Improving on the capabilities approach as a framework for the evaluation of international development projects

Abstract

Amartya Sen developed the ideas underlying the Capability Approach, followed by abundant debate by other authors. This approach to development economics provides an alternative to traditional ways to determine the welfare of human being, arguing that the expansion of freedom and choices to seek a fulfilling life (the capabilities) of an individual are better indicators of welfare than materialistic measurements of success. The literature regarding this approach to development is extensive; however, this approach is not commonly used in the practice of initiatives such as development projects, especially for its evaluation stage, where the demands for accountability in a project implementation result in the exclusiveness of evaluation methods such as income comparisons as well as measurements of efficiency and quantities of goods delivered.

This research joins recent literature about the operationalisation of this approach for its use as a framework for the design and especially the evaluation of development projects, by evaluating the effects of a project on its participants’ expansion of freedoms to do activities and pursue paths and activities in their lives that they have a reason to value.

A case study was conducted in the Country of Honduras, studying a development project by the NGO ‘Libre Expresión’ which focuses on the provision of courses to supplement the education of young adults from disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Qualitative research methods such as focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to identify the capabilities of the beneficiaries of the project and analyse them in relation to the project’s activities and how the participants’ perceive that their freedoms and choices for their lives have changed in the course of their participation in the project. The results ranged from the discovery of capabilities by some of the participants, to a pre-existing knowledge of capabilities and the desire to further expand them by others. These results and their implications are discussed in the context of previous literature on this topic.