This study of the impact of poverty alleviation programmes considers the state of research on evaluation, including the social dimension and methodology, illustrates the evolution of evaluation in the field of development co-operation, and shows successful and inadequate analysing methods. A new method of impact assessment of poverty alleviation projects (MAPP) is also presented and underpinned, empirically. MAPP is based on a multidimensional conception of poverty and shows how the social dimension can be operationalized with the aid of four key social processes: improvement of livelihoods, access to resources, expansion of knowledge, and participation in rights. MAPP is a participatory and process-oriented tool and makes it possible to determine whether the poverty of the target groups has actually been alleviated and, if so, how the benefits of the project have been distributed among the various social groups, for example, by gender and socio-professional categories. This study was carried out at the German Development Institute (GDI) in Berlin.