Participatory Evaluation

A participatory approach to evaluation analyzes contextualized data that answer questions about the successes, contextualizing realities, and failures of a program or policy and examines ways to make the program or policy work better through the active involvement of representative and relevant local stakeholder groups. In participatory evaluation, multiple stakeholders actively coconstruct and participate in the research and evaluation process through its various stages—from research question formation and research design through to data collection, data analysis, and the sharing and dissemination of findings.

Participatory evaluation is developed through locally constructed approaches to democratic and collaborative decision making and engagement, with a diverse range of stakeholders contributing to shared processes, learnings, and outcomes. This approach to evaluation is built upon the fundamental ethic of equity-oriented inclusion and ...