BUILDING SOCIAL POLICY EVALUATION CAPACITY

The last three years have seen an increasing interest in evaluation in the public sector in New Zealand. This trend could result in an adequately resourced and sophisticated approach to evaluation, involving policy and provider levels within government, Mäori and third-sector/community organisations. This in turn could lead to better formed and implemented social programmes and policies. On the other hand, it is possible that unrealistic expectations, an unsophisticated model of evaluation, lack of strategic involvement of stakeholders and inadequate investment in appropriate evaluation capacity building will result in the current wave of enthusiasm ultimately turning to disillusionment. If we use the current increased interest in evaluation to build and embed a sophisticated evaluation capacity across the social policy sector we are likely to see a more positive outcome. To achieve this we need to use appropriate evaluation models, including those appropriate for Mäori programmes; build a sector culture of evaluation through appropriate evaluation training and awareness-raising at all levels; and attempt to foster strategic, sector-wide priority setting of evaluation questions