GamCare

The Challenge

GamCare is the leading provider of information, advice and support for anyone affected by gambling harms. They operate the National Gambling Helpline, provide treatment for anyone who is harmed by gambling, create awareness about safer gambling and treatment, and encourage an effective approach to safer gambling within the gambling industry.

GamCare was seeking a critical friend to support with evaluation and learning activities and provide an independent view of the organisation’s programmes and performance within a fast-moving, emerging field. They were looking for flexible multi-year support that could be used across different teams and departments. The brief was open but with a focus on evaluator commissioning, quality assurance and providing challenge to processes, decisions and learning. They landed with NPC based on breadth of experience, knowledge and skills.

The Approach

Over a period of 3 years, NPC supported GamCare with over 10 separate strands of evaluation and learning work. These were co-developed with GamCare throughout the project and included:

• Theory of Change, measurement frameworks and KPI development
• In-depth review of past evaluation reports, generating recommendations for future commissioning
• Commissioning evaluators and omnibus surveys
• Workshops to brainstorm Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning ambition
• Training to support data collection and analysis
• Ongoing critical friend discussions and progress check

Later in the process, NPC’s support moved from task-based to more strategic work with GamCare’s Directors and CEO to further embed learnings around Monitoring and Evaluation within the organisation.

The Results

NPC’s 3-year support package was responsive and flexible to the needs of GamCare as the organisation was also evolving. By working closely together over multiple years, we gained a deep understanding of the organisation and were able to translate complex evaluation findings to actionable learnings. As a result GamCare’s programme staff now feels more confident in commissioning and running future evaluations. NPC’s critical friend role allowed the support to move into strategic and structural improvements, and GamCare is now in a strong position to begin embedding changes.