Evaluating for Learning: Latin American Strategies and Experiences From the Evalparticipativa Community

Abstract

This article documents EvalParticipativa’s 6-year effort to democratize evaluation across Latin America through participatory approaches rooted in the region’s traditions of Popular Education, Participatory Action Research, and Sistematización de Experiencias . As a community of practice connecting academics, civil society, and government technicians across 30 countries, EvalParticipativa has developed an integrated strategy combining theoretical frameworks, practical tools, audiovisual materials, and systematic training to foster meaningful learning from and through evaluation. Training 900 + professionals and integrating participatory methodologies into regional graduate programs, the initiative has developed a model where evaluation simultaneously generates learning through participation (process use) and from findings (instrumental use), cultivating evaluative thinking and democratic agency among diverse stakeholders. Four case studies illustrate how participatory processes shift power dynamics, amplify marginalized voices, and generate learning at cognitive, political, and relational levels. While facing barriers of institutional resistance, facilitator shortages, and budget constraints, EvalParticipativa has transformed these obstacles into drivers of innovation, establishing a model for making evaluation an instrument of social justice and democratic governance in the Global South.