公民館事業評価の課題と展望

—「学習としての評価」の視点から考える—

抄録

This paper examines an approach to the evaluation of Kominkan services from the perspective of “evaluation as learning.” When undertaking an evaluation of Kominkan services, the process by which the value of these services is seen by staff and by local residents is important, although there are some issues regarding how the impact of these services on the local community as well as how activities in which local residents take the initiative are evaluated.

We first discuss the efforts of Okayama City to evaluate the impact of Kominkan services on local communities. For this evaluation, the city first developed an idea of what an ideal Kominkan would be, based on basic Kominkan policy. It then created a logic model for Kominkan services and then sought to identify the value of these services within an administrative evaluation framework.

Next, a methodology for evaluating community empowerment is discussed. This approach is based on the concept of empowerment and elaborates a framework of reflection that is essential for the evaluation of services and is characterized by its ability to enhance how residents imagine local organizations and the local community.

These two evaluation approaches have the advantage of making it possible to visualize the process of change within the community, stimulated by Kominkan services, as well as the deepening awareness of residents towards the local community, all of which can help convey the value of kominkan services to the outside world.