Value for Investment
The award-winning Value for Investment (VfI) approach is a rigorous way of determining how well resources are used in public policy and social investment, whether the resource use creates enough value, and how more value can be created. It helps people reach clear, defensible answers to value-for-money questions and make better decisions about what to start, continue, adapt, scale or stop.
We offer training, capability-building services and free resources to support its adoption and help people answer those questions more clearly, credibly and usefully.
Combining strengths of evaluation and economics
People making, advising, or living with decisions need to understand whether policies, programs, services, and organisations are worth the resources invested in them. This question matters because public and social investments involve real trade-offs: money, time, capability, relationships, natural resources and opportunities that cannot be used elsewhere. The VfI approach combines economic and evaluative thinking to provide answers that are clear enough to use and robust enough to defend.
The VfI approach was developed through doctoral research. It builds on theory from evaluation and economics, and has been tested and refined through real-world application. It is designed to be practical, rigorous and useful.
How VfI works
Value for money is the question. VfI is the approach for answering it. VfI is not another method. It is a system that guides the use of existing methods and tools, helping people define what matters, what evidence is needed, and how to reach a sound judgement in context.
VfI frames policies and programs as investments in value propositions, with potential to create significant social, cultural, environmental and/or economic value. In plain language, a value proposition sets out what value an investment is meant to create and helps make explicit what good resource use should look like in context.
VfI then develops a transparent framework for making sense of evidence. This usually includes a rubric: clear criteria and standards that set out what good looks like and provide a disciplined basis for making judgements. VfI brings together qualitative, quantitative, and economic evidence to build a fuller picture of an investment’s resources, actions, consequences and value.
A VfI evaluation is guided by a clear sequence of eight steps. The process involves the people who fund, deliver, use, and are affected by an investment in defining what matters and making sense of the evidence. VfI makes expectations, evidence and reasoning explicit, so that judgements can show clearly when an investment is creating enough value, where it can improve, or when it is not good enough.
Around the world
The VfI approach is used worldwide to evaluate complex policies, programs, and organisations, ranging from one-off assessments to enduring evaluation systems and performance frameworks. Government agencies, consulting firms, NGOs, universities, bilateral and multilateral organisations use the approach to support accountability, learning and better resource-allocation decisions. For examples, see the VfI resources page.
VfI training
VfI is taught internationally through evaluation associations and in the online Master of Evaluation program at the University of Melbourne. It’s included in whole-of-government evaluation training in the UK. Private workshops and mentoring help teams apply VfI to real decisions: clarifying what matters, developing practical rubrics, and making better use of the evidence they already have. To inquire about training and mentoring opportunities, contact Julian.
New book coming soon
A forthcoming book, Value for Investment: An Evaluative System for Government, Public Services, and Social Investment will be published by Routledge. Written for people who commission, conduct, or make decisions based on value-for-money assessments, it sets out the principles, eight-step process and practical tools behind VfI.
“Julian King has a rare ability to make hard questions about value for money answerable. Value for Investment builds a bridge between economics and evaluation, making judgements transparent and open to scrutiny. Tested and sharpened in real work with colleagues at OPM, it makes VfM assessments rigorous and usable.”
– Mark Henstridge, Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Policy Management
VfI resources
Open-access VfI resources are available here. You can also follow Julian on Substack, where his regular posts include practical tips, deep dives on relevant topics and examples from practice.
