Institutional Learning and Change Initiative

The following text is drawn from World Bank (2004).

What are they?
Participatory methods provide active involvement in decision-making for those with a
stake in a project, program, or strategy and generate a sense of ownership in the M&E
results and recommendations.

What can we use them for?

• Learning about local conditions and local people’s perspectives and priorities to design more responsive and sustainable interventions.
• Identifying problems and trouble-shooting problems during implementation.
• Evaluating a project, program, or policy.
• Providing knowledge and skills to empower poor people.

Advantages:

• Examines relevant issues by involving key players in the design process.
• Establishes partnerships and local ownership of projects.
• Enhances local learning, management capacity, and skills.
• Provides timely, reliable information for management decision-making.

Disavantages:

• Sometimes regarded as less objective.
• Time-consuming if key stakeholders are involved in a meaningful way.
• Potential for domination and misuse by some stakeholders to further their own
  interests.

Cost:
Low to medium. Costs vary greatly, depending on scope and depth of application and
on how local resource contributions are valued.

Skills required:
Minimum several days’ training for facilitators.

Time required:
Varies greatly, depending on scope and depth of application.

Source: World Bank (2004). Monitoring and Evaluation: Some Tools, Methods & Approaches. Washington DC, The World Bank. http://lnweb90.worldbank.org/oed/oeddoclib.nsf/b57456d58aba40e585256ad400736404/a5efbb5d776b67d285256b1e0079c9a3/$FILE/MandE_tools_methods_approaches.pdf

For more information:

• Guijt, I. and J. Gaventa (1998). Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K.: http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop/briefs/brief12.html

• http://www.worldbank.org/participation/partme.htm