Table 2 Factors operating as barriers and facilitators across identified themes

 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 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