The document discusses approaches to development policy, including growth-centered and people-centered approaches. The growth-centered approach focuses on macroeconomic indicators like GDP and favors free market policies. However, evidence shows this increases inequality. The people-centered approach prioritizes human well-being, distinguishes between means and ends, and recognizes economic growth alone does not alleviate poverty. Development policy refers to actions by governments and donors to improve living standards. Key priorities include reducing poverty and inequality on a global and national scale.
1. 2.1 Approaches of Development Policy: Growth
Centered Versus People Centered Approach
• The obvious connection between development and policy is
that every kind of development policy is based on some
theory of development. However, there is no a particular
theoretical school, or even carefully formulated and
articulated theoretical position.
• The interactions between Growth centered and People’s
centered development approaches are bases for the
formulation of development policy.
2. 2.1.1 Growth centered development approach
• The growth-centered development approach is a macro
approach that focuses on an increase in national wealth
which is represented by broad indicators such as GDP.
• It is normal an economics approach because it is supported
by many development economists.
• A growth-focused development strategy favors the values of
liberal market economy, globalization, removal of trade
barriers and reducing power and influence of governments.
3. Growth centered ….
• The neo-liberal ideology also emphasized the importance
of economic growth and raise efficiency by expanding
(through privatization) and freeing the private sector from
government intervention.
• They were supposed to reduce inequality by getting rid of
government regulations that create “artificial rents,” or
above-market rates of return, that increase inequality, and
hence it asserts that social justice is best maintained by
minimal government interference and free market forces.
4. Growth centered ….
• In generally, this approach argues that economic growth
will lead to a reduction in national poverty levels and a
reduction in the development ‘gap’ between rich and poor
nations.
• With increasing frequencies in financial crises, growth has
been more restless than before.
• This process of lower-quality growth was associated with
higher levels of unemployment, as well as greater insecurity
of employment, almost everywhere.
• Moreover, a substantial proportion of the workforce saw no
significant increase in real wages.
5. Growth centered ….
• Available evidence suggests a divergence (difference) rather
than convergence (union/ meeting) in levels of income
between countries and between people.
• Economic inequalities increased in the last quarter of the
20th c as the income gap between rich and poor countries,
between the rich and the poor in the world’s population, as
well as between rich and poor people within countries, has
widened.
• Clearly, markets and globalization do not ensure prosperity
for everyone; in fact, they exclude a significant proportion
of countries and people. There is inclusion and growing
wealth (affluence) for a few. There is exclusion and
persistent poverty for the many. This emerging reality is
morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable.
6. 2.1.2 People centered development approach
• It is an approach to international development that focuses
on improving local communities’ self-reliance, social justice
and participatory decision making.
• It recognizes that economic growth does not inherently
(basically or essentially) contribute to human development
and calls for changes in social, political and environmental
values and practices.
• Its central themes are sustainability, participation and
justice.
7. People centered ….
Sustainability
• Sustainability is an inherent component and explicit goal of
people-centered development.
• People-centered development calls for the establishment of
self-supporting social and economic systems, key elements
of a sustainable society.
• The Manila Declaration, which was published in1989,
stated that people-centered development is the only way to
achieve sustainable communities. It advocates small-scale
community actions in order to enhance economic self-
reliance and create reliable sources of income.
• Besides, in 1984, David Korten, who is a former regional
advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), claims that people-centered development is the
only way to develop sustainable communities.
8. People centered ….
• Korten also criticized the common development practice of
increased economic output through natural resource
depletion.
• He calls on external development partners to support
objectives chosen by the people, building communities’
capacity to manage resources and meet local needs
independently.
Participation
• In the context of people centered approach, elements of
community participation include:
- Democratic process
- Government accountability
- Access to relevant information
- Gender equality
9. People centered ….
• Democratic processes are essential to people-centered
development because they allow communities to create their
own development goals and influence the decisions that
determine their quality of life.
