Since being established in 1981 by GGI’s founding partners, we have successfully completed over 3500 projects, many of which were conducted for repeat clients!

That’s a lot of projects for a lot of satisfied clients!

Below we present just a few of these projects and, where available, the link to the final deliverable we developed for them.

Please contact us to inquire whether we’ve done a project aligned with your needs. Chances are that we have!

Under its standing offer with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), GGI and the CBSA evaluation team conducted an evaluation of the Agency’s Arming Initiative, a 10-year initiative to arm and train border services officers. The purpose of the evaluation was to examine the performance of the Arming Initiative, including the extent to which the arming of CBSA officers achieved expected outcomes, such as enhanced border security, improved officer ability to handle high-risk situations, and decreased Agency reliance on other law enforcement organizations. The evaluation was based on a review of documents and data, interviews and field research in three regions. Five recommendations were presented and accepted to CBSA managers related to training and equipping officers and addressing human resource issues associated with arming such as mental health supports and mitigating the impacts of arming-related accommodations on frontline service delivery.  The full report may be accessed here.

GGI has significant team member and corporate experience in conducting evaluations relating to programs, policies and initiatives with a focus on health, research funding and knowledge transfer. By way of example, GGI team members recently (2016-2017) collaborated with CIHR in completing evaluations of three of their Institutes: Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) and Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD).  

GGI publications

In 2016-2017, GGI recently completed a ten-year evaluation of the $2.2 million/year Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program in Northern Quebec. The full report of the evaluation is available online. The evaluation used decolonized, culturally appropriate methods. It was based on 141 interviews, visits to seven Nunavik communities, observations at tournaments, an analysis of administrative records, case studies and benchmarking. The joint executive committee of Makivik Corporation and the Kativik Regional Government voted to accept the study’s recommendations, including a continuation of support for youth hockey involving a more community-focused approach founded in Inuit culture. The renewed program will reach considerably more Nunavik youth. For more information, click here.

In 2016-2017, Goss Gilroy conducted an evaluation of Phase II of the Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative.  The Initiative provides funding for stewardship, governance and research to address water quality issues affecting the Lake Winnipeg watershed. The evaluation showed good progress in a number of areas and provided recommendations that will be used to make improvements to the next phase of funding. The report was recently published here.

The development of world-leading, commercially successful regional clusters and ecosystems is a critical source of future economic growth, jobs and competitiveness.  In 2016, Goss Gilroy conducted a review of existing and emerging economic clusters in Ontario on behalf of FedDev Ontario of the Government of Canada. The study focused on 12 clusters that can be grouped into three major categories: digital technologies (Big Data, Digital Media, Fintech, Internet of Things, and Telecom/Next Generation Networking), life sciences and biotechnology (bio-pharmaceuticals, regenerative medicine, and agricultural Biotech) and clean tech/environmental (renewable/clean energy, water technologies, and bio-processing).  The study included a detailed review of recent literature of each of the 12 clusters, consultations with 254 representatives active in one or more of the areas, and a series of 9 roundtables covering 10 of the clusters and involving 171 senior executives, major researchers and other stakeholders.

In 2015, GGI completed an evaluation of Industry Canada’s Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) policy. Under the policy, firms that have won defence and security procurements must undertake business activities in Canada equal to the value of the contract. The aim of the policy is to contribute to the continuing viability of Canadian companies’ capabilities in high technology manufacturing and services, and to improve their ability to compete in both domestic and international markets. Click here to learn more about the policy and GGI’s assessment of its relevance and effectiveness.

In 2014, GGI was hired by UNDP China to conduct some exploratory research to support its work in South-South Cooperation. This study looked at how emerging economies such as India, Brazil and Mexico are evaluating their development cooperation with lower income countries – by questioning and even rejecting the standards long used by donor countries.

For several years now, GGI evaluators have been instrumental in creating and refining methodologies for development effectiveness reviews of multi-lateral organizations. In fact, we have contributed to OEDC-DAC guidance on this work. Here is an example of our review of UNICEF, published in 2013.

Between 2007 and 2009, GGI conducted a series of projects for the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Growth, Office for Small Business that resulted in a toolkit and a series of booklets on the power for e-business targeted at small and medium enterprises in Ontario.  We developed the original content for the toolkit and most the booklets and then did a follow-up study (in 2012) to update the ones on legal and privacy issues, internet auctions, integrated back offices, e-exporting, customer relationship management, voice over internet protocol and open source software..

In 2008 and 2009, GGI conducted an evaluation of the Foreign Credential Recognition Program. For that evaluation, GGI conducted interviews, a document and file review, a review of administrative data, a survey of employers, a survey of regulatory bodies, a survey of end-users and occupational case studies.

More to come!