Today we would like to share with this community of practice and learning, EvalParticipativa, the experience and perspective of the international organisation Fe y Alegría regarding its connection to participatory evaluation.

The article highlights a recent institutional document produced by this organisation, created by members of the Commission responsible for its collective construction: Beatriz Borjas, Antonio Pérez Esclarín and Vicente Palop. In this post, they first introduce us to aspects of Fe y Alegría’s identity and activity as a context for its main commitment to popular education, a key element and close relative to participatory evaluation as we shared in our post When cousins meet and in the handbook, Sowing and Harvesting.

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by Celeste Ghiano (*)

When reviewing the objectives of the EvalParticipativa Community, I read: ‘[…]our aim is that this space can be used for the social and collective construction of knowledge on participatory evaluation without the need for an “expert” or “trainer”...’  I also read ‘[…]horizontal and collective learning’. And it automatically brings to mind ideas from Popular Education (Freire), Justice against Epistemicide (de Souza Santos) and Interculturality.

Our region has spent years developing alternative ways of thinking about evaluative processes, deconstructing ways of thinking and doing.  This has introduced interesting debates that have led us to reflect not only on how to evaluate but also on who should evaluate (and from what knowledge and what feelings).

The Network for Monitoring, Evaluation and Systematization of Latin America and the Caribbean (ReLAC) promotes the development of these topics through its working groups. Thus, the group, Evaluate from Latin America and the group Evaluation Standards for Latin America and the Caribbean, develop and exchange ideas, and generate theoretical and practical knowledge to cause us to think and reflect along these lines and in accordance with the network’s mission and objectives.

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by Kylie L. Kingston

My participatory evaluation research journey was sparked by a motivation to involve young children, as the beneficiaries of an educational program, in evaluating their pre-school program. I wanted children to have the opportunity to participate in designing and using evaluation processes, so as to have their voice heard and to impact on programs and activities they were involved in.

Subsequently, this motivation broadened to include beneficiaries of any age and led to my masters and PhD research in which I sought to understand beneficiaries’ perspectives on participating in evaluating nonprofit organisations. After all, if beneficiaries don’t want to be involved in evaluation processes, requiring them to be is unlikely to be a useful, empowering or voice-giving experience.

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by Sara Vaca

After studying business and spending my early career working in the private sector, discovering what “participation” meant, albeit theoretically, was key. I understood that “participation” meant that several stakeholders had a voice (and vote) in decision making during the four phases of the evaluation: the design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation… seemed simple enough!

From that moment (back in 2012), I began to notice that most evaluation reports included in their summary or methodology something along the lines of: “this is a (highly) participatory evaluation”, and some even mentioned it in the title itself (“participatory evaluation of…”), when what they really meant was that they had consulted many people or groups, but only as informants…! I wondered why they called it participation when what they actually meant was that they had consulted a wide sample.

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The deadline to deliver the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is approaching fast. The world is challenged and struggling to gain a foothold with the COVID-19 crisis still looming large. Bold, ambitious and inclusive actions can turn it around for the people and the planet. At the same time, solutions that have the highest transformative power to change people’s lives must be scaled up. With a world population younger than ever before, engaging with youth in development processes, including in evaluation, can provide the impetus and the multiplier effect to get the Sustainable Development Goals back to course.

The imperative

Inclusive and meaningful engagement of youth in evaluation provides an unparalleled opportunity to make development programmes responsive to the needs and demands of the youth. It raises youth voices and agency and recognizes them as active leaders and contributors in building a sustainable world. When the power of youth is harnessed in evaluation through meaningful ways, it can bring innovation, increase evaluation quality, enhance the relevance and the transformational power of evaluation.

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