• Community participation and true democratic process
demand that people have the means to hold government
officials and public institutions accountable.
• It requires that governments act as enablers for the peoples’
agenda, creating policies that enhance citizen action.
• Communities must have access to relevant and reliable
information in order to make the best decisions for
themselves and their communities or to make rational
decisions and protect their interests.
10. People centered ….
• True democratic processes can only be achieved when men
and women are represented equally. People-centered
development necessitates equality in the roles of men and
women, a systemic problem in many developing nations.
• According to people-centered development, there are
several reasons why women are essential to sustainable :
1. the rate of return (the amount of income generated by
capital invested) on female education investment could be
higher than that of any other investment,
2. the problems brought by poverty affect women more than
other groups,
3. as managers of natural resources, women are key
contributors to sustainability.
11. People centered ….
Justice
• In the context of people-centered development, elements of
social justice include:
1. Local ownership (communities have responsibility and
control over their resources in order to benefit themselves),
2. Sovereignty of the people (rejects the right of one person to
self-enrichment (self-improvement) based on the misuse of
the resources on which another person’s survival depends)
and government enablement (the role of government as an
enabler for the setting peoples’ agenda)
3.Employment and income generation (the benefits of
economic growth should increase employment and income).
12. People centered ….
• In generally, people – centered approach is a less macro
approach and more concerned with human development in
communities.
• The focus is on improving the quality of life through
economic and social betterment derives partly from
development economists who incline more social concerns
and also from various sociological and anthropological
analyses.
• It is doubtful/ wary of the adverse human effects of
globalization and neo-liberal market economics, while
accepting their reality and the overall need for economic
growth.
13. People centered ….….
• In summary, there are three fundamental points of departure for
people-centered development approach from the growth centered
development approach. These are:
• First, people-centered development approach gives emphasis on
the well-being of humankind which is the core of development.
This is often forgotten in the growth centered approach, where
aggregate economic growth figures or the pro-corporate concept
of “economic freedom” get more attention than the well-being of
people. This approach focuses, therefore, must be on people,
ordinary people at micro level.
• Second, it is essential to make a clear distinction between means
and ends. Economic growth and economic efficiency are means.
Economic development and social progress are ends. Similarly,
trade is a means, while development is an end. All these are
often forgotten in growth centered approach.
14. People centered….
• Third, it must be recognized that economic growth is
necessary but not sufficient to bring about the eradication of
poverty. It cannot be enough to say that the outcomes of
economic policies, which ensure growth with efficiency,
should be moderated by social policies, say in the form of
safety nets.
• Therefore, there is a clear need for integration of economic
and social policies rather than a separation of them.
• At the same time, it is important to create institutional
mechanisms that mediate (intervene) between economic
growth and social development.
• People-centered development approach also believes that
the time has come to explore alternatives in development,
where the focus is on people rather than on economies, and
on ends rather than means.
15. 2.2 The Concept of Policy and Development Policy
2.2.1 The concept of policy
• Policy denotes, among other elements, guidance or
direction for action.
• It may take the form of:
A declaration of goals;
A declaration of course of action;
A declaration of general purpose (useful for a wide
variety of purposes); and
An authoritative decision or backed by an
established and accepted authority.
16. • In this regard, Hogwood and Gunn specified ten uses of the term
‘policy’:
1. As a label for field of activity;
2. As an expression of desired state of affairs;
3. As specific proposals;
4. As decisions of government;
5. As formal authorization (document giving permission to
somebody to do something)
6. As a prgramme;
7. As output;
8. As outcome;
9. As a theory or model;
10. As a process.
Concept….
17. Concept….
• As an expression of general purpose or desired state of affairs or
the goal (desired effect)
For example,
1. to generate as many jobs as possible,
2. to promote democratization through decentralization,
3. to attack the roots of poverty
4. to control pollution
As specific proposals/plan/ field of activity
o For example,
1. to limit agricultural landholdings to 10 hectares,
2. to devalue (to lower the value of a nation's currency by
government action) the currency by 10 percent,
3. to provide free primary education
18. Concept….
As Decisions of Government
o For example, policy decisions as announced in the National
Assembly or by Prime Minister.
