Which of the following is a responsibility of Project Leaders/Staff?

• A. Participate and involve relevant stakeholders in developing an evaluation plan.
• B. Prepare a management response to all evaluations.
• C. Provide guidance in drafting evaluation ToR, selecting evaluators, mapping stakeholders, reviewing draft evaluation reports, and identifying evaluation questions and methodologies.
• D. Actively participate in the development of the evaluation plan.

Answer: (A)

Getting input from those who will use and be affected by the evaluation is essential. Involving relevant stakeholders in developing the evaluation plan ensures the questions, scope, and methods match real information needs, boosts ownership, and makes it more likely that findings will be acted on. This collaborative approach helps ensure the evaluation will be useful, credible, and situated within the project’s realities and decision-making processes.

Post-evaluation activities like preparing a management response focus on what happens after results are in, not on how the plan itself is shaped. Tasks such as drafting ToR, selecting evaluators, mapping stakeholders, reviewing draft reports, and choosing methodologies are typically handled by the evaluation team or dedicated evaluators rather than project leaders, so they don’t illustrate the leaders’ responsibility for planning. While leaders should participate in the planning, the emphasis is on actively involving the right stakeholders to set up a plan that serves real needs.