Explore science communication programs for women in STEM, podcasts about STEM gender equity and other resources. Click to find out more.