Identify and Interview Stakeholders

Abstract

For an evaluability assessment or an impact study to begin, someone must make an inquiry about a program. That inquiry may come from one or more sources, e.g., elected officials, administrators, program managers or staff, or citizen groups. Regardless of who does the initial asking, a variety of other people will be interested in and can be expected to have differing views about the program under study and about any potential future evaluation. These persons are called “stakeholders.” Evaluations start and stop with one or more of these individuals. They generally request the evaluative information and when it is generated (to their satisfaction), they use it. Some stakeholders will be served directly; others will simply want to be consulted and kept informed.*