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Ensuring the effectiveness of a capacity building effort requires the appropriate use of evaluation. Yet few organizations have implemented a system for monitoring or evaluating the changes taking place during organizational development. In January 2000, ISNAR along with UPWARD and other partner organizations began the ‘Evaluating Capacity Development’ project, which aims to improve capacity development efforts in research and development organizations through the use of evaluation. This book explains how the project used an action-learning approach, bringing together people from various countries and different types of organizations. Six evaluation studies were conducted over the course of three years, learning a great deal about capacity development and evaluation in the process.

The publication features findings from an UPWARD evaluation study on its partnership with the Northern Philippines Rootcrops Research and Training Center in devloping organizational capacity for participatory research. A key finding from the studies was the importance of involving staff and stakeholders in the evaluation process. A participatory approach helps gain commitment to building the future of an organization and can speed up decision making. As people ‘learn by doing’, they strengthen their own capacity for evaluation and are motivated to pass their knowledge on to others. When conducted in a participatory and structured way, evaluation can make a substantial contribution to improving overall organizational performance.

Access the book on-line.

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