Program Evaluation: Why Process Matters

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to show how program evaluations can either contribute to or impede peace building depending on how they were done. When the emphasis is strictly on technical considerations or the evaluation is driven by outsider concerns, there is a significant likelihood that the evaluation process may undermine or weaken the peace building processes that the program had intended to strengthen. The chapter begins with an analysis of how evaluations often are frequently non-peaceful by virtue of using processes that are imposed by outsiders, objectify or discriminate against local people, or marginalizes local beliefs and practices. Having examined why non-peaceful evaluations occur, it then suggests that critical reflection and action are the corner stones of not only peace building practice but also efforts to evaluate peace building programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)