2021 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 73-87
Ex-ante evaluation is usually conducted for the purpose of evaluating the contents and feasibility of a proposed plan for initiating a new project. However, there is observed increasing cases of SDGs-related projects which involve trans-disciplinary or multi-sectoral arrangements and which require delicate qualitative judgements on their outcome, necessitating ex-ante evaluation based on deliberate application of evaluative thinking from the planning stage. The present case report presents an ex-ante evaluation the author conducted which relied on J. Owen’s framework of Proactive evaluation in order to combine planning and evaluation upfront. The two lessons learned from this case are the importance of practicing stakeholder dialogues from the initial stage of project conception and the possibility to effectively combine qualitative data collection methods such as interviews and focus groups with collective data-generating methods like workshops.
