Information from the Taith Programme following the Committee meeting on 27^th November 2025

Dear Chair and Members of the Children, Young People and Education Committee

I am writing in a professional capacity as Executive Director of the Taith programme. My name is Susana Galván Hernández, and I can be reached at GalvanHernandezS@taith.wales

I am writing to you on the back of the Committee’s meeting of 27th November 2025, where the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2026/27 was discussed (item 2 of the Agenda). Particularly, I would like to provide some clarification and additional information in relation to a short discussion that was had during this meeting about the Taith programme, following a question from Mr Russell George on “the importance of Taith”, its “value for money” and the qualitative assessment of the impact that the programme is delivering.

In response to the above question, the publication of the “evaluation” of the Taith programme was stated as something that was going to happen soon. However, this information is not accurate. An independent interim evaluation of the Taith programme was already completed in June 2025. The key headlines and the Executive Summary of this evaluation were published on the Taith website on 18th August 2025 and can be accessed on this link: https://www.taith.wales/news/independent-evaluation/

A final independent evaluation of Taith will be carried out at the end of the programme, by 31st March 2028.

In addition to the independent evaluation of the programme, quantitative and qualitative data from all Taith-funded projects are collected on an ongoing basis. These data provide a comprehensive and in-depth level of evidence to understand and measure the effectiveness, value and impact of the programme.

These data and evidence are publicly available on our website and updated regularly:

•           Information on applications and participants for all funding calls, across all sectors, since Taith was launched in 2022, as provided at application stage: https://www.taith.wales/impact/planned-projects/

•           Detailed information on all the completed projects, searchable by sector, local authority or at individual organisational level. There is an individual project summary for each of the completed projects, including information about the level of grant awarded, the number of participants/mobilities that have taken place (outward and inward), the percentage of participants from underrepresented groups, the impact of the mobilities, countries of exchange, quotes from participants, etc: https://www.taith.wales/impact/completed-projects/

•           A library of Taith Stories providing direct testimonials and experiences of the life-changing opportunities made possible via Taith funding, in different formats (photos, written, video stories, etc). These stories are fundamental in providing a qualitative assessment of the programme, in a way that only quantitative data would be unable to provide. We strongly recommend browsing some of these stories to anyone who would like to better understand the objectives of the programme and its value and impact.

I hope the above information can be shared with members to clarify the point on the evaluation of the programme and also to answer some of the questions put forward about its value and impact – both in quantitative as well as qualitative terms. We are always open to hear about any ideas or suggestions on how we could better articulate and share the impact and success of the programme.

Of course, we are available at any point to answer any questions or clarify any of the information provided.

Best Wishes