Making the Case for Domestic Violence Prevention Through the Lens of Cost-Benefit
A Manual for Domestic Violence Prevention Practitioners
(and the State and Local Policy-Makers They Present to)
Cost-Benefit Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: More Technical Explanations
“If we embrace the cost-effectiveness point of view, we need to also be open to telling the truth about what we’re doing that’s not cost-effective. We have to be willing to say, ‘this wasn’t worth it, but we believe these improvements will be worth it.’”
Donna Garske, Executive Director, Marin Abused Women’s Services
San Rafael, California, September 23, 2005.
For more information on conducting a technical cost-benefit analysis of a social program, please see: Measuring and Improving Costs, Cost-Effectiveness, and Cost-Benefit for Substance Abuse Treatment Programs: A Manual, by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, available at: http://www.nida.nih.gov/IMPCOST/IMPCOST13.html.
Note: The following section on cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis is for readers seeking more technical information. Readers who are not seeking this technical level may wish to skip to “A Closer Look at Cost Estimation Terms as Tools” (Chapter 5) or to “Why Knowing a Program’s Underlying Theory Matters” (Chapter 6).
In this section, we will briefly define and describe Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) and how they can be applied in the domestic violence prevention field. The CBA and CEA are overlapping yet distinct processes. Honest discussion of cost, cost-effectiveness, and cost-benefit relationships can provide valuable insights into how a program operates and how its operations can be improved to serve more people better for less, with benefits occurring now and in the future. Having an understanding of these terms can also show funders that program managers are aware of the importance of accountability – accountability for the way funds are used, what they are used to achieve, and whether these achievements last.