Integrating Human Rights in Program Evaluation: Lessons From Law and Health Programs in Kenya

Abstract

Methods for assessing both the inclusion and impact of human rights within health program design and implementation are still nascent. We used human rights concepts and methods to evaluate the programs of three Kenyan nongovernmental organizations that integrate legal and health services as a means to empower key populations to better understand and claim their rights and improve their access to health care and justice. Drawing on evaluation experiences and results, this paper demonstrates that the systematic application of human rights principles and strategies can support the conceptualization of monitoring and evaluation objectives through logic model design, the identification and selection of appropriate evaluation measures, and the analysis of evaluation data. This evaluation represents an important step in moving human rights-related evaluation work beyond the mere conceptual and into the operational.