Participatory evaluation for development: Examining research-based knowledge from within the African context

Jill Anne Chouinard · J. Bradley Cousins

34 citations0/0 files storedAfrican Evaluation Journal

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Evaluation and Performance Assessment Community and Sustainable Development Participatory Visual Research Methods

Abstract

Background: Participatory and collaborative approaches to evaluation have grown in popularity in recent years, as program contexts increasingly require more culturally responsive and inclusive approaches to addressing complex community, program and organisational needs.This is particularly the case in development evaluation contexts such as Africa. We recently conducted a systematic review and integration of the literature on participatory evaluation that included the review of 121 empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals and other outlets (Cousins & Chouinard 2012). In that review, only 21 studies derived from development contexts and, of those, only six from Africa.Objectives: In this article, we considered the applicability and relevance of the thematic discussion by Cousins & Chouinard (2012) to the African development context through a close-up look at research in Africa on participatory evaluation.Method: We carefully examined the African studies and, through a conceptual critique, re-examined the prior thematic analysis.Results: We observed that some themes did not give primacy to context and relationships which are essential considerations in the African context. Further, an emphasis on empowerment-oriented outcomes begs attention to societal, cultural and economic considerations, implication for evaluators’ roles and a deeper understanding of power issues.Conclusion: We concluded that our thematic discussion did not resonate well with participatory evaluation in development contexts and that a much more focused and targeted review and integration of research was warranted.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 34 citations exist upstream.

References

2018Utilization-Focused Evaluation 2012Utilization-Focused Evaluation 2004Evaluation Roots : Tracing Theorists' Views and Influences 2009Research on Evaluation Use 2012A Research Synthesis of the Evaluation Capacity Building Literature 1998Who Counts Reality? Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: A Literature Review 2013The Case for Participatory Evaluation in an Era of Accountability 2000Learning from Change

Cited by

2017Evaluating a complex research capacity-building intervention: Reflections on an evaluation of the African Institutions Initiative 2019The transformative and emancipatory potential of participatory evaluation: reflections from a participatory action research study with war-affected young mothers 2015Does Research on Evaluation Matter? Findings From a Survey of American Evaluation Association Members and Prominent Evaluation Theorists and Scholars 2017A proposed monitoring and evaluation curriculum based on a model that institutionalises monitoring and evaluation 2022An evidence gap map on Made in Africa Evaluation approaches: Exploration of the achievements

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.