This document (in Spanish) (final version) describes the development of participatory evaluation carried out in 2016 and 2017 in the Limón province of Costa Rica. The project was promoted by the Evaluation Capacity Development Project (FOCEVAL) in Latin America and the Caribbean, carried out by the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) together with the Costa Rican Ministry of National Planning (MIDEPLAN) with the support and participation of the Defensoría de los Habitantes (Ombudsman) for Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Department for Social Security (CCSS).
As the report details, different participatory tools were used in this evaluation. One of them was exclusively designed for this purpose and was subsequently used as a support tool for cancer prevention. It consists of an instrument designed in the format of a simulation game; a game to provoke thinking. It is called Mitos y Creencias Sobre el Cáncer (Myths and Beliefs Around Cancer).
It is directed at people who have no medical training with the aim of exchanging opinions and thoughts around myths and beliefs that exist regarding this disease. It also makes explicit which ideas are true and which are not from a medical perspective. The game, used as an evaluation tool, valued how successful prevention campaigns in the area had been. Once this evaluation had been completed, it was decided that it would be useful to adopt this game as a tool to support the prevention campaigns in community health centres and a few modifications were made for this purpose. All the material is available and can be used, recreated and/or adapted as necessary. The game includes an instruction and help manual, a board and cover, a set of 60 cards and 10 wild cards, and a points table. To play, you will also need a dice and hourglass.
To disseminate this experience, a “home-grown” testimonial video was created. This was used by the Health Board representatives who took a leading role in the evaluation as they made authorities as well as their own communities aware of the process, results and evaluation recommendations.