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Evaluating a project
When planning a project evaluation it is extremely important to take into consideration the gender equality expertise of the people who will make the evaluation, and to specify the gender perspective aspects very clearly in their terms of reference. This must be done to ensure that the evaluation examines the project with regard to women and men and gender equality. You must think about what kind of evaluation, and what kind of evaluators, would be most appropriate for the project. One possible alternative from a gender equality perspective would be to recruit a representative of a local women’s organisation who knows about gender equality matters to the evaluation team. Women’s organisations often have wide experience and understanding of gender equality issues in their own countries. It is important that throughout the whole project cycle close attention is paid to everything that has been decided to be done in the project with regard to promoting gender equality and improving the status of women, and full records must be kept in this respect. The formulation of objectives and expected results and the creation of indicators measuring and/or describing them are especially important for the purposes of evaluation. Measurement and/or description of the baseline at the start of the project is also fundamental. Only in this way can a real evaluation be made of the project’s quality and the impacts it has had on gender issues. And still another thing: the results and findings of the evaluation should not just end up in some file in your organisation’s office. By making use of the lessons that have been learned from your own project in particular, whether they involve good results and impacts or obstacles and problems, you can learn to carry out still better development cooperation, of higher quality and still more favourable to gender equality.
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