Translating project achievements into strategic plans: A case study in utilization-focused evaluation

Utilization-focused evaluation (UFE) is a decision- making framework intended to design and implement evaluations which stakeholders will use. In its original form, the approach consisted of twelve steps that enabled the evaluation team and organizational and project stakeholders to take ownership of the evaluation design. UFE is methodologically neutral in that data collection methods are selected on the basis of the evaluation questions that are posed, and the nature of the data or evidence that is needed to respond to them.
In this case study, the UFE approach was applied to a youth training and employment program in Kenya. The original request for proposals called for a final evaluation to take place near the end of a five-year project. The evaluation was meant to inform the last year of the project implementation, as well as the design of a subsequent project. This paper summarizes the evaluation process, the findings and their utilization, and it documents the merits of the process as perceived by the primary evaluation users.
This paper addresses the following research questions:
1. To what extent does UFE provide enabling factors for funders and grantees to turn evaluation into a learning intervention?
2. What are the features in UFE that help clarify a project’s theory of change?
3. How can UFE provide a bridge between a summative review of achievements and a developmental contribution to future work?
The practical dimensions of the first two questions will interest both commissioners and practitioners of evaluation. The first and third questions are meant to expand both practical and conceptual dimensions of evaluation use that may appeal to evaluation scholars.