Evaluation and Social Participation: a guide to strengthening democratic governance.

The guide examines the centrality of social participation in the public policy cycle, differentiating the various levels of participatory evaluation, with emphasis on active participation and promoting empowerment. The study presents and details an overview of seven participatory approaches (such as Warm Calling, Participatory Rural Appraisal, and Empowerment Evaluation), explaining their methodologies and objectives. The publication emphasizes the need for ethical safeguards (such as transparency and inclusion) and robust governance of these evaluations to ensure legitimacy, co-responsibility, and transformative results in strengthening democracy.