Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services is a Toronto Community Health Centre providing primary health, settlement and community services to improve the immediate and long-term health outcomes of vulnerable immigrant, refugee and racialized groups. Evidence-informed planning and decision-making at the organization is a priority and is supported by a Program Planning and Evaluation Policy.

Access Alliance recently conducted an evaluation audit to examine the nature of the gap in compliance between the evaluation policy and program evaluation practices to provide recommendations for future planning and evaluation practices. The organization’s experience is published in the Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22, Issue 10. The article explains the approach to the audit and describes findings of the study related to the key drivers for efficient evaluation practices, namely: high quality data, an organizational culture of evaluation, and supportive leadership. Authors Akm Alamgir, Miranda Saroli, Morris Beckford, Sonja Nerad and Axelle Janczur conclude that evaluation audits are achievable and encourage the process within the community health sector and the non-profit sector more broadly.