Let’s talk about evaluation

When most people think of evaluation, they associate it with something that happens at the end of a project. Then, we look at the project after it's done and decide whether it was a success or not. When designing I AM EUROPE concept we felt that project evaluation actually needed to be an integral part of the project from the beginning, and we were sure that involving stakeholders - people directly connected to and affected by our project – was tremendously important. This is the reason why we decided to use PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION methodology, and invited Susanne Ulrich from Centre for Applied Policy Research in Munich and dr. Tilman Eckloff as our experts to conduct the process throughout the way.

Such a process, as we shall see, is not just a matter of inviting stakeholders to take part.  Involving those who are affected by the project shifts the whole nature of it from something done for a group of people to a real partnership between beneficiaries and project initiators.  Rather than powerless people who are acted on, beneficiaries become the “copilots” of a project, making sure their true wishes and expectations of the project are recognized and addressed.  In I AM EUROPE case, we would like to see that our professional evaluators, project staff, project participants, and representatives of European institutions all become colleagues in an effort to improve the quality of European citizenship.

The first successful Stakeholders meeting in Berlin is behind us. We got to know and took responsibility for the approach of participatory evaluation and managed to develop criteria and indicators of I AM EUROPE success. The interactive and participatory exchange between different stakeholders of the project enabled us to radically rethink who initiates and undertakes the process, and who learns or benefits from the findings. 

Let’s meet at Joint Meetings and find out how our proposals work in practice. See you there!

Joanna Krawczyk

(EF)

A first milestone reached!

In all the 9 participating sites local activists gathered to share their experiences and best practices of their work, by now.  They also engaged in lively discussions about what “I am Europe” means to them and why the project will be interesting and relevant. They reflected upon what they could contribute with to the project and what themes they would like to discuss with the experts and politicians they are going to encounter during the Joint Meetings in Antwerp, Paris and Warsaw and the Final Conference in June in Brussels. The energy and the commitment of the activists is impressive as are their experiences and stories about their local activities: from saving trees, to setting up local community centres, from campaigning for social housing up to activating citizens of different generations, backgrounds and regions to work together.

One event we all look forward to is the first Joint Session in March in Antwerp where all  45 elected delegates get to know each other and their projects, where we start exchanging and learning from each other, in order to get impulses for both – the local work back home as well as the European level where we want to test if and how citizens’ participation is possible. See you soon in Antwerp – where our hosts of Buurtschatten (Neighbourhood Treasures) and Samenlevingsopbouw (Living together in the community) will make sure we will remember Antwerp beyond diamonds and chocolates ;).

  

Steffi Leupold

Project facilitator