29: Fostering Authentic Engagement in Program Evaluation: Opportunities and Challenges for Implementation in the Extension Education Context

A Google search for community-engaged program evaluation in the Extension context yielded few results, suggesting that the approach might be applied in a few cases that are not publicly available and that many Extension professionals might not be fully aware of this approach. Extension programming is historically community engagement-oriented, yet evaluation of Extension programs appears to engage community members sparingly. As Woolf et al. (2016) note, “Authentic engagement encompasses far more, involving stakeholders as full partners in all phases” of program evaluation, such as defining questions, designing methodology, and collecting data. Embracing such engagement will ensure those most affected by Extension programs have a significant voice in evaluating their effectiveness and impact, enhancing the responsiveness and public value of Extension program evaluations. We draw on literature from multiple disciplines to reflect on the opportunities and challenges of authentic engagement in evaluation and their application for evaluators in the Extension context.

Emmanuel Mensah – Graduate Student (Agricultural and Extension Education), School of Human Sciences, Mississippi State University; Nesma Osman – Assistant Professor, School of Human Sciences, Mississippi State University