EVIDENCE provides training to build organizational capacity in research and evaluation. EVIDENCE develops workshops on how to conduct community-based research incorporating experiential learning. EVIDENCE customizes the training according to organizations’ unique information and learning needs so the knowledge can be incorporated into practice. EVIDENCE:
  • Uses the experience participants have already to develop training
  • Creates opportunities for participants to actively experiment with conducting community-based research
  • Processes participants’ shared reactions and observations to further their learning
  • Supervises and coaches participants throughout.

Example: How to Use Surveys to Conduct Community-Based Research Webinar Series
Since funding for evaluation is insecure and short-term at best, one youth-serving agency in Toronto focused on developing its internal capacity to conduct and critique its own research, including evaluation research. Facilitated by EVIDENCE, staff from different programs engaged in workshops in a web-based conferencing format to design and conduct an evaluation using a survey that elicited feedback from participants across all of the agency’s programs. The survey provided information about participants’ experience of: how they first got involved with the organization and any obstacles they encountered, the quality of the relationship they had with their worker (therapeutic alliance), what they got out of participating (outcomes), and any barriers they had to participation. EVIDENCE facilitated meetings with stakeholders to discuss the implications of key findings and how to develop practical recommendations based on these findings.