Learning from experience: How to evaluate co-production
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 30th July 2025
How do we evaluate co-production? And why should we? These are two questions explored in the Co-production Guide - a tool to support people to carry out, embed and improve co-production with and by their communities.
Evaluation helps us understand and demonstrate the value of our activities within our team, organisation, local communities and wider partners, including our funders or grant providers.
It also tells a story to others about whether your processes and activities have met or exceeded expectations and what impact they has had for those involved.
Evaluation is essentially the “so what?” questions we need to ask, which demonstrate why co-production is beneficial to both everyone involved and the wider community.
This type of self-reflection is an important part of how practice is developed and improved. It's something quite personal, but with co-production it also impacts the wider process by informing how relationships are forged and decisions made.
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