Evaluation, Equity and Social Justice

Evaluation can be a space for critical thinking that assumes criteria for judging public policies that are alternative to those present in neoliberal politics. In the history of evaluation, there are methodological orientations and theoretical reflections that look at the ability of evaluation to promote social justice by assuming judgment criteria that consider the interests of less privileged groups as priorities and look at the ability of the evaluated programs to promote equal access to civil liberties, human rights and opportunities.

Justice-oriented evaluation is not neutral but must take into account above all the needs and interests of those who have less power and must highlight how certain political choices lead to increasing social inequalities. This vision is particularly important in the evaluation of social and educational interventions aimed at children and adolescents where it is necessary to think of evaluation models that can listen to their voice while taking into account their specificity and fragility.

This does not only imply, formally, that all stakeholders are represented, but that the evaluation exercises a rebalancing towards those who are more likely to be overlooked in the political decision-making process and that participants are ensured at least a tendency towards equality of power.

In order for an evaluation oriented towards social justice to be carried out, it is important to reflect more on the ethics of the evaluator which should be inspired by values such as moderation, humility, social dialogue to verify whether the various actors involved in the evaluation process are inspired by values that conceive of justice differently from one's own and whether the evaluation process itself cannot lead to the development of new criteria of judgment emerging from the comparison between the different perspectives.