Evaluating the impact of grassroots development funding : an experimental methodology applied to eight IAF (Inter-American Foundation) projects.

Report of an experimental methodology used to evaluate the impact, in terms of concrete changes to people's lives, of eight small IAF funded projects. Cost/benefit analysis was applied to a wide range of project impacts, such as the added convenience and savings in time that expansion of services to isolated communities can bring to families. Questions of organizational development were also included in the evaluation and levels of participation, the locus of internal decision-making, flexibility, demonstration of effect and the influence an innovative project can have on government policy at various levels, all taken into account.