Rights through evaluation and understanding children's realities

This chapter looks at how the process of evaluation can be used to promote children’s rights by using a participatory approach. The aim is to offer practical learning about preconditions for success, factors that influence the application of rights-based approaches in action research, and issues of accountability and action in evaluation. The examples show the necessity of working pragmatically, using a realistic approach that recognises the complexities faced by evaluators in dealing with different contexts and that allows for flexibility and mixed methods. Ensuring the participation of different stakeholders throughout the evaluation process, including service providers and decision makers, can lead to positive outcomes for children. In particular, it is important to use and value evidence from children and young people: rights-based evaluation can be rigorous and also build on the imagination of children.