New ASC Infosheet: The impact of Participatory Assessment of Development (PADev) on local change processes in East Mamprusi District Northern Ghana

This infosheet focuses on local change processes initiated by Participatory Assessment of Development (PADev). It looks into the influence of PADev at the level of evaluation workshop participants – in this case beneficiaries of development assistance in the East-Mamprusi district in Northern Ghana. Research conducted in 2010 by Zjos Vaminck has identified five local change processes: local history writing; learning from peers; collective problem solving; community support groups and incorporating PADev’s findings in Community Action Plans. Based on these findings the infosheet concludes that participatory evaluation approaches should take into account the unintended influences of evaluation exercises at the local level. By doing so, PADev, and other participatory evaluation methods, can become more than a means to extract local knowledge but can contribute to local change processes. (Photo: Chief of Wundua, a participant in the PADev workshops in Langbinsi, Ghana. Photo by Kees van der Geest).

This is ASC Infosheet nr 21. Read the full text.