Abstract
This article sketches a preliminary design for a new system of monitoring and evaluation in support of a program on New Bank Practices in Civic Engagement, Empowerment, and Respect for Diversity (CEERD) in the World Bank. The new practices bring to the foreground uncertainties and ambiguities arising from the human factors in empowerment and development. Consequently, a system of monitoring and evaluation must be context-sensitive, taking into account differences and changes in context. Meaningful indicators of success or failure, and assumptions about responsibility for them, cannot be specified reliably in project agreements in advance of implementation. Specification in advance could inhibit the improvisations necessary to deal with unanticipated problems and opportunities in the implementation process on the ground.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brunner, R. D. (1983). ‘Case-wise policy analysis: Another look at the burden of high energy costs,’ Policy Sciences 15: 115–135.
Brunner, R. D. (1986). ‘Case-wise policy analysis: Redefining poverty,’ Policy Sciences 19: 201–223.
Brunner, R. D. (1999). ‘Predictions and policy decisions,’ Technological Forecasting and Social Change 62: 73–78.
Brunner, R. D., C. H. Colburn, C. M. Cromley, R. A. Klein and E. A. Olson (2002). Finding Common Ground: Governance and Natural Resources in the American West. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Brunner, R. D. and A. R. Willard (2003). ‘Professional insecurities: A guide to understanding and career management,’ Policy Sciences 36: 3–36.
Cochran, N. (1978). ‘Grandma Moses and the “corruption of data,”’ Evaluation Quarterly 2: 363–373.
Cochran, N. (1980). ‘Society as emergent and more than rational: An essay on the inappropriateness of program evaluation,’ Policy Sciences 12: 113–129.
Cochran, N., A. C. Gordon and M. S. Krause (1980). ‘Proactive records: Reflections on the village watchman,’ Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization 2 (September): 5–18.
Collins, J. C. and J. I. Porras (1997). Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. New York: HarperBusiness.
Congressional Budget Office (1993). Using Performance Measures in the Federal Budget Process. Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office.
Cronbach, L. J. (1975). ‘Beyond the two disciplines of scientific psychology,’ American Psychologist 30: 116–127.
Deming, W. E. (1986). Out of the Crisis. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Center for Advanced Engineering Study.
De Wit, J. W. (2001). ‘Partnerships, participation and patronage realities of urban poverty alleviation in Bangalore slums,’ Working Paper Series No. 350, October, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.
Dobyns, H. F., P. L. Doughty and H. D. Lasswell eds. (1971). Peasants, Power, and Applied Social Change: Vicos as a Model.Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Doughty, P. L. (2003). ‘Ending serfdom in Peru: The struggle for land and freedom in Vicos,’ in D. B. Heath, ed., Contemporary Cultures and Society of Latin America (updated from a chapter published in 2002). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Erikson, E. H. (1959). ‘The nature of clinical evidence,’ in D. Lerner, ed., Evidence and Inference. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press, pp. 73–95.
Floden, R. and S. Weiner (1978). ‘Rationality to ritual: The multiple roles of evaluation research in governmental process,’ Policy Sciences 8: 8–18.
Friedman, M. (1952). Essays in Positive Economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
George, A. L. (1956). ‘Prediction of political action by means of propaganda analysis,’ Public Opinion Quarterly 20: 334–345.
Hays, S. P. (1959). Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890–1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Holland, J. H. (1992). ‘Complex adaptive systems,’ Daedalus 121 (Winter): 17–30.
Holmberg, A. R. (1971). ‘The role of power and changing values and institutions in Vicos,’ in H. F. Dobyns, P. L. Doughty and H. D. Lasswell, eds., Peasants, Power, and Applied Social Change: Vicos as a Model, Chapter 2. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Lasswell, H. D. (1956). The Decision Process: Seven Categories of Functional Analysis. College Park, MD: Bureau of Governmental Research, University of Maryland.
Lasswell, H. D. (1960). ‘The structure and function of communication in society,’ in W. Schram, ed., Mass Communication (2nd ed.). Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 117–130.
Lasswell, H. D. (1971a). A Pre-View of Policy Sciences.New York: American Elsevier.
Lasswell, H. D. (1971b). ‘The transferability of Vicos strategy,’ in H. F. Dobyns, P. L. Doughty and H. D. Lasswell, eds., Peasants, Power, and Applied Social Change: Vicos as a Model, Chapter 7. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Lasswell, H. D. (1971c). ‘The continuing decision seminar as a technique of instruction,’ Policy Sciences 2: 43–57.
Lasswell, H. D. and A. R. Holmberg (1992). ‘Toward a general theory of directed value accumulation and institutional development,’ in H. D. Lasswell and M. S. McDougal, eds., Jurisprudence for a Free Society: Studies in Law, Science and Policy,2 Vols., Appendix 2. New Haven, CT and Dordrecht, The Netherlands: New Haven Press and Martinus Nijhoff.
Lasswell, H. D. and A. Kaplan (1950). Power and Society: A Framework for Political and Social Inquiry. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Lasswell, H. D., D. Lerner and I. deSola Pool (1952). The Comparative Study of Symbols: An Introduction. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Lasswell, H. D. and M. S. McDougal (1992). Jurisprudence for a Free Society: Studies in Law, Science and Policy,2 Vols. New Haven, CT and Dordrecht, The Netherlands: New Haven Press and Martinus Nijhoff.
Levi, E. H. (1949). An Introduction to Legal Reasoning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Merkle, J. A. (1998). ‘Scientific management,’ in J. M. Shafritz, ed., International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration,Vol. 4. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Norchi, C. (2003). ‘Background Paper,’ for the Symposium on Value-Based Participatory Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, at the World Bank, April 7–8.
Penna, F. J. (2003). Political Economy Guidelines for Developing Traditional Knowledge Industries of the Poor,Working Paper, Policy Sciences Center, Inc., New Haven, CT, April 10.
Petzinger, T. Jr. (1999). The New Pioneers: Men and Women Who Are Transforming the Workplace and Marketplace.New York: Simon & Schuster.
Pinchot, G. and E. Pinchot (1993). The End of Bureaucracy and the Rise of the Intelligent Organization. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Ridgeway, V. F. (1956). ‘Dysfunctional consequences of performance measures,’ Administrative Science Quarterly 1: 240–247.
Rogers, E. M. (1995). The Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.). New York: The Free Press.
Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as Freedom.New York: Knopf.
Simon, H. A. (1957). Models of Man. New York: Wiley & Sons.
Simon, H. A. (1996). ‘The psychology of thinking,’ in The Sciences of the Artificial (3rd ed.). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Siu, R. G. H. (1978). ‘Management and the art of Chinese baseball,’ Sloan Management Review 19: 83–89.
Stone, I. F. (1979). ‘I. F. Stone breaks the Socrates story,’ New York Times Magazine (April 8): 23f.
Willard, A. R. (2002). ‘Policy sciences: Overview’ and ‘Overviewelaborated,’ prepared for the Symposium on Value-Based Participatory Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, sponsored by the World Bank, April 7–8.
Willard, A. R. and C. Norchi (1993). ‘The decision seminar as an instrument of power and enlightenment,’ Political Psychology 14: 575–606.
Winks, R. ed. (1969). The Historian as Detective: Essays on Evidence.New York: Harper & Row.
Lasswell (1981), Norchi (2003b).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brunner, R.D. Context-sensitive monitoring and evaluation for the World Bank. Policy Sciences 37, 103–136 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:OLIC.0000048498.45467.31
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:OLIC.0000048498.45467.31