The evaluation of development projects. A South African anthropological perspective

Abstract

The need to equate development with a process of self-directed westernisation in the present time is explained initially in this discussion. This is followed by a discussion on the involvement of the Ethnological Section of the former Department of Development Aid in passing judgement on the administration of development projects. After enumerating the characteristics qualifying anthropologists to pronounce on the evaluation of development projects and profiting from the experience of the above-mentioned and other colleagues, tentative feasible short-, medium-, and long-term evaluation procedures have been formulated. Accepting the value of the Logical Framework Approach developed in the USA and at present used by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in their work, anthropologists are urged to acquaint themselves with the importance of this approach.