Most evaluations have a number of stakeholders, ranging from consumers to experts in the area, including service providers and managers. It is important that all categories of stakeholder be involved at all stages of an evaluation. Failure to involve any group may hinder success in completion of the evaluation and seriously affect confidence in your findings. It is therefore important that you identify all stakeholders and seek their involvement and participation in the evaluation. This ensures that they feel a part of the evaluation process, which, in turn, markedly enhances the probability of their accepting the findings. The following steps outline a process for involving stakeholders in an evaluation study.
Step 1 Identifying stakeholders. First of all, talk with managers, planners, programme administrators, service providers and the consumers of the programme either individually or collectively, and identify who they think are the direct and indirect stakeholders. Having collected this information, share it with all groups of stakeholders to see if anyone has been left out. Prepare a list of all stakeholders making sure it is acceptable to all significant ones. If there are any disagreements, it is important to resolve them.
Step 2 Involving stakeholders. In order to develop a common perspective with respect to various aspects of the evaluation, it is important that different categories of stakeholder be actively involved in the whole process of evaluation from the identification of their concerns to the sharing of its findings. In particular, it is important to involve them in developing a framework for evaluation, selecting the evaluation indicators, and developing procedures and tools for their measurement.
step 3 Developing a common perspective among stakeholders towards the evaluation. Different stakeholders may have different understandings of the word ‘evaluation’. Some may have a very definite opinion about it and how it should be carried out while others may not have any conception. different stakeholders may also have different opinions about the relevance of a particular piece of information for answering an evaluation question. or they may have different interests. To make evaluation meaningful to the majority of stakeholders, it is important that their perspectives and understandings of evaluation be understood and that a common perspective on the evaluation be arrived at during the planning stage.
step 4 Resolving conflicts of interest. As an evaluator, if you find that stakeholders have strong opinions and there is a conflict of interest among them with respect to any aspect of the evaluation, it is extremely important to resolve it. However, you have to be very careful in resolving differences and must not give the impression that you are favouring any particular subgroup.
step 5 Identifying the information stakeholders need from the proposed evaluation. Identify, from each group of stakeholders, the information they think is important to meet their needs and the objectives of the evaluation.
step 6 Forming a steering committee. For routine consultation, the sharing of ideas and day- to-day decision making, it is important that you ask the stakeholders to elect a steering committee with whom you, as the evaluator, can consult and interact. In addition to providing you with a forum for consultation and guidance, such a committee gives stakeholders a continuous sense of involvement in the evaluation.
Source: Kumar Ranjit (2012), Research methodology: a step-by-step guide for beginners, SAGE Publications Ltd; Third edition.
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