As Formal Authorization
o For example, Acts of Parliament (a statement of the decision
made by a legislative)or other constitutional instruments or
provisions.
As a program
o For example, as a defined and relatively specific sphere of
government activity such as land reform program or a women’s
health program.
As output
o For example, what is actually delivered such as the amount of
land redistributed in a land reform program and the number of
tenants affected.
19. Concept….
As outcome
o For example, what is actually achieved (desired change) such as
the effect on farmer income, living standards, and agricultural
output of a land reform program.
As Theory or Model
•For example, if you do X then Y will happen;
• if we increase incentives to manufacturers then industrial output
will grow;
• if more opportunities are provided in rural areas then migration to
cities will slow down
As Process
As a long-term matter starting with issues and moving though
objectives-setting,
decision-making to implementation and evaluation
20. Concept….
•Taken as a whole,
Policy may be defined as a purposive course of action
taken or adopted by those in power in pursuit (the effort
made to try to achieve or obtain something over a period of
time) of certain goals or objectives.
It should be added here that public policies are the policies
adopted and implemented by government bodies and
officials.
This term may also apply to private sector organizations
and groups, as well as individuals. Presidential executive
orders, corporate privacy, and parliamentary rules or law
are all examples of policy.
21. Policy differs from rules or law. While law can compel or
prohibit behaviors (e.g. a law requiring the payment of taxes on
income), policy merely guides actions toward those that are
most likely to achieve a desired outcome.
•When the term policy is used, it may also refer to:
• Official government policy (legislation or guidelines that govern
how laws should be put into operation).
• Broad ideas and goals in political manifestos and pamphlets
•A company or organization's policy on a particular topic. For
example, the equal opportunity policy of a company shows that the
company aims to treat all its staff equally.
Concept….
22. Concept….
2. 2.2 The Concept of Development Policy
From international perspective, development policy refers
to all political, economic and social measures taken by a
donor country to achieve sustainable improvements in
living conditions in developing and transition countries.
From national perspective, development policy is the basic
principles by which a government is guided or it is a
courses of action or declared objectives that a government
seeks to achieve the interest of national community.
It refers to activities that aim to reduce poverty, implement
fundamental rights and promote sustainable development
globally.
23. Concept….
• Development policy is not a clearly defined field in its own right,
however, since trade policy and agricultural policy also include
development policy-related aspects.
• One of the main development policy challenges is how to
coordinate all sub-policy areas into a coherent whole (coherence).
• Development policy is regarded as coherent, if foreign policy,
trade policy, financial policy, economic policy, agricultural policy,
research policy, labour market policy, refugee policy and
migration policy have all been aligned so as not to undermine the
country’s development policy objectives.
• From the above concepts of policies one can understand that
there should be a reason why a policy exists. A policy is not
formulated unless it is thought to be necessary or to have a
benefit. In other word, the policy exists for a purpose.
24. Concept….
2.3.2 Priorities for development policy
• An international perspective on development policy might underline
four priorities:
1. Poverty reduction towards the goal of eradicating the worst aspects
of absolute poverty by early in the twenty- first century;
2. Seizing/ exploiting/ using the benefits of globalization while
minimizing its risks and costs, especially for the poorest poor in
developing countries and to the poorest in least-developed countries.
3. Moderating/ making less inequalities within and between
countries- and moderate/make less the forces tending to increase
these inequalities; and
4. Strengthening the commitments to human rights and human
development, as the frame of ethics and principles for national and
international policy.
25. 2.4 Components of Policy
1. Purposively and deliberatively formulated.
– Policy must have a purpose or a goal.
Policies are distinct from goals and can be distinguished
from the latter as means from ends.
By goals or objectives one means towards to the ends .
