PEI Approach & Principles

The PEI Approach

Participatory Evaluation is a collaborative approach which includes partners, interest-holders and community members in all aspects of the design and implementation of evaluation and assessment projects. We aim to build skills, strengthen relationships and foster shared ownership of evaluation systems and data, leading to more impactful and relevant data for public health programs.

Principles of Participatory Evaluation

The Participatory Evaluation Institute employs a participatory model of evaluation which involves program staff, partners, and community members in a collaborative process to assess the impact of public health programs. We employ the principles of participatory evaluation in all our projects.

Flexible and Collaborative

• We collaborate in all aspects of evaluation - from creating the evaluation plan to designing the instruments to understand and share results. We strive to provide our partners with tools, training, and knowledge to understand the evaluation and data collection process and share ownership of the results.

Mutual Learning

• We are equally committed to building the evaluation expertise of our partners and our own capacity to understand the complexity of designing and implementing programs in community settings.

Grounded in community knowledge and expertise

• Recognize the knowledge and expertise of the organization doing the work and the communities they work with.

Advocate for partners

• Contribute to program sustainability by providing evidence of the program's value to organizational representatives and/or future funders.

Build Program Capacity

• We strive to provide our partners with the tools, training, and knowledge to understand the evaluation and share ownership of the results.

PEI Process

The PEI works with organizations before, during and after a funding or project period and we strive to be flexible and collaborative at every stage. Our work and collaboration often includes: 

• Before: orientation and goal setting meetings to develop and refine evaluation and project activities and plans; community and interest holder identification
• During: discussion surrounding continuous quality improvement, sustainability and co-designing of activities; participatory and [quantitative] data collection activities and technical support; community building and interest holder engagement facilitation support; grant and project progress reporting; dissemination and outreach activities
• After: continued support for ongoing, sustaining or pivoting activities; ongoing dissemination efforts; support in finding and applying for additional funding 

Learn More

To learn more about the Participatory Evaluation Institute or explore partnership opportunities, please contact Katy Ortiz y Pino at kmtucker@arizona.edu.