Evaluation and training for the REACH OUT project staff that aims at strengthening migrants’ right to health in Italy, Greece and Malta

Title REACH-OUT – integrated community healthcare and OUT-REACH services for hard-to-reach population

Location Italia, Grecia, Malta

Project leader Ministry of Health of Malta

Partners Intersos, Digivis Consulting, Praksis, PIN – Polo Universitario della Città di Prato

Funding European Health and Digital Executive Agency

 

Context

The project REACH-OUT aims to design and implement an integrated intervention dedicated to improving global health outcomes for hard-to-reach population groups. The intervention aimed at improving the condition of beneficiaries in Italy, Malta and Greece through prevention, early detection, and access to care for HIV, STIs, hepatitis B and C.

In addition, the project intends to reinforce the network and promote the cooperation among different subjects and stakeholders involved in the community settings. The rationale for this project springs from the direct fieldwork experience of the project partners, who are involved daily in the provision of services to hard-to-reach individuals and families.

In the countries targeted by this project, hard-to-reach individuals may be: undocumented migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, vulnerable local groups, and many other disadvantaged individuals. What all these different groups have in common is their lack of access to systematic prevention initiatives, and their difficulty in accessing culturally sensitive healthcare provision.

Also, the lack of access to the information concerning biomedical intervention on HIV transmission and the limited awareness about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV and hepatitis B and C, are significant problems for the population living in the intervention communities.

 

General Objective 

The M&E and Impact Evaluation Unit has been involved in the project to carry out the mid-term (April-June 2024),  the final (October-December 2025) evaluation and a social network analysis.

 

Our Contribution

The M&E and Impact Assessment Unit first carried out an initial analysis of the project partners’ information needs and the data to be collected to ensure the calculation of project indicators.

In a second phase, ARCO conducted a series of sharing and training sessions aimed at strengthening skills in reading, analysing and communicating the evidence gathered during project monitoring. During the training sessions, the evaluation team delved into the use of spreadsheets from programmes such as Excel (part of the Microsoft Office package) and Business Intelligence and Self-Reporting tools such as Looker Studio (developed by Google and included in the registered users’ suite). The data collected during the project was used to build practical tools, customised to the real needs of the participants and reusable even after the end of the project.

The topics of the training sessions were divided into:

  • data collection methodologies and good practices for monitoring
  • data cleaning, management and visualisation
  • project management-oriented reporting

The sessions were included in the project as an opportunity to strengthen technical capacities and to generate a lasting impact for the organisations involved, with the ultimate goal of contributing to making the project’s benefits more sustainable in the long term.

Finally, in order to analyse the impact of the Reach Out project on the strengthening and consolidation of the stakeholder network in the education/labour sector, at a regional and European level, the research team will conduct a Social Network Analysis. Thanks to this methodology, ARCO will also assess the effective creation of a referral network to ensure that beneficiaries can access health services in an informed manner.

Read more on the M&E and Impact Evaluation Unit