Institutional Learning and Change Initiative

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Abstract:

The starting point for an evaluation is to ask why it is being conducted, who will benefit, and what impact the evaluation will itself have, and how. Participatory approaches and
methods fit in a paradigm that is pluralist, evolutionary and iterative. They include stakeholder analysis, individual story-telling, participatory social mapping, causal-linkage
and trend and change diagramming, scoring, and brainstorming on program strengths and weaknesses. Well designed and facilitated, participatory methods are rigorous, and
besides offering qualitative insights can count the uncountable, and generate statistics for relevant dimensions that would otherwise be overlooked or regarded as purely
qualitative. They open studies to the voices of those most affected by a project in a ways not possible using more conventional methods and can make the realities and
experiences of poor people count more.