Evaluation of policy is extolled as an indispensable aspect of any policy process. Besides, though ii is highlighted in policy •study texts, it is rarely put into practice. Policy evaluation suffers some set-back because it is politically delicate.
This feature makes it difficult, rarely conclusive and politically unpopular. As precisely explicated by Leslie A. Pal (1997:233), because evaluation is so potentially crucial to the fortunes of a policy or program, opponents and supporters work hard to get the evaluation results they need to strengthen their case.
Although
policy evaluation is hardly supported by government or third party, i.e
consultant, the evaluation is vital to achieve results; and consequently, put
anew pressure on government, an action that promotes policy modification.
Policy evaluation as the last of policy process exists along side monitoring.
Monitoring provides the necessary information for evaluation. According to
Egonmwan (1991:3 11), monitoring gives
warning signals to management about actual or potential problems in programmes
implementation. It involves operational assessment of individual projects
through measurement, recording, collection, processing and communication of in
formation to project management decision making.
Evaluation
as a concept has been given varied definition by many scholars. For instance,
E.S. Quade (1975) defines evaluation as the
investigation to measure how well the accomplishment of an on going programme
of’ less frequently a completed programme, matches the anticipated
accomplishment.
Again
evaluation is defined by Frank Lewis and Frank Zarh (1974:308) as the
systematic analysis of programmes desired to asses effectiveness in
attaining objectives or to assess their Efficiency.
In
addition, Egonmwan (1991:3110 sees evaluation as a process by which programmes, activities and results are anal vied
against explicitly norms, line work sc4 project objective.
Going
by these definitions, policy evaluation concerns itself, with improvement of
public policies and programmes. This actions may seem simple, but determining
whether a programmes has achieved its intended desire in a world in which every
effect has multiple causes are always difficult, if not impossible. Ikelegbe
(1996: 1 14) concludes that, by a way
of summary, evaluation provides comprehensive data analysis, measures and asses
the programmes to determine performance, impact, worth, problems and the
improvements and modifications that may be a need.
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- POLICY EVALUATION TECHNIQUES - PUBLIC POLICY
- TYPES POLICY EVALUATION - PUBLIC POLICY
- POLICY EVALUATION - PUBLIC POLICY
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- POLICY FORMULATION - PUBLIC POLICY
- PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION IN PUBLIC POLICY
- PUBLIC POLICY PROCESS
- THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO PUBLIC POLICY STUDY
- FEATURES OF PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS
- THE PROCESS OF POLICY ANALYSIS
- CONCEPT OF PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS
- EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS
- RELEVANCE OF STUDYING PUBLIC POLICY
- WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
- WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF PUBLIC POLICY
- WHAT IS THE MEANING OF PUBLIC POLICY
- FUNDAMENTALS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION