ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the importance of interpretive approaches to data collection, and long-term engagement in the social setting, to understand and assesses the impact of social development, health and capacity building initiatives and programmes. It addresses an often-overlooked aspect of monitoring and evaluation the politics of evidence. While focusing on examples from the author's work in one Pacific country, these are issues and challenges relevant to other diverse cultural, political, geographic and economic settings. The chapter provides two examples to illustrate the need for measuring and understanding impact outcomes in locally contextualised, culturally meaningful ways. The first relates to the importance of narratives in understanding programmatic success. The second examines issues to do with method selection. The chapter highlights the issues on Papua New Guinea's largest liquefied natural gas project, known as the LNG Project. It focuses on some of the challenges the author encountered in his experiences of monitoring and evaluation practices in one local context.
