Evaluations always serve a broader purpose, which is to make a particular contribution to an area of public policy and its programmes. The most commonly recognised purposes of evaluation are:
- Planning/efficiency - ensuring that there is a justification for a policy/programme and that resources are efficiently deployed.
- Accountability - demonstrating how far a programme has achieved its objectives, how well it has used its resources and what has been its impact.
- Implementation - improving the performance of programmes and the effectiveness of how they are delivered and managed.
- Institutional strengthening - improving and developing capacity among programme participants and their networks and institutions.
These various evaluation purposes are of interest to different stakeholders and also tend to be associated with different kinds of evaluation questions. For example:
- If the purpose is planning/efficiency, it will mainly meet the needs of planners and policy makers as well as citizens. It is these stakeholders who will be concerned with how public resources are allocated between competing purposes and deployed once they have been allocated. These stakeholders will ask questions such as: is this the best use of public money? Are there alternative uses of resources that would yield more benefit? Is there an equivalence between the costs incurred and the benefits that follow?
- If the purpose of evaluation is accountability , it will mainly meet the needs of policy makers, programme sponsors and parliaments. It is these stakeholders that, having approved a programme or policy, want to know what has happened to the resources committed. This kind of evaluation asks questions such as: How successful has this programme been? Has it met its targets? Have monies been spent effectively and efficiently and with what impact?
- If the purpose of evaluation is implementation, it will mainly meet the needs of programme managers and the programme's main partners. It is these stakeholders who have an interest in improving management and delivery, which is their responsibility. This kind of evaluation asks questions such as: Are the management arrangements working efficiently? Are partners as involved as they need to be? Are programmes properly targeted in terms of eligibility? Is the time-plan being adhered to?
- If the purpose of evaluation is knowledge production, it will mainly meet the needs of policy makers and planners - including those who are planning new programmes. It is these stakeholders who want to know whether the programmes assumptions are being confirmed and what lessons can be learned for the future. This kind of evaluation asks questions such as: What have we now learned about what works? Are the mechanisms for intervention and change better understood? Does the logic of the programme and its assumptions need to be questioned? Is this an efficient way of achieving goals - or are there alternatives? What is the evidence on the sustainability of interventions?
- If the purpose of evaluation is institutional strengthening, it will mainly meet the needs of programme partners and other programme stakeholders. They will want to know how they can be more effective, how their own capacities can be increased and how beneficiaries can get the most out of what the programme promises. This kind of evaluation asks questions such as: Are beneficiaries (and even local communities) sufficiently involved in shaping the programme and its measures? What can be done to increase participation and develop consensus? Are the programme mechanisms supportive and open to 'bottom-up' voices?