Participatory evaluation of participatory research

This paper was presented by Dr. Dindo Campilan at the Forum on Evaluation of International Cooperation Projects: Centering on Development of Human Resources in the Field of Agriculture held on 6-7 December 2000 at the International Cooperation Center for Agricultural Education (ICCAE) of Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.

The paper centres around a discussion of the use of participatory evaluation with an emphasis on the role of research in development programs, the use of participatory evaluation in program evaluation and some of the issues and challenges that may arise when evaluating participatory research. 

Excerpt

"Traditionally, research and development programs look upon evaluation as a means to ensure their accountability and transparency. Evaluation is often used to assess whether a program has accomplished its objectives, managed resources efficiently, and is open to public scrutiny. Most evaluation efforts are designed to serve the needs of project proponents, implementors and donors. They are usually done by external experts who supposedly take a detached, impartial assessment of programs.

In recent years, however, a more participatory approach has emerged in program evaluation. There is now greater recognition of the significant contribution of program beneficiaries and other stakeholders to the evaluation process, besides considering them as among the key potential users of evaluation results. Moreover, a participatory approach supports the emerging role of evaluation in program learning and innovation.

Participatory evaluation is distinguished from the conventional approach in five key ways: why is evaluation being done, how evaluation is done, who evaluates, what is being evaluated, and for whom evaluation is being done. It is often practiced in various ways, such as: self-assessment, stakeholder evaluation, internal evaluation and joint evaluation.:

Contents

  • Changing Role of Evaluation in Research and Development Programs
  • Emerging Participatory Approach to Evaluation
  • Evaluating Participatory Research: Why the Need for a Participatory Approach?
  • Planning participatory evaluation of a participatory research program
  • Challenges and issues

Sources

Dr. Dindo Campilan (2000) Participatory Evaluation of Participatory Research. Retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20140703095000/http://ir.nul.nagoya-u.ac.jp/jspui/bitstream/2237/8890/1/39-56.pdf (archived link)