The prerequisites for traditional program evaluation fail to account for the social
learning process that is vital to the long-term success of community organizations. Their process orientation requires flexible designs that change as the organization becomes
skilled at mobilizing participants, collaborating with other organizations and agencies,
and developing new strategies to deal with new problem definitions. Imposing stringent
requirements for the conduct of evaluations may undermine the social learning process
of the community organization and reduce its effectiveness in dealing with local problems.