Evaluating small grants for women in development

The projects in question are defined by the author as projects in which women themselves control the funds, plan the activities, and decide on the division of labor and which exist as part of a larger program cluster of small grants. The basic objective of WID grants and programs is to make women participants in and beneficiaries of development. Specifying this objective entails several problems: the need to distinguish between tangible and intangible benefits and between general development and WID objectives; the need to make project activities concrete and measurable; and the very smallness of the grant, which may make it simply not worthwhile to collect evaluative data. A review of current efforts to evaluate both general development and WID projects leads to the conclusion that evaluative criteria should be based on a careful selection of objectives that are meaningful to women in the development field and applicable to small grants. The author then distinguishes between various types of women"s groups which are likely to receive small grants -- "elite groups" (educated, usually urban, relatively wealthy women who gather to fulfill social needs) and "local groups" (rural or urban women who group together to meet daily subsistence needs) -- and proposes five criteria for measuring the development effect of small grants on these groups. (1) Is the group personal- or task-oriented? (2) Is it devoted to self-help or social welfare? (3) Does it recognize itself as a formal unit? (4) Does it depend on outside motivation? (5) Is the group an end in itself or a means of achieving WID objectives? Standard evaluation methods can be adapted to these criteria through before-and-after comparisons, regular reporting during the project, case studies, and "exchange of experience" workshops. Other adaptation methods include comparing individual grants and assessing the program as a whole. A 30-item bibliography (1967-79) in English and Spanish is appended.