This edited volume by Ratna M Sudarshan and Rajib Nandi is a collection of ten contributions by Ranjani K Murthy, Pallavi Gupta, Srinidhi Raghavan, Sonal Zaveri, Shubh Sharma, Renu Khanna, Enakshi Ganguly Thukral, Venu Arora, Seema Kulkarni, Sneha Bhat, Vasundhara Kaul, Neha Sanwal and the editors themselves, who are feminist researchers, practitioners and evaluators associated with the four-year research and capacity building programme on feminist evaluation coordinated by the Institute of Social Studies Trust and supported by the International Development Research Centre, Canada, and the Ford Foundation, New Delhi.
The arrangement of the contributions is very interesting. The first few chapters introduce the reader to the benefits of feminist evaluation particularly for projects aimed at bringing about social equity. Gender-transformative evaluation is measured by Ranjani Murthy against gender-blind, gender-instrumental and gender-specific evaluation. This essay also makes out a case for the documentation and dissemination of indigenous and inclusive experiences of evaluation frameworks that are more sensitive to issues of diversity. Pallavi Gupta and Srinidhi Raghavan lay stress on the importance of considering institutional histories in any evaluation, and argue for an enabling evaluation process that encourages the use of participatory methods and the engagement of the evaluated organization’s team in the processes followed and in the introspection of existing power dynamics within that organization. They argue that this would lead to greater possibilities and interventions for change.
The next few essays narrate lessons learned with the use of feminist approaches to evaluation. Experiences with UFE (Utilization Focused Evaluations) or evaluation frameworks that incorporate in its design the possible uses of the findings of the evaluation process is discussed by Sonal Zaveri, who focuses on the advantages of utilization-focused evaluations executed through a feminist lens. The essay by Shubh Sharma and Ratna Sudarshan argue for the relevance of, and the constructivist learning from the use of a feminist collaborative approach to evaluation. They illustrate that a feminist lens in collaborative evaluation can improve the quality of data and contribute to more gender-responsive programme strategies. Rajib Nandi’s experience is slightly different as he discusses the transformative impact of the use of a feminist approach to evaluation of even an otherwise gender-blind project, while also narrating the dilemmas and challenges faced in the process.