Co-production · ATLEU
ATLEU Rise & Lead Fellowship Evaluation
““Challenge assumptions of what leadership is and looks like — Theory of Change participant”
The challenge
A survivor-leadership fellowship needed to show whether it was changing employment pathways, power and organisational practice
Lived-experience fellowships can create valuable opportunities while leaving the structures around recruitment, progression and professional authority untouched. ATLEU’s Rise & Lead programme wanted an evaluation capable of tracking individual development and employment outcomes alongside harder questions: whose expertise is valued, what organisations change, what inclusive recruitment requires, and whether the programme challenges conventional ideas about leadership.
What we did
Fellows and partners co-designed the Theory of Change, indicators and participatory evaluation framework
Open Routes Research designed the evaluation with peer evaluators at its centre. Early work included relationship-building conversations, a collaborative Theory of Change, mapping outcomes against existing survivor-informed frameworks, and co-designing indicators and tools. The evaluation combines surveys and outcome tracking with interviews, reflective learning, creative methods and co-analysis. Peer evaluators receive training in participatory ethics, trauma-informed interviewing, safeguarding, self-care and data collection, with ongoing support built into delivery.
What changed
The evaluation now tracks power, employment progression and organisational change alongside programme delivery
The framework has widened the definition of success beyond attendance or satisfaction. It follows confidence, skills, paid opportunities and employment progression, while also examining organisational readiness, inclusive recruitment, changes in staff practice and the wider anti-trafficking sector. Interim co-analysis is designed to feed learning back into the fellowship while it is still running, so evaluation can support programme improvement in real time.
Outputs
Co-produced Theory of Change; participatory evaluation framework; evaluation tools and templates; peer-evaluator training; interim co-analysis; final evaluation report planned