Communities know a lot about the impact of development projects. However, they sometimes find it difficult to express it. Sometimes they can be tempted to tell outsiders what they think the outsider wants to hear. In such situations, getting participants’ feedback on a project can be difficult.

Overcoming discrimination
In the Ugandan town of Kasese a group of Persons with Disabilities developed a so called ‘tiny evaluation tool’ to overcome this hurdle. The group had been formed to overcome discrimination against them. Each member compared where he or she stood in terms of discrimination at the group’s start and where he or she wanted to get at. Then, he or she assessed on a scale from 1 to 10 where he or she was now.

When all had scored, two questions followed: “What have you achieved that makes you be here?” and “Why do you say you are not at 10?” This was documented and particularly the obstacles were discussed which led to plans for further action.

Road ahead
The tool helped members to assess what they had achieved, and to see more clearly where they wanted to go. It helped them to identify specific needs or aspirations of members and discuss them, possibly also to help each other.

The experience with the Kasese tool is described in more detail, step-by-step, in a documentation of NGO-IDEAs field experience. It is part of a series of ‘Tiny tools’ for monitoring and evaluation. More tools can be found at NGO-IDEAs website.