Building the capacity of grassroots conservation organizations to conduct participatory evaluation

Stakeholder participation has become a key factor in the success of grassroots conservation and natural resource management programs. Yet the majority of program evaluations are conducted by external consultants for the purposes of accountability, rather than program improvement. Too often, systematic evaluations of conservation programs are not conducted at all. The objective of this study was to build the capacity of a grassroots conservation organization to conduct participatory evaluation, involving project stakeholders in the design, implementation, and use of evaluation. The study applied a conceptual model for participatory evaluation to the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya (WCK), the largest grassroots conservation program for youth in Africa, involving more than one million youth since 1968. Seven trainings in participatory evaluation were conducted with WCK staff, teachers, and community members. The 120 participants, representing nine WCK regions with 800 clubs, showed a significant increase in attitudes and knowledge regarding evaluation, as reflected by mean test scores before and after training. To institutionalize evaluation at WCK, existing organizational practices were assessed and used as a foundation for developing an evaluation system. Based on club competitions, a new evaluation initiative was launched called the WCK Incentive Program. Participants in all seven workshops identified indicators and sources of evidence for this evaluation system, which now serves as a basis for rewarding outstanding performance in WCK. This study revealed the importance of incentives for evaluation, the need to build on existing structures to promote organizational learning, and the necessity for the conservation community to commit resources to capacity building in participatory evaluation.