What is Empowerment Evaluation?
From Fetterman & Wandersman (2004), Empowerment Evaluation Principles in Practice.
One approach or “way” of doing evaluation is empowerment evaluation. The aims are to increase the probability of achieving program success by:
- Providing prevention team with a framework for how to assess, plan, implement and evaluate their program, and
- "Mainstreaming" evaluation as part of the planning and management of the program
This effort is guided by 10 empowerment evaluation principles:
Principle 1: Improvement
- The focus is to help programs succeed
Principle 2: Community Ownership
- The program, organization, and/or community has control over the evaluation
Principle 3: Inclusion
- Involves direct participation of all key stakeholders
Principle 4: Democratic Participation
- The approach is a collaborative process
Principle 5: Social Justice
- The aim is to make a difference with an eye toward the larger social good
Principle 6: Community Knowledge
- Communitybasedknowledge and wisdom are valued and promoted
Principle 7: Evidence-based Strategies
- The approach respects the knowledge base of scholars and practitioners who have provided information about what works in other communities
Principle 8: Capacity Building
- When the team knows the basic steps of evaluation, they are better able to understand the results and use them for program improvement
Principle 9: Organizational Learning
- The approach fosters a culture of institutional learning
Principle 10: Accountability
- The approach measures both process and outcome objectives established by the team to determine whether the program achieved its goals. Positive and negative results are seen as valuable and informative to program improvement
What Is Getting To Outcomes (GTO)?
- GTO is a 10 step framework for planning, implementation and evaluation that is intended to increase success towards goals
- Compliments the empowerment evaluation philosophy
By using GTO framework, programs are thought to increase their probability of achieving outcomes and demonstrate their accountability to stakeholders.