It is reasonable to expect that a policy indicates the
direction towards which action is sought/ required.
26. Components….
• Policies involve a deliberate choice of actions designed to
attain goals and objectives.
• The actions can take the form of directives to do or
refrain(avoid doing) from certain actions.
• Public Policy is about means and ends, which have to have
a relationship to each other.
• To say that policy- making involves a choice of goals or
objectives is to argue that it deals with values.
27. Components….
-Policies as well as values are chosen under the influence of
values.
-Decision makers often act on (to be guided by) the basis of
their beliefs or perceptions of the public interest
concerning what is a proper or morally correct policy.
– Thus goals and objectives depend on the values (the
usefulness of policy to the public) of the policy- makers.
This could be explained in the following manner:
Values
Goals and
objectives
Policies Directives
Action
Programs
28. Components….
• values are internal perception on the desirability and priority
of one's actions and choices.
• Values are expressions of or beliefs in, the worth of objects,
qualities or behaviors. They are typically expressed in terms
of goodness or desirability or conversely, in terms of badness
or avoidance.
• They often invoke feelings that define or direct us to goal.
• Child protection policy is an example of Policy
• Underpinning principle: Increase the acceptability of the
sport(and organization)by the community.
• Following on from the underpinning principle, a policy also
have goals. These goals describe the range of desired
outcomes or what is to be achieved by implementing the
policy.
29. Components….
• Example of Goals
• For example, a deriving policy might have the following
goals.
• Goal 1: minimize the risk of injury and damage
• Goal 2: maintenance of good driving record.
Policy objective
• There is always confusion about the different between goals
and objective but they are not the same.
• Measurability is always considered to be an important
principle in setting objectives.
• Example, No accidents, self-caused or otherwise for goal
1. above.
30. Components….
– Therefore, policy does not emerge at random or by
chance.
– Once the goal is decided, the policy is devised or
developed in such a way that it determines the course of
action needed to achieve that goal.
2. A policy is well thought- out and is not a series of isolated
decisions.
3. A policy is what actually done and not ,what is intended or
desired.
4. Policy also delineates/defines a time frame in which its
goals have to be achieved.
5. Policy follows a defined course of action in a sequential
order: identification, formulation, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.
31. 2.5 Policy Types
Some Social scientists and scholars have attempted to discuss the
typologies of Policy issues.
These facilitates the comparison between issues and policies.
For example, Theodore J. Low, famous American political scientist
proposed four types of policy namely issues in terms of being:
Distributive, Regulatory, Redistributive; and Constituent
Policy Issues.
Distributive Policy Issues: Policy issues which are concerned with
the distribution of new resources.
- Meant for specific segments of the society.
- It can be in the area of grant of subsidies, loans, provision of
education, welfare or health services or other public assistance
schemes.
32. Types….
• Programme such as Adult Education, Food security, Social insurance,
Scholarships to students from the disadvantaged social backgrounds,
Assistance to aged, Physically challenged persons, etc.
• Redistributive Policy Issues: are those which are concerned with
changing the distribution of existing resources.
– Concerned with the rearrangement of policies, which are
concerned with bringing about basic socio-economic changes.
– Certain public goods (example defense, police forces, etc) and
welfare services (such services include housing, child protection,
free school lunches, and health care) are disproportionately or
unequally divided among certain segments of the society, these
goods and services are streamlined or rearranged through
redistributive policies.
– Income tax policies usually carry elements of redistribution of
incomes.
33. Types….
• Regulative Policy Issues: are those which are concerned with
regulation and control of activities.
– They deal with regulation of trade, business, safety measures,
public utilities, etc.
– this type of regulation is done by Independent organizations
that work on behalf of the government.
– regulatory agencies intended to protect standards of the respective
professions.
– The policies made by the government, pertaining to the relevant
services, and organizations rendering these services are known as
regulatory policies.
• Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Telecom regulatory Authority of
Ethiopia
34. 2.6 Stakeholder’s Participation in Policy Process
• Stakeholder Analysis is a vital tool for identifying those
people, groups and organizations that have significant and
legitimate/ rightful interests in specific issues.
• Clear understanding of the potential roles and contributions
of many different stakeholders is a fundamental prerequisite
for a successful policy process and stakeholder analysis is a
basic tool for achieving this understanding.
35. Stakeholder….
• Stakeholders are those:
– Affected by the issue or those whose activities strongly
affect the issue;
– Possessing information, resources and expertise needed
for strategy formulation and implementation, and
– Controlling relevant implementation instruments.
• To ensure balanced representation, the analysis should
examine and identify stakeholders across a number of
different dimensions.
36. Stakeholder….
• For example, the analysis should separately identify relevant groups
and interests within the public sector, within the private sector, and
within social and community sectors.
• In addition, the analysis can seek out potential stakeholders to ensure
proper representation in relation to gender, ethnicity, poverty, or
other locally relevant criterion.
• It can be seen in terms of three generally sequential stages of
activity.
• The primary purpose of a stakeholder’s analysis to ensure inclusion
of all relevant stakeholders, reaffirming/ confirming rights of
people to know, participate and benefit from development decisions.
37. Stakeholder….
• A comprehensive long listing of stakeholders is the starting
point for a stakeholder mapping and analysis.
• Cutting across these categories, the analysis can also look at
stakeholders in terms of their information, expertise and
resources applicable to use.
• Specifying issue(s) to be addressed: Stakeholders are
defined and identified in relation to a specific issue; people
and groups only have a concrete ‘stake’/interest in a
specific issue or topic.
38. Stakeholders….
2.6.1 Stakeholders participation in the policy process
1. The political / power elites directly engaged in governing;
2. Interest groups and societal actors inside and outside of public
institutions entering into competition/ dialogue to influence the
contents of policies;
3. Groups of citizens instructing representatives and legislators
through elections, referenda, or meetings to implement a specific
policy agenda, or pressurizing them in various other more
unconventional/ alternative ways to change government policies.
4. Legislature
5. Executive
39. Stakeholders….
6. Bureaucracy…reasons for their role…
1. The administrative role
2. Knowledge and Experience
3. Permanence position in the administrative organization in
comparison to the frequent rotation of a minister.
7. Electorate Power (Voters/ people entitled to vote/ body of voters/
voting public)
8. Media and its influences
9. Pressure Groups
10.Political parties
11. Civil Society Organizations
40. 2.7 The Process of Policy Making
• The policy making process or policy cycle is a tool used for
the analyzing of the development of a policy item. It can
also be referred to as a "stagist approach", "stages heuristic"
or "stages approach".
• The Public Policy-Making process or the policy cycle has
the following stages:
1. Agenda Setting: Problem identification/ reorganization
and issue setting
• It the stage where the recognition of certain subject as a
problem demanding further government attention/action.
• Policy –making presupposes the reorganization of a policy
problem.
41. The Process….
• Problem reorganization itself requires that a social problem
has been defined as such and that the necessity of the state
intervention has been expressed.
• The second step would be that the recognized problem is
actually put on the agenda for serious consideration of
public action ( agenda setting).
• Problem reorganization and agenda setting are inherently
political process in which political attention is attached to a
subset of a possible relevant policy problem.
• Actors within and outside government constantly seek to
influence and collectively shape the agenda( e.g., by taking
advantage of rising attention to particular issue, dramatizing
a problem, or advancing a particular problem identification).
42. The Process….
• The involvement of particular actors ( e.g., experts), the choice
of institutional venue in which problems are debated and the
strategic use of media coverage have been identified as tactical
means to define issues.
• Agenda setting results in a selection between diverse problems
and issues by arising the following questions and including
solution for each.
• What is perceived as a policy problem ?
• How and when does a policy problem get on the government’s
agenda?
• And why are other problems excluded from the agenda?.
