Table 2.
Factors operating as barriers and facilitators across identified themes
| Times cited | |
|---|---|
| Factors operating as barriers | |
| Factors related to lack of resources | 36 |
| Financial resources | 14 |
| Staff resources | 6 |
| Lack of time | 6 |
| Lack of resources to hire external evaluators | 3 |
| Resources (unspecified) | 6 |
| Staff turnover | 1 |
| Factors related to technical capability and evaluation skills | 36 |
| Lack of expertise and internal capability | 17 |
| Problems with data collection and analysis | 11 |
| Inability to utilise existing data | 3 |
| Difficulty conceptualising and designing evaluation | 1 |
| Technical challenges | 4 |
| Challenges in utilising evaluation systems and identifying outcome indicators | 27 |
| Difficulty developing and using evaluation tools | 5 |
| Lack of integrated systems to collect and analyse data | 9 |
| Challenges in identifying accepted outcome and impact indicators | 13 |
| Factors related to organisational culture and management | 26 |
| No perceived benefit to conduct evaluation | 1 |
| Staff resistance to evaluation | 10 |
| Perceived compromise between evaluation and service delivery | 3 |
| Lack of evaluation strategies and planning | 3 |
| Lack of feedback between board and management staff | 1 |
| Low prioritisation of evaluation | 3 |
| Lack of support from board and leadership | 4 |
| Evaluation not part of everyday practice | 1 |
| Factors related to funder requirements | 25 |
| Lack of funder requirements and support | 3 |
| Differing requirements from different funders | 1 |
| Mismatch between funder requirements and appropriate goals | 16 |
| Poor proportioning of size of charities and funder requirements | 1 |
| Micro-management by donors | 1 |
| Funding insecurity (funding circles incentivising focusing on immediate outputs rather than long-term outcomes) | 3 |
| Other | 5 |
| Confidentiality of data | 3 |
| Lack of cooperation with stakeholders | 2 |
| Factors operating as facilitators | |
| Factors related to receiving support to evaluate | 19 |
| Partnering with evaluation experts | 3 |
| Partnering with organisations working with similar activities | 1 |
| Technology availability and literacy to collect and analyse data | 4 |
| Benchmark data availability | 2 |
| Training of staff and evaluation literacy | 5 |
| Workable evaluation tools | 2 |
| Having sufficient resources to evaluate | 2 |
| Factors related to organisational culture and management | 18 |
| Understanding internal processes | 3 |
| To embed evaluation as part of everyday practice | 1 |
| Improve allocation of resources | 1 |
| Support from board and leadership | 4 |
| Have in-house evaluation staff | 3 |
| Having clear goals and evaluation strategies | 2 |
| Staff support | 3 |
| Positive perception of evaluation | 1 |
| Factors related to the motivation to be accountable | 17 |
| Involvement of stakeholders to identify outcome indicators and evaluation goals | 5 |
| The motivation to influence policy | 1 |
| Compare work and outcomes to others doing similar work | 1 |
| The motivation to inform the sector as whole | 1 |
| Improve targeting of beneficiaries | 1 |
| Identify new approaches | 1 |
| Ensuring control and legitimacy of activities to stakeholders | 3 |
| The motivation to demonstrate and improve effectiveness of services | 4 |
| Factors around funder requirements and regulations | 7 |
| Funder requirements | 6 |
| Regulation requirements | 1 |
| Factors around economic sustainability | 5 |
| Using evaluation to be eligible for funding opportunities | 3 |
| Using evaluation as marketing | 2 |