Job Opportunity - Project Evaluator

The Gurkha Museum, based in Winchester, seeks to appoint a freelance evaluation consultant to support Project Kaida, its ambitious NLHF-supported redevelopment.

Background

The Gurkha Museum honours and promotes the heritage and culture of Gurkha soldiers and their continuing service to Britain. Through the Museum’s educational activities with schools and other organisations, it helps promote the values that underpin the Gurkhas’ success: courage, fortitude, determination and loyalty undertaken cheerfully in the face of adversity. This unique military ethos is called Kaida, after which the current redevelopment project is named.

The reinterpretation of the Gurkha Museum aims to:

Re-display the permanent galleries, ensuring more of the collection is on public display, is better interpreted reflecting the experience of the Gurkha soldier and wider Nepali Culture, and celebrates the Gurkhas’ ongoing contributions.
Fully utilise the museum’s library as a flexible space for learning, research, community events, and commercial hire providing income.
Develop new interpretation and programming collaboratively with audiences, diversifying storytelling.
Develop targeted activity that will support audience development focusing on Gurkha soldiers, the Nepali community, school children and students.
Digitalise the archive to provide universal access.

The project will make new connections with audiences locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, creating a step change in access and storytelling.

Overview of the Activity Plan

Project Kaida will create new capacity to offer a range of routes in for target audiences to connect with, understand, celebrate and play an active part in the collections and stories of the museum. The project will focus on six target audiences:

Individuals with a research interest
Serving and veteran Gurkhas and the wider military family
Adult cultural day trip visitors
Educational audiences across all stages
Nepali diaspora in the UK
Families with young children

Project Evaluation

A robust approach will be taken to evaluation from the outset of the capital works and throughout the project, ensuring that the project is evaluated against the project aims and intended outcomes, as well as allowing improvement during project activity delivery. Working with the Museum team, the external evaluator will create an evaluation toolkit which will initiate a simple and effective model for consistent and regular collection of quantitative data for activity with target audiences, as well as setting up simple feedback mechanisms to collect qualitative feedback from visitors and project participants. The external evaluator will work with the museum team from the outset to ensure that the evaluation toolkit is being deployed effectively and offering advice and training as required.

How to apply

Applications should be made by emailing a proposal to Admin@thegurkhamuseum.co.uk. The proposal should cover:

a methodology and programme which addresses the main areas of evaluation focus and evaluator responsibilities. This should be short, succinct and practical in nature but describe your method and approach to the brief, including how many days you have allocated for each stage of work,
CV, outlining previous relevant experience.
Project fees including expenses.
Two references.

In addition to your CV, we would love to know about any particular skills, knowledge, and experience you would bring to the project.

Closing date for applications is Friday 20 June at noon. Interviews are likely to be held on Mon 30 June.

A more detailed brief is available on request from Director@Thegurkhamuseum.co.uk

Fee: There is a maximum budget for this role of £20,000 including all expenses, all travel and materials. However, please include your cost proposal in your application.

Responsibilities

· To help project staff establish some baseline data if necessary.

· Work with the museum team to create a simple evaluation toolkit and system for collating both quantitative and qualitative data.

· Ensure the evaluation toolkit is being deployed effectively and offer advice and training as required across teams.

· Monitor data collection regularly, identify data gaps and suggest monitoring and evaluation improvements if necessary.

· To help project staff assess the success of the project against its aims.

· To draw together and analyse data collected through the project documentation.

· To carry out evaluation impact interviews with key external partners.

· To facilitate staff and project annual reflection days.

· To write a summative evaluation report at the end of the project reflecting on the impact of the whole project and in particular whether or not it met the project aims. This needs to be integrated with a review of the capital works.

· To assess any unexpected outcomes and draw out models of best practice in the project.

· To make recommendations in terms of practice for improvements for future work.

Qualifications and experience

· Proven track record of heritage project evaluation

· High level of written and verbal communication skills

· Demonstrable report writing and presentation skills

· Knowledge of inclusive community engagement practice

· Knowledge of national agendas and policies in relation to heritage and community engagement

· Knowledge of current best practice in museum formal and informal learning

· Empathy with the Gurkha Museum and its objectives

Timescale for appointment

The external evaluator will be employed from early after the start of the project. They will then have a watching brief during project delivery to ensure data collection is being carried out and to analyse data on a regular basis. The external evaluator must leave sufficient resource to complete impact interviews, analyse data and write the final report at the project end.

Appointment: June/July 2025

Activity Plan completes: March 2028

Final Evaluation Report due: June 2028