| Abstract: | In an increasingly globalized world, participatory impact assessment (PIA) can serve as a useful tool to help communities take charge of their affairs. Development agencies can work with communities to use PIA to measure and promote substantial, sustainable gains by the poor in terms of money and power. Recent work on impact indicators at the micro- (household and community), meso- (institutional), and macro- (policy) levels—especially in the areas of microenterprise, local economic development, gender and development, human rights, and institutional partnerships—can be consolidated and extended through PIA. PIA can also be used to strengthen methods that place full control, or at least co-management authority, in the hands of citizens to evaluate development interventions. An international network on PIA should be established to facilitate exchanges on, and the spread of, this approach. |