• In short, agenda setting, focusing the attention of the public
officials on specific public problems to decide what will be
decided.
43. The Process….
2. Policy Formulation/Design and Decision-making
• During this stage of the policy cycle, expressed problems
proposals, and demands are transformed into government
programs.
• Policy formulation and adoption include the definition of
objectives- what should be achieved with the policy- and
consideration of different action alternatives.
• Therefore, policy formulation - Involves exploring a variation
of options or alternative courses of action available for
addressing the problem (appraisal, dialogue, formulation, and
consolidation).
• while decision-making - Government decides on an ultimate
course of action, whether to perpetuate the policy status quo or
alter it (Decision could be 'positive', 'negative', or 'no-action').
44. The Process….
• Policy formulations occur in
– government bureaucracies,
– interest group offices;
– legislative committee rooms;
– meetings of special commission,
– policy- planning organizations, otherwise known as
think- tanks.
Think-Tanks: A committee of experts that undertakes
research or gives advice especially to government.
45. The Process….
• The details of policy proposals are usually formulated by staff
members rather than by their bosses,
– but staffs are guided by what they know their leaders want.
• Policy studies often focus on how policies are made rather than on
their content or their causes and consequences.
• The study of how policies are made generally considers a series of
activities, or processes, that occur within the political system
3. Policy Legitimation
• The legitimation of policies through political actions by
parties, interest groups, the Prime Minister and the
Parliament.
46. The Process….
4. Policy Implementation
• Policy implementation is the ultimate decision made earlier
will be put into practice/effect by public and private
individuals.
• Pressman and Wildavsky aslo defined implementation as,
“a process of interaction between the setting of goals and
actions geared to achieve them.”
• They go on to say,
“ Implementation, then, is the ability to forge /create subsequent
links in the casual chain so as to obtain the desired results.”
– It is important to look at implementation, not solely in terms of
putting policy into effect/ action, but also in terms of observing
what actually happens
47. The Process….
• This is because this stage is critical as political and
administrative action at the frontline are hardly ever perfectly
controllable by objectives, programs, laws, and the like.
Therefore, policies and their intentions will very often be
changed or even distorted; its exultation delayed or even blocked
altogether.
• That is why, Barret and Fudge say that policy implementation is
dependent on,
1. Knowing what you want to do;
2. The availability of the required resources
3. The ability to marshal/organize and control these resources to
achieve the desired end; and
4. If others are to carry out the tasks, communicating what is
wanted and controlling their performance.
48. The Process….
• In general, policy implementation is of crucial importance to the
success of government and at the same time putting policy into
action/effect, is a difficult exercise since it requires lots of elements.
• Example: “National Health Policy”- Health for All by 2020. in
Ethiopia.
• At the minimum to implement this policy, it would include the
following core elements:
1) Adequate personnel and financial resources to implement the
policy(i.e., How are budgets distributed? Which personnel will
execute the program? Which units of an organization will be in
charge for the execution?).
2) The administrative capacity to achieve the desired policy goals;
49. The Process….
3) Political and judicial support (from the Legislature, Executive and
Judiciary wings of the government) for the successful implementation
of policy.
4) It also requires time and skill of the creation of necessary health
organizations.
Implementers:
1. Bureaucracy & other administrative organizations
2. Legislative bodies- (not very crucial in implementation, but they are
influencing the Bureaucrats)
3. Judicial bodies- Most laws enforced through judicial actions.
4. Interest groups- Powerful interest groups affect the implementation
process.
5. Community Groups and Agencies….e.g.,…Co- operatives
6. Influence of political structures:
• Political parties / politicians and executive staff agencies
50. The Process….
5. Policy Evaluation and Termination
• Evaluation assesses the effectiveness of a public policy in
terms of its perceived intentions and results.
• Policy actors attempt to determine whether the course of
action is a success or failure by examining its impact and
outcomes.
• The evaluation of policies by government agencies
themselves, outside consultants or specialized Agencies, the
press, legislative Committees and the public.
