Utilization-focused evaluation: A primer for evaluators

If you are new to utilisation-focused evaluation (UFE), this primer allows you to grasp the essentials of the approach, and the benefits as experienced by both commissioners and grantees alike.

This resource and the following information were contributed by Ricardo Ramirez.

Authors and their affiliation

Ricardo Ramírez & Dal Brodhead, DECI Project

Key features

This primer is based on five experiences mentoring projects to design and complete their own utilisation-focused evaluation. It is for practitioner evaluators and project implementors who have heard of UFE and are keen to test-drive the approach. 

We acknowledge the support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Ottawa) which has funded and promoted the DECI projects since 2009.

How have you used or intend to use this resource?

We regularly refer partners whom we are mentoring in UFE to this resource.  It provides a summary of each of the original 12 steps of UFE. We have often referred funders and commissioners of evaluation to a chapter in the book written by officers with an international funding organization summarizing their experience in allowing grantees power to design their own evaluations. The work is based on the original UFE publications by Michael Quinn Patton, especially his 2008 book on UFE; and he was kind enough to write the Foreword for this primer.

Why would you recommend it to other people?

If you are new to UFE, this primer allows you to grasp the essentials of the approach, and the proven benefits as experienced by both commissioners and grantees alike.