Stakeholder participation in the evaluation of QualiSUS-Network Project: Reflections on a collaborative approach experience

ABSTRACT Stakeholder approaches to evaluation imply the incorporation of different stakeholders in the evaluation process as to facilitate its comprehension and the appropriation of its results. This article aims to describe and critically analyze the participation of the stakeholders in the evaluation process taking into account the evaluation study Projeto de Formação e Melhoria da Qualidade de Rede de Atenção à Saúde (Projeto QualiSUS-Rede). For this purpose, we analyzed the reports regarding work meetings, workshops for conceptual alignment and validation of the projects Logical Models, seminars, as well as partial and final reports, during the period of August 2012 to December 2015. The collaborative approach involved numerous challenges encompassing 15 projects, with different levels of complexity, and with a diverse number and variety of stakeholders, which brought us to the limits and possibilities of participation of the different actors. We adapted the Collaborative Evaluation Model, from Rodriguez-Campos and Rincones-Gomez (2013). This type of approach requires the evaluators to exercise flexibility and adjustment to different local contexts and particularities, without losing sight of conformity to the theory of intervention and to the evaluation theoretical model.