Evaluating a project is about looking critically at what is happening in the project and making a judgement about its value, worth or benefit (see the word value' in evaluate). Evaluation is important because it can tell us:
Often people get slightly threatened by the thought of evaluation. It may suggest criticism by others. The essence of evaluation is not to lay blame or fault on people, but to find ways of doing things better and to show what has gone well. Evaluation is a positive process. There are some ways of evaluating that you will be able to integrate easily into the project work.
Some reasons to evaluate include:
Because evaluation is about making a judgement about the value of the project, people's own values, knowledge, responsibilities and accountabilities will affect the results they want and expect from it. Therefore, it is very important that everyone with an interest in the project (a 'stakeholder') is clear about what the project is for - a result that comes from good planning.
The community will be expecting the project team to:
The project team will want to evaluate the project to:
Members of the project team employed by an organisation outside the community must also be accountable to their employer. Employers will be expecting to see that:
The funding body or agency might be looking to see that:
The project team is accountable to the funding body to:
Remember that different stakeholders may have different expectations or interests to be met or preserved. They may judge the value of the project by a different set of criteria than those listed above.