the researchers who design and implement evaluations, and for the service provider organisations that seek to ensure that they can use the findings as evidence for further program funding. This article reflects on our experiences and the issues encountered in attempting to undertake useful small-scale, community-based program evaluation, particularly in regional settings, where the evaluation capacity, practices and cultures of organisations are still evolving.

Cognisant of increasing funder-fundee tensions arising from more externally controlled social program evaluations and considering varied organisational, program, personnel, funding and broader political needs and influences, we have focused on tailoring evaluation approaches to ensure they are robust, relevant and responsive to the varied organisational contexts in which we are endeavouring to strengthen evaluation capacity. The approach that has emerged over the past eight years fits most closely with an empowerment evaluation framework that, although theoretically well suited, has had to be adapted in order to respect, and work productively with the frequently competing imperatives of the different stakeholders involved.

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Building evaluation capability and capacity is a complex task involving enhancing and building technical skills and working closely with individuals and groups to ensure evaluation learning is embedded in organisational philosophy and practice. In this article, we present the evaluation findings of the ‘Easy Evaluation’ initiative, which provides evaluation training workshops and organisational coaching and support, in order to address our central question: Are evaluation training workshops effective and what else is needed?

The findings are organised in line with three levels of Kirkpatrick's four-level evaluation model: trainee reactions, learning and behaviour. The ‘reaction’ and ‘learning’ data indicate that workshops were found to be effective in developing positive responses and enhancing trainee learning for most participants. Evaluation data relating to ‘behaviour’ indicated that just over half the training participants, at least three months following the training, were implementing evaluation activities.

In summary, to build sustainable evaluation practice within organisations, training needs to be supplemented with other evaluation capacity-building strategies.

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This article discusses the subtle distinction between the role of a critical friend in participatory action research (PAR) evaluation and that of intervention project management, along with tensions that arise when the roles become blurred. These tensions are particularly evident when the imperatives for contributing to Māori development and local-level capacity-building impact on PAR evaluation best practice. The article draws on the experiences of evaluators at Whakauae Research for Māori Health and Development (WRMHD), a small, tribally based research unit, which regularly conducts PAR evaluation with community-based health organisations. To set the context, WRMHD's philosophical drivers and model of evaluation practice are described. The key principles of PAR evaluation and limitations of the approach are briefly discussed with reference to WRMHD's model of practice. The article then considers the issue of blurred boundaries; the conditions under which this phenomenon is likely to arise; and why it presents such a challenge to WRMHD's evaluation work. The article concludes by proposing a series of strategies that could be employed to mitigate the tensions that arise when the boundaries between roles become blurred.