Participatory monitoring, evaluation and learning: Taking stock and breaking new ground

In the context of today’s uncertainty and global crises – such as the Covid 19 pandemic – debates about how evaluation serves decision making, what evidence matters and how it informs policy are ‘fundamental issues’ of our times. Long standing debates about whose voices count when generating evidence, and how equity in outcomes might be understood and achieved are taking centre stage again. 

Proponents of participatory evaluation have long argued that in conditions of uncertainty, including diverse experiences of change from different stakeholder groups in evaluation processes, and opening up space for them to shape design and practice, can lead to more robust evidence of how change actually happens, and support broader learning and greater use of evaluation results.

This book chapter is not Open Access but may be available via institutional library and journal access.

However, a webinar discussing the chapter is available below: