Evaluation of nine non-governmental human rights organisations

This evaluation that was carried out for the Dutch government aims to gauge the efficiency, effectiveness and relevance of the work of nine human rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that receive funds from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An attempt was made to gauge the impact of the NGOs. A standard evaluative framework was applied that consists of five sections: a general section on each organisation, which includes an assessment of its substantive content, main activities and output, management and structure, and finance; a section on its international advocacy work; a section on publications and information; a section on one specific programme of activities, and a summary of the evaluative statements across all dimensions of performance.

In this study, standard social scientific evaluation tools are applied to produce a systematic accountability study of the organisations concerned. Its main aim is to provide comparative measures and assessments of the NGOs to be fed back into the larger foreign and human rights policy of the Dutch Government. The evaluation concentrated on the link between the concrete activities of the organisations and the realisation of their aims and objectives. It sought to apply the logic of interference from systematic analysis in the social sciences and gathered indicators on organisational effectiveness and efficiency rather than focussing exclusively on the improvement of the human rights situation on the ground.

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