What is Participatory Evaluation?
Collaborators sit around a conference table engaged in discussion
As we start a new year, we want to start a new series in which we discuss the evaluation approaches that influence our practice. If you’ve followed us for a while, you know that Improved Insights is guided by a blend of evaluation approaches, namely participatory, utilization-focused, and culturally responsive. But, if you’re not an evaluation practitioner yourself, you might be left wondering, “What are these and how are they different?” In this new series, we’ll discuss each approach and how it influences our practice.
This time, we’re focusing on participatory evaluation. A defining feature of participatory evaluation is that it involves program partners in the planning, implementation, and/or interpretation of the evaluation.
Who is involved in the evaluation?
Program partners included in a participatory evaluation might be staff working on a certain program (e.g., museum educators, program managers), program participants (e.g., youth, the general public), or others (e.g., community members, organizational leadership). Who plays a part in the evaluation is typically defined by the organization seeking evaluation work (in our case, our clients) and sometimes informed by feedback from the evaluation team as well.
How are they involved?
Once partners are defined, the extent of their involvement in the evaluation process is jointly determined by the organization and the evaluation team. This can range from limited involvement to empowerment, where the partners guide most of the process, with support from the evaluation team. Many of our projects land somewhere in the middle, where the evaluation team involves the organization in defining goals, fine-tuning or piloting instruments, data collection, interpreting data, and drafting recommendations for program improvement. This approach helps to ensure the organization’s voice is included in every step of the evaluation, and allows us to do what we do best and take the workload off the shoulders of our clients.
What are some benefits of participatory evaluation?
Considering inherent power dynamics (e.g., when working with youth) is crucial in evaluation work. Because a primary interest of participatory evaluation is power-sharing, some of this consideration is already built into its approach.
Participatory evaluation is also a great way for our partner organizations to build capacity for evaluation. By getting involved in the core processes, you can pick up terminology, ways of thinking, and familiarity with systems inherent in evaluation work.
Another benefit of participatory evaluation is that it helps to ensure both the aims of the evaluation and the findings and recommendations are appropriate for the audiences you serve. Sometimes, external evaluators can apply their own lenses to the work, which can be out of sync with your lived experiences. Participatory evaluation ensures a more collaborative and responsive approach to this work.
Interested in learning more about participatory evaluation? Check out this resource from BetterEvaluation.
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