Ideology and process of participatory evalution

An experiment in Participatory Evaluation of some Social
Housing Projects in Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil
Nadu was initiated by the Indian Social Institute in collabora-
tion with the Development Education Service, Mangalore.
After the process of self-evaluation was completed, the parti-
cipating Development Agencies came together for a meeting
at the Workers' Centre, Bangalore.
This monograph is an offshoot of this process. It describes
at first the reasons why the collaborating organisations consid-
ered a traditional type of external evaluation not fruitful. It
then goes on to describe the ideology of participatory evalua-
tion, its methodology, the role of the facilitator, the external
organisation, the Development Agency and the people. It in-
sists that the real actors are the people themselves, be it in
development or in evaluation.
Many statements made in this monograph are derived from
the experience of the participatory evaluation which was asses-
sed at the meeting in Bangalore. Other indications of the
approach to be taken were found in another evaluation in
Bangalore and in conversation with activists. This publication,
while giving the ideology, the process and the methodology of
participatory evaluation, uses these experiences as examples.
From the experience of this evaluation, we realised the main
strengths and weaknesses of a participatory approach, the
conditions required for this process to be successful, the short-
comings of this process and possible solutions to problems
caused in the course of this evaluation. We hope that these
reflections which came primarily from the persons involved in
the process will help others who would like to initiate a pro-
cess of participatory evaluation.