This guide is primarily for evaluators working in the international development sector. However, if you are a commissioner of an evaluation, an evaluation manager or a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) officer, you too will find it useful. Too often evaluations are shelved, with very little being done to bring about change within organisations that requested the evaluation in the first place. This guide will explain how you can make your evaluations more useful. It will help you to better understand some conceptual issues and appreciate how evaluations can contribute to changing mindsets and empowering stakeholders. On a practical level, the guide presents core guiding principles and pointers on how to design and facilitate evaluations that matter. Furthermore, it shows you how you can get your primary intended users and other key stakeholders to contribute effectively to the evaluation process. Learning is an important aspect of any evaluation. Without this, it would be difficult for change to take place at any level. A case is also made for evaluations to be integrated into the existing learning process within organisations. Strategic questions such as ‘Am I doing the right things for the ‘right’ people?’ and ‘Am I doing things right?’ are also addressed with a view to improving the way in which organisations manage their development interventions. You can be a facilitator of change. You can do this through your interactions with your colleagues – commissioners, evaluation managers, evaluators, M&E officers and other key stakeholders – by promoting good evaluative practice. We hope that you will enjoy reading this guide and, at the same time, gain a deeper appreciation of how useful ‘good’ evaluations can be in strategically managing development interventions and making a difference in the lives of people.
