Evaluation of Sitra’s operations 2002–2011: Sitra has performed well in its societal task

Sitra has been successful in its main mission, i.e. providing added value to society. As a networker, Sitra has promoted other actors’ readiness to change. An overall evaluation of Sitra’s operations, conducted by Ramboll Management Consulting Oy, indicates that businesses and citizens have also benefited from Sitra’s activities.

The evaluation period is from 2002 to the end of April 2011. The evaluation focuses on the profitability of Sitra’s operations, the operating basis of Sitra and the enablers of operations such as operating concepts, management and leadership and the competence of the staff.

The evaluation indicates that through its operations, Sitra has been capable of providing added value to society, such as well-being, entrepreneurship and new operating models. In recent years, Sitra has successfully influenced the promotion of energy efficiency in decision making and the systematic testing and introduction of social innovation. Examples include health kiosks and municipal service centres.

Sitra’s mission is to challenge and create something new

Sitra’s main mission in society is to challenge the mainstream and prevailing conceptions. Sitra has a particularly important role in terms of ascertaining future development opportunities for Finland and promoting the Finnish economy’s ability to reform. The evaluation indicates that functional anticipatory operations, intelligence operations and network operations will be pivotal for Sitra in the future as well.

Being independent is one of Sitra’s strength

In addition to impact evaluation, the report covers the strengths and development themes of Sitra’s activities. The evaluation indicates that Sitra has fulfilled its role as society’s change agent well, and independence and competence are Sitra’s main strengths. As a development area, the evaluation shows that extensive staff rotation due to programme-based activities weakens commitment in terms of the long-term development of the organisation.

The evaluation is a documented dialogue

Ramboll Management Consulting was responsible for the overall evaluation. The evaluation team was supplemented by an international team of experts. In addition to conclusions and recommendations from external evaluators, the report includes comments by Sitra’s management and Board of Directors. The purpose of this approach is to ensure that the identified development themes are addressed without delay.

Read the evaluation report in Finnish (PDF) »
Read the evaluation report in English (PDF) »