The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, today announced a second Open Call for submissions for inclusion on the What Works Ireland Evidence Hub which provides information about prevention and early intervention programmes that have been evaluated and shown to improve outcomes for children and young people.

This second call for submissions builds on the September 2022 call, which led to five Irish programmes being evaluated and added to the What Works Ireland Evidence Hub when the Evidence Hub was launched in May this year.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth continues to work with Foundations, formerly known as the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF), to expand the What Works Ireland Evidence Hub . The Evidence Hub is a project under the What Works Initiative, which is funded through the Dormant Accounts Fund and supports the use of evidence in early intervention and prevention policy and practice for children and young people. The What Works Ireland Evidence Hub supports policy makers, service commissioners and providers across a range of policy and service areas in their decision making about services for children and young people.

The Evidence Hub provides details on prevention and early intervention programmes that have been evaluated and show some evidence of improving outcomes for children and young people.

Submissions are now sought from providers of prevention and early intervention programmes used in Ireland, who wish to have their programmes included in the What Works Ireland Evidence Hub. The Open Call for submissions runs until Thursday 7th December 2023. More details on the Open Call and how to apply can be found here .

Once submissions have been received, Foundations UK will select and assess five prevention and early intervention programmes used in Ireland that have evidence of positive impacts on outcomes for children and young people.

Speaking on the launch, Minister O’Gorman said:

“The What Works Ireland Evidence Hub is a fantastic resource for all those working on prevention and early intervention programmes for children and young people. From service commissioners and providers, academics to policymakers, the Evidence Hub provides clear evaluations that allows for evidence-informed decision making when working to improve planning, delivery, evaluation and continuous improvements for all.

I am delighted to announce a second call for submissions. This will add an additional 5 Irish programmes to the over 100 programmes that have already been evaluated and are featured on the Evidence Hub. It will further highlight the work that is being carried out in Ireland that has demonstrated evidence of making changes to children and young people’s lives.

I encourage all service providers and commissioners, as well as academics, to examine their programmes and consider submitting an application for evaluation.”