Explore Eleanor McClorey’s experience working with AIRN while leading youngballymun in Ireland. See how adopting the Active Implementation Frameworks™ supports complex change work.
WRITTEN BY ELEANOR MCCLOREY
Between 2007 and 2016 I was leading youngballymun – a community-based, collective impact-informed prevention and early intervention initiative funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and grants from the Government of Ireland via its Dormant Accounts Fund.
Building Better Outcomes in Ballymun
The focus was on making a contribution to measurably improving child learning and wellbeing outcomes for children and parents in Ballymun (a suburb of Dublin, Ireland) by embedding evidence-informed practice more deeply into existing maternal and infant health services, parenting programmes, early care and education centres, primary schools and youth services.
Evidence in Principle and Evidence in Practice
Deeply influenced by community development principles of participation and inclusion and by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of human development, youngballymun was grappling with the disconnects between embracing evidence-based practice in principle and the realities of embedding that evidence in practice with enough ambition, depth and reach to positively influence the learning and development outcomes of a community of children and their parents.
youngballymun 2007 – 2016 was a complex community change initiative that depended on collective engagement and participation, working together to better support parents, early years educators, public health professionals, teachers and community workers in their roles activating and supporting child development and learning. It’s so easy to get lost in a maze of confusion, overwhelm and competing priorities, roaming way beyond the precision, detail and definition of an evidence-based programme in the wilderness of complex community change.
Using the Active Implementation Frameworks™
I had no detailed maps, no comprehensive guidebooks… until my first encounter with Active Implementation Frameworks, back in 2011 in Washington DC at the first Global Implementation Conference. I have been involved in one way or another with implementation science ever since.
The Active Implementation Frameworks are sets of schemas that comprehensively address what the evidence tells us are the essential elements that must be attended to in embedding evidence-informed practice into human services.
I was hooked with that first implementation equation, ‘The Formula For Success’, anything multiplied by a zero returns to zero! There has to be a value in each element of the implementation essentials – the evidence-based practice multiplied by the evidence-based implementation multiplied by the enabling context delivers the impact at scale. And youngballymun wanted to contribute to impact at scale.
So youngballymun used the Active Implementation Frameworks, (what about the Drivers Framework for insightful evidence-based analysis of where to place and sustain your attention) and the support of Implementation professionals to access accurate insightful and supportive guidance. We embraced the science and art of implementation, thus allowing youngballymun to reach its goals of:
- Embracing and supporting evidence-informed practice across different service systems
- Committing to the principles of inclusion and participation in its work
- Holding an ecological, systemic perspective around how child wellbeing, development and learning are layered down over the years from pregnancy and birth
- Supporting parents and professional staff working with children and parents in their endeavours across health, early care, education and schools, youth and community services
Accessible and Actionable
Why do the Active Implementation Frameworks work, and why do I still use them in my consultancy practice?
- Because implementation is made accessible – the AIF codify incredibly complex and vitally important implementation evidence in clearly stated core essentials.
- Because these complex implementation essentials are easy to communicate and track – they are captured in the Framework’s visual sequences and summaries.
- Because of this, Active Implementation Frameworks can support inclusion and participation, a shared understanding of the journey and informed decision-making.
– Eleanor McClorey,
Applied Implementation Consultant
Based in Dublin, Ireland