OPS 26. The Monitoring and Evaluation of Empowerment

The purpose of this resource document is to introduce key issues for development practitioners concerning the concept of empowerment and its evaluation in order to provide resource material for workshops that might be based on the theme of Empowerment or might include it in its discussions. The resource document begins with a discussion of the concept of empowerment, providing an overview of various interpretations and approaches that have been developed. A series of brief case studies are presented of a number of different NGO projects that have been concerned with empowerment. there then follows a chapter which sets out basic guidelines for monitoring and evaluating social development. This will serve as a general introduction to monitoring and evaluation for those who are unfamiliar with the issues. The next section presents a detailed case study of one approach to monitor and evaluate an empowerment project. Then is a review of methods and instruments for collecting information and a detailed bibliography. Finally there is a practical exercise on the M and E of Empowerment based on four short case studies.