Creating synergies among CIVITAS projects in dissemination & evaluation work
On 3 October two parallel meetings took place in Seville, Spain; the Dissemination Managers Working Group as well as the Evaluation Managers Working Group, which brought together the respective managers of all CIVITAS projects. These meetings kick-started CIVITAS' aims to create synergies among the various mobility projects and enable stream-lined peer-learning.
Clusters for dissemination
At the dissemination managers meeting, led by ICLEI Europe, the main focus was the introduction of the thematic clusters - introduced by EUROCITIES. The clusters are sub-topics, grouping the various mobility projects, to enable more in-depth personal connections, peer-learning and public-facing synergies in dissemination work going forward. The participants exchanged ideas, created plans and established ways of working for the coming months.
Guidance, exhange and updating the CIVITAS Evaluation Framework
The evaluation managers meeting was chaired by TRT Trasporti e Territorio, with the support of DTV Consultants. The main goal is to provide continuous guidance and on-demand assistance to CIVITAS projects, facilitate local evaluation activities, foster synergies and exchanges, and support horizontal and cross-project information exchange (tools, guidelines, best practices, trainings, workshops, etc.). One of the core objectives of the Evaluation Group is, also, to update the current CIVITAS Evaluation Framework; a reference document offering detailed guidelines and practical advice for the evaluation of mobility-related measures implemented in urban European environments. The new version to be produced within CIVITAS MUSE will be the result of an open and informative process with evaluation managers, to reflect projects’ needs, topics, and requirements. During the meeting, TRT outlined preliminary ideas for the updated CIVITAS Evaluation Framework, including the possibility of developing an online tool to serve as a user-friendly, flexible, and homogeneous evaluation guide.
The meetings were attended by the evaluation and dissemination managers from the CIVITAS projects, project officers and other representatives from CINEA.
Next steps
A timeline for 2024 for the up-coming cluster and dissemination managers meetings was agreed on - the next meeting is due to take place in early Spring.
The next plenary Evaluation Group Meeting is scheduled to take place next September (in concomitance with the CIVITAS Forum), whereas intermediate meetings within the framework of the project’s thematic clusters will occur from early 2024. CIVITAS projects are also being offered an ongoing and demand-based support for the implementation of their evaluation activities.
