Presentation Abstract: Participatory evaluation often requires multiple stakeholders with different expectations and perspectives to come together to achieve a common goal. The ecology of participatory evaluation is such that the relationships among stakeholders are complex. They have different roles and responsibilities to their constituents – creating a challenge to managing and producing a relevant evaluation that all stakeholders can buy into and find useful. This panel presentation is based on the statewide participatory evaluation of the California Mental Health Services Act. This approach to evaluating public mental health services statewide is the first of its kind in California. Three panelists will discuss the implementation of the evaluation from the perspective of three stakeholders: the funder, the consumer/service recipient, and the evaluator. A discussant will moderate a conversation between the three panelists as they discuss the relationships, responsibilities, and relevance of conducting participatory evaluation within a complex ecology of stakeholders.#Collaborative,ParticipatoryandEmpowermentEval #2012Conference