Assessing USAID's Assistance for Democratic Development: Quantity Versus Quality?

Edward R. McMahon
Director, Center on Democratic Performance
Department of Political Science, Binghamton University

This paper was prepared for the American Political Science Association annual conference, San Francisco, August 30 – September 2, 2001, and is published in the Winter 2001 edition of Evaluation .

(Paper updated February 2002)

Content

I.   Introduction
II.  Context
III. Defining Democracy Assistance
IV. Evaluation Process and Stakeholder Perspectives
V.  USAID D/G Evaluation Process
VI. Recommendations

Address all correspondence to : Center on Democratic Performance (CDP), Department of Political Science, Binghamton University, SUNY, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA. E-mail: cdp@binghamton.edu

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Abstract

The focus of this article is on efforts undertaken within the United States government, especially the U.S. Agency for International Development, to develop a coherent approach to determining the effectiveness of its democracy support programming. The main four priority areas are to support: civil society development; competitive political processes; the rule of law; and governance.

The article begins by asking the question of why this issue is important. It then provides context, and briefly assesses varying perspectives and motivations of different stakeholders. It examines and critiques current approaches being taken to "measure performance" and concludes by suggesting some potentially useful policy and research directions. These include instituting structural reforms to enhance the independence of the evaluation process, disaggregating approaches to assessing the impact of programming, focussing on priority countries, and expanding use of integrative methodologies.

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