Effectiveness of Empowerment Evaluation Approach in Community Programs
Njoroge, N. N; Wambugu, L.N; Wanyoike, J.N; Gathiru, M.K

Abstract
With evident growth in the popularity and credibility of stakeholders’ involvement approaches to inquiry, it is increasingly important to consider ways to advance the field along theoretical and practical lines. Empowerment approaches in evaluation are increasingly recognized as important in the development evaluation as well as the evaluation contexts in developed countries. Although considerable literature has been published concerning the efficacy and legitimacy of the empowerment evaluation (EE) approach, little documentation exists regarding the empirical application of this approach. There is therefore need for a systematic evaluation of the empowerment evaluation process to investigate the extent of its contribution to the program’s success. This paper discusses the results of an evaluation conducted to explore recent empirical literature on application of empowerment evaluation approach in community-based programs. The review was guided by two objectives, namely; (1) To examine the extent to which empowerment evaluation leads to self evaluation of community programs and (2) To identify research gaps in the existing literature on EE’. The authors purposefully located and reviewed five recent empirical studies and used them to elaborate on the topic of study. A desk review study was used to critically review the articles adherence to the principles of the evaluation model. Results indicated that stakeholders were empowered to conduct their own evaluation from the evaluation skills and knowledge gained during their close interaction with the evaluation experts. Follow-up evaluations confirmed stakeholders self determination to evaluate their own performance. The paper therefore concludes that, notwithstanding social bias emanating from self reporting procedures, EE can be used to foster program improvement and develop self determination and therefore recommends its adoption by community social programs.

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