It is important to recognize the involvement of community members in the evaluation process.  Community members have the most to gain at this stage in terms of knowledge and skills, as they learn what did and did not work about the program and more importantly why – this could be because of process issues, or because the program was not addressing the real determinants of health, which could then be followed up by community members. 

By keeping the evaluation process at arms length from the program recipients and the community, it is less likely that the results of the evaluation or the program itself will be taken on by the community.  Sustainability of the program is likely to suffer.

A ‘good’ evaluation can be considered one that is appropriate, ethical, practical to implement, achievable, and useful to the evaluator and the participants (Wilson & Wright, 1993).