In 2016 CCDS began discussions with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to develop an evaluation of their “Special Needs” project and “The Moving On Project” that support union members who have sons and daughters with special needs / disabilities. CUPW supported CCDS to develop an evaluation proposal during a preliminary planning phase. Work conducted during the planning phase included a review of project documents, site visit to the project office in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, conversations with project staff and participation in a conference of the project advisors. The CCDS research team, in partnership with project staff and the CUPW Child Care Coordinator, have already developed several key tools for the evaluation. They were:

• A comprehensive description of the projects;
• Several program models: system map, process models, logic model, pathway model;
• An evaluation matrix to identify information needs, information sources, and methods; and,
• An analysis of the method by which members prefer to be contacted for the evaluation project

Based on the preliminary planning, a complete evaluation proposal was submitted to, and approved by, the CUPW executive in June 2016. The evaluation will aim to:

• Evaluate the project outcomes;
• Evaluate the project implementation and make recommendations for improvement (i.e. what is working and needs to continue, what is not working, and strategies to strengthen the programs); and,
• Assess the needs of project members and identify potential opportunities for growth (i.e. additional strategies to meet unmet member needs).

A summary of this work will be available, on the CCDS website, upon completion of the project in October 2017.