Evaluation Series | Participatory Evaluation
Elements of Participatory Processes
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Challenge
Designing a participatory evaluation that:
- Is both enjoyable and a learning experience for the participants.
- Generates reliable data of high relevance and interest to all concerned.
- Assesses costs of interventions as well as the benefits (from the perspective of community groups).
- Is flexible enough to accommodate new insights gained during the study
- Enables the partner to upgrade their participatory skills
- Assesses the qualitative issues (perceptions and opinions) and does this separately with men and women.
- Leads to greater involvement and ownership of the initiative by poor women, men, girls and boys.
Participatory evaluations provide an opportunity to work closely with stakeholders to explore, learn from, and improve the quality of NZAID’s work. They are an opportunity to work creatively and flexibly, inspiring honest insight into ways of improving the quality and impact of development activities.
Each participatory evaluation will be different depending on the nature of the activity being evaluated, its stage(s) of the development and, who participates. In some participatory evaluations primary stakeholders are central to the process. In others implementing staff may play a central role in the analysis of their work. At the heart of most processes are three dimensions:
A retrospective analysis of the intervention.
- What were the initial objectives?
- What actually happened?
- How much was spent? Where? On what?
- Was the initiative well conceived?
An analysis of what has changed as a result of the work.
- Who benefited? Who didn’t?
- What were the intended and unintended outcomes as perceived by different stakeholder groups?
- What were the gender implications?
An analysis of lessons/implications for the future?
- What has been learnt?
- How should on-going plans be altered?
- How could stakeholders have greater input, involvement in, and influence over, future activities?
- What are the implications for other/future NZAID interventions/strategies/plans?
Planning a Participatory Evaluation
The planning stage of participatory evaluations is important. Initial questions to be addressed include:
- What resources (time, money) are available for this process? Remember that Participatory evaluations take longer than conventional evaluations.
- Which stakeholders could/should be involved?
- What skills will be needed in the team? How will the process support the development of those skills? How much time can be allowed for this?
- What areas should the participatory evaluation focus on? What key questions would you NZAID like to see answered as one of the stakeholder in the process?
- What process is there for ensuring that the evaluation findings will be followed up and will lead to improvement of on-going work?
- What skills should any external consultant(s) who facilitate the process have?
- How will you ensure that the guiding principles of participation, learning, flexibility, and transparency are integral to this process?
- Potential Steps in a Participatory Process
