Evaluation comes at all stages of a project. Thus, the time to start thinking about evaluation comes at the very beginning of a project. As you connect with others in the community, it is useful to start defining and brainstorming project goals and success criteria. However, you will need to also be open to change, as evaluation is a continual process.

• Evaluation may lead to changes in what success looks like
• Revisiting goals and objectives periodically and being open to shifting objectives
• Balancing shifting needs and objectives with longer-term project goals

Discussing evaluation

Without buy-in and trust, it can be difficult to get people who are willing to participate. This makes gathering valuable data from your evaluation challenging.

By discussing evaluation often and maybe even assigning someone to help keep evaluation at the forefront of your conversations, you will have a better sense of what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done.