• Evaluation focused on the intended results and untended
consequences of policies.
• Evaluation could conduct through different tools to measure
the effects.
51. The Process….
• In Evaluative studies, quantitative analysis may be sought
to be used primarily for measuring effects and impacts,
mostly include:
• Benefit- cost Analysis
• Cost effectiveness Analysis
• Experimental Design and
• Statistical Design
1. Benefit- cost Analysis
• It is a comparison of disadvantages and advantages, that
is, a method of police evaluation that compares the
potential benefits with the anticipated costs.
52. The Process….
• Stokey and Zeckhauser claim that benefit-cost analysis is
the principal analytical framework, which is used to
evaluate expenditure decisions.
• Basically, benefit- cost analysis requires systematic
enumeration of all benefits and all costs, tangible and
intangible, readily quantifiable or difficult to measure,
which will accrue (come as result) if a particular project is
accepted.
• With all this information at hand, the analyst should able to
subtract the total cost of each alternative from the total sum
of its benefits and identify the net gain in each case.
53. The Process….
• In most cases, the costs may be fairly realistically
quantified.
• Rossi and Freeman (1993) mention five means of
monetizing benefits.
– Direct measurement
– Market Valuation (amount expected from open-market
sale)
– Economic Estimation
– Hypothetical Questions (Asking target people, how they
consider basically non- monetary benefits to be worth in
monetary terms).
In practice, except the first two, the rest are not free from
Subjectivity.
54. The Process….
2. Cost effectiveness Analysis
• Cost- Effectiveness is considered to be simplified
version/side of benefit- cost analysis.
• It is a technique for evaluating various alternatives in
terms of the degree to which they efficiently lead to the
fulfillment of stated objectives.
• The alternative adjudged/decided most preferable is the one
which produces maximum effectiveness for a given level
of cost or the minimum cost for a fixed level of
effectiveness. This implies that the policy objectives should
be accomplished at the lowest cost.
55. The Process….
• This method is not only useful for comparing proposed
alternative policies, but also for evaluating the current and
previous policies.
• In the opinion of Rossi and Freeman, the cost- effectiveness
analysis in its conventional form, is similar to the benefit- cost
analysis except that monetizing is required only of the costs,
however, the benefits being expressed in direct outcome units.
3. Experimental method
• Experimental methods are common in social research.
• The basis of evaluation is an ‘ideal’ laboratory (best place for
scientific research)- like situation in which some units in a
population who receive some service under the policy measures
have been randomly selected, while others have not received it.
56. The Process….
• In evaluating the performance of such policies and
programs, samples of different groups (who have received
and who have not received) are selected for comparative
analysis.
• Relevant variables of the groups are then studied before and
after, and even during the program period in order to find
out the difference of impact.
• Subsequently, Statistical Methods are used for testing the
data for significance levels.
• One or more control groups can be selected to test the
impact of a policy.
57. The Process….
4. Statistical Surveys
• Survey Method is quite common in social research. It is a
numerical value or function, e.g. a mean or standard
deviation, used to describe a sample or population.
• In policy evaluation sphere, surveys are quite useful.
• Information (data) is collected and analyzed by applying
statistical tools especially with the help of sampling
techniques, questionnaires and interviews supported by
observation method and secondary data.
• Suitable hypotheses may be developed after identifying
appropriate variables.
58. The Process….
• Groups from population are selected on the basis of certain
characteristics, such as, the level of education, income, size
of landholding, age, sex, social backgrounds, etc.
• Subsequently, changes are sought/searched for concerning
program or policy interventions and association between
degree of success of the policy/ program and different
characteristics of the samples are tested statistically.
• Evaluation could also lead to the termination of a policy.
• The primary idea of policy termination- a problem has been
solved or the adopted policy measures have been recognized
to be ineffective in dealing with the set policy goals- seems
rather difficult to enforce under real-world conditions of
policy- making.