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With the international community providing billions of dollars each year to promote democratic institutions/cultures in transitional and developing countries, rigorous evaluations have become essential for determining the effectiveness, as well as the future direction, of democracy assistance programs. Krishna Kumar provides a unique, practical guide to the on-the-ground tasks of evaluating and monitoring these programs-from planning to implementation to preparing and presenting evaluation reports. Kumar assesses virtually all of the evaluation and monitoring approaches currently in play, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each and suggesting alternative approaches where appropriate. Packed with valuable insights, this book will serve as an essential tool for those who are involved in democracy assistance programming and evaluation, those who fund it, and those who simply want to learn more about it.

Contents: 1. Why this book? 2. The why and what of evaluating democracy assistance. 3. Democracy indicators: their use and misuse in evaluations. 4. Designing realistic monitoring systems. 5. Planning and managing evaluations. 6. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs. 7. Nonexperimental designs. 8. Methods for data collection. 9. Communicating findings and recommendations. 10. Concluding observations. Appendices. References. Index.