The Policy Evaluation and NPO: the other ‘Experiment’

Abstract

In Japan, Central government and Local Government have introduced the policy evaluation system from 1997 to 2001. This evaluation system has been influenced by the NPM (New Public Management), and called the ‘NPM-type policy evaluation’. This type evaluation uses the ‘(program) performance measurement’ and the cost-benefit analysis or cost-effectiveness analysis, but lacks of the approaches of democracy. This article analyses the relation of the democracy and the policy evaluation, especially the possibility of the participatory evaluations, the empowerment evaluation, the collaborative evaluation, and the advocacy evaluation from governance theories. Because the policy evaluation needs not only the quantitative analysis methods but also the qualitative research methods for popular sentiments, we must develop the new evaluation skills and NPO (Non-Profit Organization) as ‘the citizen evaluator’ that use both qualitative and quantitative methods. ‘The citizen evaluator’ and NPO evaluate policy, programs, and projects in terms of the effectiveness, sustainable development of the community, ‘good governance’, partnership and collaboration of public sector and citizen. If the participatory evaluation is the ‘literacy skills’ of the democratic governance, NPO plays essential roles in the empowerment evaluation, the collaborative evaluation, and the advocacy evaluation.