Decoding process evaluation frameworks : lessons for the public sector in South Africa

Abstract

The widespread service delivery protests in South Africa call for the effectiveness of the public sector in service delivery. Monitoring and evaluation are essential in ensuring such effectiveness is achieved. Process evaluation in the public sector could be an indispensable intervention for the attainment of service delivery goals. This article is an explication of process evaluation methods from studies involving several frameworks for process evaluations. The article reviews the methodologies and frameworks of several studies on process evaluation. These frameworks include the systematic structured observation technique, intervention driven framework, logic model and the key components profile. It is important to note that these frameworks are pivotal in the implementation of process evaluations. These frameworks depict process evaluation as a vital adjunct to outcome evaluation and it is argued that process evaluation is the prerequisite and a necessary ingredient for effective and efficient programming. A key lesson learnt is the adoption of a comprehensive evaluation methodology which is useful in process evaluation for cross validation purposes and also for ensuring the validity and reliability of process evaluation techniques, procedures and results. While several methodological challenges confront process evaluation these may be overcome by the employment of a comprehensive evaluation methodology.