Why do we evaluate?
There are several reasons that you might want to evaluate your project and its work, and accordingly there are different ways to evaluate. Your approach will be determined by your motives.
Some reasons for wanting to understand the outcomes and impact that your project is having on people and places include:
- Apply self-regulation & accept feedback
- seeing which parts are particularly successful or unsuccessful and what needs to be adapted
- to understand how to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of the project
- learning on what works for whom, when and why
- Accountability & Communicating results – Individuals or organizations have the responsibility to account for their activities, take ownership, and be transparent about the results. Evaluation can help us to provide an account of the project to different stakeholders:
- Funders
- Participants
- Community
- Network
- Celebrate achievements and motivate the team
- To support future funding proposals by demonstrating the value and achievements of the project or organisation.
Evaluation can provide evidence to inform decisions on whether to continue a project, how to improve it, how to minimise risk, or whether to stop and invest elsewhere.
Action learning 1.4: What are YOUR project’s motivations for doing evaluation work? They might include the reasons given above, or something else. Put them in priority order for your project.