In 2020 we have concluded in a our evaluation of the TSUNAMI | A Traineeship as a Springboard out of Unemployment for those Affected by Mental Illness.
Our role in this project was to conduct an in-depth qualitative study of the process of qualitative change during the implementation of the project. More specifically, we aimed to assess the qualitative outcomes of the proposed social innovation policy in terms of values changes that the policy aims to achieve and to evaluate the process of change of the coaching and the mediation process as part of the policy implementation. Our value-based evaluation is complementary to the impact evaluation based on a randomized controlled trial conducted by, Turin (Associazione per lo Sviluppo della Valutazione e Analisi delle Politiche Pubbliche).
In this evaluation process, we followed a participatory evaluation approach, in which stakeholders actively engaged in developing the evaluation and all phases of its implementation. The other organizations involved in the project plaid an important role in identifying relevant questions about implementation and planning the evaluation design.
The findings of our evaluation stress that the fundamental values of the TSUNAMI project as defined by the consortium members of the project are well-being, inclusion, trust, innovation (creativity/new knowledge) and optimism. Pursuing these values within the framework of the TSUNAMI project translates not only into possibilities for increasing employment opportunities for people suffering from mental illnesses, developing the professional skills of coaches, and strengthening the institutional relations between the organizations involved but also in terms of changing cultural perspectives (attitudes, behavior and mentality) towards this socially marginalized group. This realizes itself through the building of solid relationships between institutions and individuals based on the exchange of shared and common knowledge, empathy, respect, ability to stay together, and so on.
TSUNAMI is implemented by a consortium of public authorities, cooperatives and research organisations mostly based in Piemonte region (CREARE Social is the only foreign research partner). For the period 2016-2019, the project is supported by a grant from DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission.
The following partners are involved in the project: Regione Piemonte, Agenzia piemonte lavoro citta metropolitana di Torino, Associazione per lo sviluppo della valutazione e la analisi delle politiche pubbliche, Mestieri, For Coop, Fondazione Adecco per le pari opportunit.