Stakeholders can include • • • • •
participants direct beneficiaries indirect beneficiaries development organizations that provide funding government officials, elected officials, and government employees with relevant interests, such as planners and public health nurses • program directors, staff, board members, managers, and volunteers • policy makers • community and interest groups or associations, including those that may have a different agenda from the program officials. Stakeholders often approach an intervention from different perspectives. A donor may be concerned that money is spent appropriately and that the intervention is effective. A program manager may be concerned that the intervention is well managed and is generating lessons learned. Program participants may want to receive more or better services. Policy makers may be most concerned with whether the intervention is having its intended impact. Others in the community may want to replicate or expand the intervention or limit what they perceive as negative consequences of the intervention. This diversity of interests is a good thing, which may be revealed in initial discussions. The roles of each individual or group in relation to the evaluation and its potential use should be clearly identified (table 4.1). Identifying and involving key stakeholders Key stakeholders can be identified by looking at documents about the intervention and talking with the main evaluation client, program sponsors, program staff, local officials, and program participants. Stakeholders can be interviewed initially or brought together in small groups. In contacting stakeholders about the evaluation, the evaluation planner must be clear about what the purpose is in talking to each stakeholder (making them aware of the upcoming evaluation, asking them to identify issues they would like the evaluation to address). Increasing the use of an evaluation is a process that begins by meeting with the main client and engaging key stakeholders in the evaluation design. It is not something that happens when the evaluation report is complete and about to be disseminated. For some evaluations, key stakeholder meetings are held periodically, or an even more formal structure is established. The evaluation manager may set up an advisory or steering committee structure. Understanding the Evaluation Context and the Program Theory of Change
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