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Between Power and Empowerment - Monitoring and Evaluation at a Grassroots Women's Fund in South Africa

Krause, Annika LU (2014) SIMV30 20141
Graduate School
Master of Science in Development Studies
School of Social Work
Abstract
In the past few years women’s empowerment and gender equality initiatives have been under increasing pressure to measure their impact. This thesis explores the stakeholders’ experiences with the monitoring and evaluation practice with a case study of a women’s fund that provides grants to grassroots women’s organizations in South Africa. The study is based on previous research, the grassroots development framework, and a combination of principal-agent theory and Kabeer’s (1999) women empowerment framework. Through a content analysis of interviews with staff members and grantees, as well as the review of documents, challenges and opportunities experienced in their current monitoring and evaluation practice are identified. It is argued that... (More)
In the past few years women’s empowerment and gender equality initiatives have been under increasing pressure to measure their impact. This thesis explores the stakeholders’ experiences with the monitoring and evaluation practice with a case study of a women’s fund that provides grants to grassroots women’s organizations in South Africa. The study is based on previous research, the grassroots development framework, and a combination of principal-agent theory and Kabeer’s (1999) women empowerment framework. Through a content analysis of interviews with staff members and grantees, as well as the review of documents, challenges and opportunities experienced in their current monitoring and evaluation practice are identified. It is argued that the principal-agent constellation is a key factor that creates challenges in conducting monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, it is claimed that there is currently a gap between widely used tools and practice at grassroots level as well as between the stakeholders’ different understandings of success and how to monitor and evaluate the work of women’s organizations in the context of a grassroots women’s fund. This leads to the postulation for an alternative monitoring and evaluation model, which strengthens the systematic use of informal methods, is oriented on the agents, and captures the link between individual experience and structure. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Krause, Annika LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMV30 20141
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
monitoring and evaluation, women’s fund, grantees, grassroots development, principal-agent problem, South Africa
language
English
id
4612512
date added to LUP
2014-09-09 13:50:58
date last changed
2014-09-10 12:14:40
@misc{4612512,
  abstract     = {{In the past few years women’s empowerment and gender equality initiatives have been under increasing pressure to measure their impact. This thesis explores the stakeholders’ experiences with the monitoring and evaluation practice with a case study of a women’s fund that provides grants to grassroots women’s organizations in South Africa. The study is based on previous research, the grassroots development framework, and a combination of principal-agent theory and Kabeer’s (1999) women empowerment framework. Through a content analysis of interviews with staff members and grantees, as well as the review of documents, challenges and opportunities experienced in their current monitoring and evaluation practice are identified. It is argued that the principal-agent constellation is a key factor that creates challenges in conducting monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, it is claimed that there is currently a gap between widely used tools and practice at grassroots level as well as between the stakeholders’ different understandings of success and how to monitor and evaluate the work of women’s organizations in the context of a grassroots women’s fund. This leads to the postulation for an alternative monitoring and evaluation model, which strengthens the systematic use of informal methods, is oriented on the agents, and captures the link between individual experience and structure.}},
  author       = {{Krause, Annika}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Between Power and Empowerment - Monitoring and Evaluation at a Grassroots Women's Fund in South Africa}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}