STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION IN M&E
WHO ARE THE STAKEHOLDERS?
A stakeholder is anyone who has a "stake" in the programme or situation/issue being assessed:



Anyone directly affected by it
Anyone who can influence it
Anyone who wants an answer regarding it.
“Primary stakeholders” are those meant to benefit from a programme, or in the case of a situation
assessment, those directly affected by a situation/issue.
The participation of a broader range of stakeholders in M&E has been increasingly recognised as being a
critical factor in use of M&E conclusions, recommendations and lessons (see core content sheet Focus on
use and users).
A human rights-based approach to programming adds emphasis to the participation of primary stakeholders
(see core content sheet Primary stakeholders participating in M&E). For more on children’s participation,
see core content sheet Children participating in research and M&E: Ethics and your responsibilities as a
manager.
PARTICIPATION AS A CONTINUUM
Participatory
Participatory planning, monitoring
and evaluation implies higher
levels of participation:
Participation can have a wide
range of meanings:
 People can participate without
sharing responsibility or
ownership.
 People can participate where
the process is led by others.
 Participation can be passive.
 Participation, at its worst, can
mean manipulation.
Participation
The degree of participation in
an M&E activity can vary along
a continuum from low to high
based on what key steps or
activities stakeholders are
involved in — some steps are
more pivotal than others in
shaping results — and what
role stakeholders have in each
case.
 People are helped to define
their own problems and
solutions.
 There is a high degree of
ownership.
 People have active rather than
passive roles.
 The process is empowering.
The guiding principle in
participatory planning, M&E is that
the process is as important as the
product itself. The process itself
leads to key results in terms of
empowerment.
The ideal of participatory approaches and participatory M&E is to enable people to take an active role in their
own development: to be actors in the development process is the ultimate goal. In general, expanding any
group of actors’ participation is a long process, the first stages of which are incremental participation in
decision-making, planning, monitoring and evaluation. It is therefore useful to see participation on a
continuum.
UNICEF M&E Training Resource
Stakeholder participation in M&E 1/3
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF PARTICIPATION IN M&E?
The breadth and degree of stakeholder participation feasible in M&E activities will depend in part on the kind
of participation achieved in the programme, or in the case of assessment, in the national and local
processes. Nonetheless, M&E activities can be used to open greater participation.
Expanding the breadth and depth of stakeholders’ participation brings changes to many aspects of an M/E
activity — its focus and purpose as well as the process required for carrying it out. The table below shows
how different breadth and degrees of stakeholder participation, again seeing participation on a continuum, is
likely to influence the nature of a particular M&E activity.
The table highlights points to the fact that not every M&E activity can fit the interests and needs of all
stakeholders. Good overall M&E planning for a programme requires a judicious selection of M&E activities
that respond to different users (e.g. external donors, international organisations, national partners, primary
stakeholders) and different purposes (e.g. external accountability, or capacity building of national partners, or
expanding space for primary stakeholder voice and participation). Ideally there will a few strategically
important M&E activities where a broader range of stakeholders can be brought together to explore common
research/evaluation questions. For UNICEF staff, this important to consider in developing an IMEP,
including budgeting the appropriate time and staff to support management of a more complex process.
UNICEF M&E Training Resource
Stakeholder participation in M&E 2/3
Top Down
Bottom Up,
Participatory
Who initiates?
External donor or international
implementing organisation
Who participates
in management?
External donor or
international implementing
organisation
Who participates
in design?
External consultant
Role of external
evaluator
(if used)
Role of primary
stakeholders
Plans, manages and decides what and how
to evaluate
Focus
Institutional priorities (i.e. as related to specific organisational policies). Focus
on macro-level results
Purpose
Upwards accountability.
Demonstrate cost effectiveness
Design
Predetermined
Who define
success?
Externally defined; mainly by
experts or senior managers
Through stakeholder participation – mainly facilitated by evaluator
What is
measured?
Preference for measuring
outcomes/impact, particularly
quantifiable measures
Qualitative and quantitative results
Techniques
Extractive. Observation and
documents, formal methods, e.g.
surveys
Information
sharing
One-way exchange. Emphasis on the “report”, accountability, specialised
information
Ownership of
results
Donor focus and ownership of results
Provide information
only
An organisation and its key partner organisations
An organisation and its key
partners (internal
stakeholders)
Consultant with organisations’
staff
Key stakeholders, internal
and external
Primary stakeholders
Key stakeholders including
primary stakeholders
Consultant with key stakeholders to varying degrees according
to capacities and interests
Primary stakeholders
Self-assessment by
primary stakeholders
Acts as facilitator; demystifies evaluation process, including suggesting tools, approaches as needed;
democratises evaluation process, with attention to power imbalance and protecting space for contrasting
views
Provide information and
participate in validation of
data and conclusions
Participate in design of methods, data
collection and analysis for issues
matching their priorities
Improve programme activities and
management; internal accountability
Participate from design
through to data analysis,
dissemination and use
Community priorities. Focus results of programme as well as on process of
programme and M/E activity (e.g. results vis-à-vis capacity building)
Learning from experience; adjusting
programme; accountability (up and
down)
Partially adaptive, e.g. adding adjusting research/evaluation
questions and adapting methods correspondingly in course
Consultative. Still extractive vis-à-vis
primary stakeholders, using more closed
methods
Manage, design,
implement, including use
of M/E results
Learning at community level;
capacity building
Adaptive, flexible
Defined by community project staff or
other stakeholders
Results/changes as perceived locally, not
always quantifiable; good for capturing
expected and unexpected results
Collaborative. Use of PRA techniques.
Open to primary stakeholders defining
questions, issues
Empowering. Training for selfevaluation. Awareness raising
Transparency, dialogue. Emphasis on learning, empowerment, shared
ownership of results
Broader stakeholder ownership of results
Adapted from: Interact (2001, Draft), Evaluating participatory, deliberative and co-operative ways of working; USAID, Pasteur and Blauert (2000).
UNICEF M&E Training Resource
Stakeholder participation in M&E 3/3
Community-level ownership