Participatory assessment of development (PADev) guidebook

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Participatory Assessment of Development (PADev) is an approach to impact evaluation that radically moves away from a focus on a single agency, project or programme. It takes a particular area as point of departure and reflects -through different groups of people- on interventions that have taken place and what has changed over a period of time (typically 20-30 years).

PADev is a bottom-up assessment based on the value systems of the population in the area. Best and worst interventions are selected and their benefits are analysed over time. The assessment uses a range of instruments to collect qualitative and quantitative data and pays particular attention to data quality. make it possible to do various qualitative and quantitative analyses. Recommendations for various types of analyses are included.

The guidebook is open source: further experimentation and adaptation is encouraged. All instruments, field reports and primary data are available on www.padev.nl

The hard copy guidebook is available for purchase at €25.00.

A free downloadable version is available on the PADev website:This Powerpoint and this YouTube video (5 minutes) provide a summary.

Contents

The complete PADev methodology comprises nine participatory exercises that can be run in a workshop format over three days, but depending on the objective of the assessment, it is also possible to carry out a selection of the exercises to complement existing assessment approaches.

  • Workshop setup
  • Exercise 1 - Events
  • Exercise 2 - Changes
  • Exercise 3 - Wealth group categorisation
  • Exercise 4 - Project recall
  • Exercise 5 - Project assessment
  • Exercise 6 - Best/worst projects
  • Exercise 7 - Relationship between changes and projects
  • Exercise 8 - Wealth group benefits
  • Exercise 9 - Assessment of agencies
  • Personal profiles (additional exercise)
  • Workshop evaluation
  • After the workshop - follow up
  • Costs of developing the PADev methodology 2007-2013

Sources

T. Dietz (et al.). (2013) PADev Guidebook. Participatory Assessment of Development.