Professional Competencies Needed by Agricultural and Extension Program Evaluation Staff and Managers of Iranian Ministry of Agriculture

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate professional competencies needed by program evaluation staff and managers of the Ministry ofJihad-e Agriculture (including the evaluation staff and managers of Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate and theprogram evaluation staff of the Extension and Farming Systems Deputy) in Iran. This research was conducted during 2008 using a descriptive and correlational design and utilizing a stratified random sampling, which selected 132 out of 170 evaluation managers and agricultural personnel involved in program evaluation of that ministry. The reliability of the instrument was estimated to be acceptable (alphas 0.75- 0.98). Both staff and managers suggested the development of evaluation competencies for their programs. They are interested in participating in relevant training courses to enhance their proficiency. The priority of the extension program evaluation staff tends to "Situational Analysis " area, while agricultural program evaluation managers mainly prefer the "Systematic Inquiry " area. Most evaluation competencies should be acquired or developed after the managers have being employed.