In this chapter, we turn our attention to crucial issues surrounding the evaluation and monitoring of public policy. The chapter is intended not so much to provide prescriptions on how to monitor and evaluate policies; instead to trigger reflection among readers on their experiences with policy monitoring and evaluation, approaches adopted, political motivations and problems encountered.

We start with examining the conceptual connotations of public policy evaluation and distinguish between different types of policy evaluation; particularly, in this context, we emphasise the need to distinguish policy outcomes from policy outputs. We then look at the imperatives and need for policy evaluation. This is followed by a review of different types of evaluation that may be typically carried out as well as the different approaches that may be adopted.

The latter part of this chapter is devoted to an analysis of the politics of public policy evaluation. Policy evaluation is not simply a positivist exercise using scientific tools and techniques, as seen in a linear rational model of the policy process; rather, it is an inherently political activity, shaped by and enmeshed in social relations of power. The linear rational model of policy analysis sees policy monitoring and evaluation as culminating in policy termination and/or continuation. We look at why this may not always be the case and how protecting certain political and legal interests could keep policies in continuation even when analysis has proven that they have not been effective. We conclude the chapter with some discussion on the issues in the monitoring of public policy.

Public policy evaluation

Policy evaluation could be defined as the process of learning about the consequences of public policy (Dye 2002). Wholey et al. (2004) define policy evaluation to be the assessment of the overall effectiveness of a national programme in meeting its objectives or assessment of the relative effectiveness of two or more programmes in meeting a common objective.

Policy evaluation needs to be distinguished from monitoring. While monitoring provides routine feedback, evaluation offers a more in-depth study of particular issues or concerns at any specific point in time. Public policies, nevertheless, could be evaluated at all phases of policy-making: in the identification and articulation of policy problems, in the formulation of alternative policy options, during the implementation of a particular policy, or at the termination of policy to determine its final impact.