3. Evaluation

Evaluating your programme provides tangible information on the impact and outcomes of your programme, and to what extent your programme has reached the initial objectives. The evaluation provides key information on programme feasibility, acceptance (within the target community), or effectiveness. It is an integral part of programme management, and should be built, budgeted, and planned into every programme from the beginning.

Reasons to evaluate a programme include:

• Increasing your organization’s or a partner organizations’ capacity,
• Building the buy-in of staff, partners, target groups, and other stakeholders for the programme or for related activities,
• Satisfying donor and/or institutional requirements,
• Fostering donor trust,
• Improving programme impact,
• Improving the programme process,
• Sharing learning with others,
• Promoting implementation of your project/programme on a larger scale,
• Helping adapt your activities to changing circumstances,
• Increasing your organization’s visibility/credibility.

Being clear on the reasons for evaluating a programme, and the priorities among them, is essential to both planning the evaluation and using the results. 

The evaluation can be very complex and expensive, but it does not have to be. This toolkit focuses on low-cost and simple ways to monitor and evaluate programmes promoting healthy diet and physical activity among and through children.

This toolkit divides the evaluation process into three categories:

• Planning the evaluation
• Conducting the evaluation
• Using evaluation results