Communities of Ownership

Empowerment evaluation is the use of evaluation concepts, techniques, and findings to foster improvement and self-determination. The process is individualized for each project and community. Participatory Action Research / Popular Education form the basis of the assessment method. Empowerment evaluation has an unambiguous orientation – it is designed to help people help themselves and improve their programs using a form of self-evaluation and reflection. Program participants (including people served) conduct their own evaluations. An outside facilitator serves as a coach or additional facilitator (David Fetterman 2001). Empowerment evaluation is fundamentally a democratic process. Three critical steps imbedded in each community process are: establishing the vision, taking stock of and identifying significant activities and charting a course for the future.

Action Assessment