Participatory evaluations: making projects work

This guide introduces the rationale for participatory evaluations and presents some broad guidelines for facilitating them. It discusses why planners should consider participatory evaluation and how to go about making this approach work to the best advantage. The first section gives some background to the concept of involving beneficiaries in different phases of project management, and reviews five illustrative cases where participatory research has been a key factor in project success. The second section gives practical advice on how to put participants together in teams, how to train them in the basics of research, how to select methods that match their skills and concerns, and how to use the results. The same case studies are drawn on to show how concrete cases of participatory evaluations have worked to contribute to project management.