Participatory evaluation in Latin America: principles and good practices

RODRÍGUEZ BILELLA, PABLO

Exposici�n; Fall 2021 Eminent Scholar Lecturer; 2021

University of Central Florida?s Center for Public and Nonprofit Management

The COVID 19 pandemic has exacerbated the gap felt by the most vulnerable collectives especially hit by the crisis. In most cases, the state has been unable to offer an efficient response when faced with the abyss of poverty and inequality encountered especially in the Global South. In this context, participatory evaluation functions as an approach that enables programmes to be reviewed and improved from a local perspective, opening up new spaces for understanding and dialogue, deemed particularly necessary in pandemic times. This presentation gives an account of the participatory traditions rooted in the region that paved the way for its development of participatory evaluation. For this, the key principles of participatory evaluation that have been developed based on several experiences of this approach in the region will be presented. Finally, in order to illuminate the research agenda around this topic, the possibilities and limitations detected in terms of strengthening the participatory approach in evaluation in Latin America and the Caribbean will be discussed.