With regard to participation “it is important to move beyond traditional evaluation approaches (e.g. change in resource use) in order to evaluate the process of change. This is particularly relevant for behaviour change projects, as these interventions are about people participating in a change process. Traditional quantitative approaches are noted to be inadequate for understanding the outcomes and effect of participatory development projects. In comparison, qualitative methods allow the study of motivations, and provide rich data on how individuals interact with their environment and cope with change
15. This entails moving from a focus on measurements (quantitative) to describing the process of change and the change that has taken place (qualitative).”
14 Besides the substance, the fundamental outcomes of participation in a project context are highly intangible and qualitative (e.g. more and improved networks, changed attitudes, openness of decision-making process). These outcomes result from a process; they are embedded in a specific context and depend on individual perception. Therefore, data has to be collected continuously, so that the process of participation change can be traced best possible. Because some of the intended and unintended outcomes are mid- to long-term, ideally evaluation also has to be conducted after the finalisation of a project.