The Planning, Research and Evaluation Department is a specialist unit within FCSP.
Planning, research and evaluation are three key components of a continual learning and improvement process, at the service of FCSP’s institutional mission. Data use culture and impact metrics are the prerequisites, while theoretical and empirical research, intervention design and rigorous ex post evaluation play a central role. With a view to actively contributing to the creation of a knowledge and practice community focusing on strategic issues for local stakeholders, the Department periodically publishes summaries of its context analyses and ex post evaluations in the Studies, Mapping, and Context Data series available at the bottom of the page and in the Evaluation Library.
The Department also plays a grant-making role in support of socio-economic research and skills centres. In line with the Department’s research role, this work helps establish profitable relationships with bodies that generate high-quality knowledge that meets FCSP’s need for a sound understanding of its brief.
The Planning, Research and Evaluation Department has a an extensive range of action, consistent with FCSP’s range of action as a whole. Specific examples include migration and demography, the relationship between society and the environment, sustainability, active citizenship in its various forms, subsidiarity and common assets, the “after us” and disability, the evolution of the Third Sector in Italy and abroad and, with particular emphasis, the outcomes of philanthropy.