Participatory Meta-Evaluation: Increasing Meta-Evaluation Use Through Engagement

Abstract

Despite being cemented in the Joint Committee Standards as a tenet of high-quality evaluation practice, use of meta-evaluation remains limited. One contributing factor to the limited utility of meta-evaluation may be that meta-evaluation is perceived as a burdensome process that necessitates a large degree of time, resources, and expertise to be completed successfully. To remedy this gap and embed meta-evaluation as a regular aspect of evaluation practice, the authors propose a new framework for conducting meta-evaluation. Termed participatory meta-evaluation, this new framework makes program partners active participants in the meta-evaluation process with the goal of enhancing the utility of meta-evaluation findings and the use of meta-evaluation in practice. The three principles of participatory meta-evaluation as well as the perceived benefits of participatory meta-evaluation compared to traditional forms of meta-evaluation are discussed. The authors conclude with a call to action encouraging other evaluators to practice participatory meta-evaluation and document its effects.