Engaging New Social Movements

Organizations involved in the development ofinnovative social programs are coming under increasingpressure to establish structures through which theusers, targets, or beneficiaries of program activities can be involved in program planning andimplementation. The dynamic that this sets up betweenthe program and its wider environment, particularly inareas in which “new social movements” areoperating, can be quite challenging. This article seeks toexamine these dynamics, particularly in the context ofprogram evaluation. It is argued that an engagedevaluation approach (drawing on an action research orientation) has particular strengths in sucha situation, although the limitations and challenges ofsuch an approach are also outlined. It may, for example,require careful management in terms of the dynamics of the evaluation team. The discussionis illustrated by examples drawn from the evaluation ofa European program for disabled people in which theauthor as member of a research team from The Tavistock Institute was involved.