Stakeholders

Stakeholders are people who have a stake or a vested interest in the program, policy, or product being evaluated (hereafter referred to as “the program”) and therefore also have a stake in the evaluation. Stakeholders are usefully clustered into four groups: (a) people who have decision authority over the program, including other policy makers, funders, and advisory boards; (b) people who have direct responsibility for the program, including program developers, [Page 398]administrators in the organization implementing the program, program managers, and direct service staff; (c) people who are the intended beneficiaries of the program, their families, and their communities; and (d) people disadvantaged by the program, as in lost funding opportunities.