Evaluation

Evaluation is much like monitoring, but it usually comes at the end of a longer period of time. It is also more comprehensive. And often the project holders engage an outside professional to come and do an objective and critical evaluation of the project.

In the case of Asante Shoe Repairs, being a small company, they could have carried out an evaluation themselves. On the other hand, since the relationship between the partners had become a bit strained, they could have asked an outside evaluator to come and look into their business and find out what was going right and what was going wrong. The evaluator would have carried out both a financial and business analysis of the company as well as a "structural" analysis, i.e. an analysis of the organisation and decision-making structures of the enterprise.

When a project is funded by a donor agency, it is usual for the donor to seek its evaluation at the end of the project period, or mid-way between the project cycle. The donor normally likes to know if the money given as a loan or a grant has been used according to the initially agreed objectives and conditions, and what needs to be done if things are not going according to plan.

Here it is important to introduce the concept of participatory evaluation. This is evaluation by an external person (or company) with the participation of the project holders. The advantage here is that it combines the skills and objective perspective of an outside evaluator with the project holders' knowledge of the inner dynamics of the organisation or project.

The evaluator holds a mirror through which the project holders engage in a critical self-appraisal.