In May this year we celebrated our 21st birthday – since 2005, Evaluation Support Scotland has helped third sector organisations and funders measure and explain their impact. To mark our milestone birthday, we launched Self‑Evaluation Week (18–22 May) – a week dedicated to demonstrating impact and sharing learning. To tie into our birthday celebrations, the theme we chose for the inaugural Self-Evaluation Week was ‘celebrating the difference we make’.
I’m delighted to see us launch Self-Evaluation week as part of our 21st birthday. This year’s theme of celebration feels just right for a 21st!
For 21 years Evaluation Support Scotland has supported organisations to understand the difference they make; learn from evaluation; make evidence led decisions; and shape services for people and communities. It’s a privilege for any organisation to be part of, work with, and learn from, every nook and cranny of a sector that has such a positive impact.
This self-evaluation week, I’m celebrating our fabulous team at ESS, the history of our small charity, the strength of our sector, and the next phase of Evaluation Support Scotland. – Lynsey Kidd, CEO, Evaluation Support Scotland
We invited people to get involved with Self-Evaluation Week by using social media to share their work and celebrate their impact.
What did people celebrate this Self-Evaluation Week? 👇
It was inspiring to hear about some of the fantastic work happening across the sector – a brilliant way to mark our 21st! Thanks to all those who contributed.
We’re celebrating reaching a major milestone in our evaluation journey. This month, we’re rolling out an evaluation framework across our youth, adult and community programmes. There’s still more to learn, but it feels like a big step forward. We’re excited to start putting this into practice so we can better understand the difference we’re making, and have confidence that our results are robust, meaningful and truly reflect our community’s experiences. – Kirsty Frankland, WHALE Arts
This Self-Evaluation Week, we’re celebrating the impact of leadership learning across Scotland and the people and partnerships that make it possible. We’re particularly proud of the spaces created for people to pause, reflect, build confidence and develop practical tools to strengthen their organisations and communities. – Anthony McDermott, Social Enterprise Academy
We’re celebrating the impact that our work has on children, young people and their families through our three main workstreams: mini uniform banks in school, clothing crisis packs, and kit for camp. The main outcomes are increased wellbeing, confidence, inclusion, participation and attendance at school and other activities. – Julia Grindley, Edinburgh School Uniform Bank
This Self-Evaluation Week, I’m reflecting on the difference that the resources and events that Evaluation Support Scotland provide have had on my knowledge and confidence around all things impact over the years. From the Thrive Learning Programme 3 years ago, the evaluation leaders network, tailored support, and the many toolkits and guides that I have used to help frame evaluation conversations, they really have helped increase my knowledge, continue the never-ending learning, and support my striving to embed the “so what?” into all of my work. – Ewa Monteith-Hodge, Walking Scotland
We’re celebrating by reflecting on our learning journey since the start of the year, and we especially want to celebrate what we’ve learnt through the people, partnerships and conversations that have shaped our work. Behind every training session, leadership discussion or collaborative, bespoke workshop are people who continue showing up for children, young people, families and their teammates in emotionally demanding environments. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to that learning alongside us, especially the leaders and practitioners willing to share their honest reflections about what is helping, what is challenging, and what still needs to change. – Roots and Wings Social Care Ltd
As part of Self-Evaluation Week, we’re sharing what impact really looks like for the young people we support: When a young person has the right uniform, it’s not just about clothing – it’s about feeling confident and able to take part in school life. When families feel supported, it strengthens relationships, trust and connection within the school community. What this shows us is simple: providing essentials removes barriers and opens the door to confidence, participation and belonging. – The School Bank West Lothian
How has self-evaluation helped people make a difference? 💡
As well as celebrating their impact, people reflected on how self-evaluation has helped them make a difference. It was recognised that self-evaluation is helpful in clarifying impact, strengthening learning, improving services, and supporting continuous improvement. It turns vague intentions into concrete understanding and guides organisations to adapt, grow, and better serve people.
Self-evaluation has helped us move from broad ideas about our impact to clearly defined outcomes, with practical ways to measure them. Through the process, we’ve built our skills, tested our thinking, and developed a framework that feels grounded and achievable. Self-evaluation has also helped us be more reflective and intentional in our work, making sure we’re not just delivering activity, but understanding the difference it makes. As we begin to roll this out, self-evaluation is giving us the tools to learn, adapt and strengthen our impact over time. – WHALE Arts.
In mental health and wellbeing settings, evaluation is especially important because meaningful change cannot be measured through numbers alone. Evaluation can help us better understand people’s experiences of support, the difference services are making in everyday life, and how our “Penumbra Approach” to support contributes to recovery, connection, and wellbeing. Evaluation also helps us celebrate the positive impact taking place across services and partnerships. Alongside external work, internal evaluation activities also play an important role in supporting learning and service development. Self-Evaluation Week is a valuable opportunity to recognise that evaluation is not separate from practice – it is fundamental to how we listen, reflect, learn, and continue to improve. Across Penumbra, our learning from evaluations should continue to shape how we understand impact, develop services, and support people in meaningful ways. – Penumbra
Through self-evaluation we were able to identify the outcomes that people experienced by recording feedback then using a methodical approach to assess the feedback, as well as learning where we could improve our work. – Edinburgh School Uniform Bank
Self-evaluation has helped us move beyond simply measuring outputs and instead better understand the difference our programmes are making for people, organisations and communities. It has enabled us to identify what is working well, where impact is strongest and where we need to adapt our programmes to better meet learner and sector needs. It has also helped strengthen how we capture learner stories, outcomes and longer-term impact, ensuring we continue to improve and remain responsive to the communities we support. – Anthony McDermott, Social Enterprise Academy
Interested in getting involved next year?
Sign-up to our mailing list to hear about Self-Evaluation Week 2027 👇
