Collaborative evaluation and tensions around knowledge production in sport for development

Abstract

This paper explores the mundane dynamics underpinning collaborative evaluation in the Sport for Development sector. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic research using remote participant observation, we document the epistemic tensions arising among various actors during the collaborative development of a learning-oriented, contextually-grounded evaluation tool in a sport-for-sexual-health programme in Côte d’Ivoire. Ethnographic data shows actors’ differing epistemological approaches to evaluation based on their positioning within the partnership. These tensions emerged across three relational axes: between managers and evaluators, among evaluators, and between evaluators, managers, and local coaches. We argue that reflexive accounts of these mundane knowledge-producing processes provide a more accurate representation of the diverse interests held across and within different organisations and actors. This original exploration of collaborative evaluation processes contributes to ongoing debates about stakeholder involvement approaches to evaluation in the Sport for Development sector.