| Summary: | The global trends of rapid urbanization and increasing disparity
between rich and poor have been particularly extreme in the case of
Thailand. The benefits of Thailand’s spectacular economic growth
have been unequally distributed. For many of the over one million
slum dwellers of Bangkok this boom period has resulted in mass
eviction. Recent evidence suggests that slum communities in
regional cities are also facing a trend of increased eviction.
This case study analyzes the work of the Human Settlement
Foundation, a Thai nongovernmental organization (NGO) which
supports the formation and development of community—based
organizations as a means for enabling and empowering Thailand’s
urban poor to solve their shelter problems. The study focuses on
the role of program evaluation in strengthening NGO capacities. It
analyzes the purposes, methods, levels of participation, strengths,
and weaknesses of external and internal evaluation processes as
they are applied to NGOs.
The thesis links field evidence with recent literature about
participatory program evaluation to identify opportunities and
constraints which might arise with the introduction of more
collaborative evaluation processes. Basic data sources include
semi—structured interviews; participant observation; primary
documents such as project proposals, progress reports, memoranda,
and brochures; and secondary documents such as studies, reports,
and newspaper articles.
The study finds that both external and internal evaluation have
limited potential for strengthening NGO capacities. It develops a
hypothesis about how more broadly participatory collaborative
evaluation would affect the following five NGO capacity variables:
relations with funding agencies, management abilities,
accountability to clients, relations with other NGOs, and relations
with government. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of === Graduate
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