CFHS works with community food initiatives to improve the work they do. Self-evaluation study groups (e.g. for cooking skills training and community cafés) are one way of doing this, and these case studies document some of this work.
Edinburgh Community Food’s Chris Mantle was a member of CFHS Cooking Skills Evaluation Study Group. This case study describes now that group and networking with others shifted his thinking in how he and his colleagues run cooking skills courses.
Read ‘Edinburgh Community Food – learning from others’ hereFiona Matthew from the NHS Grampian Confidence to Cook programme took part in the CFHS cooking skills evaluation study group. In this case study, Fiona explains what she learned most from being part of the study group, what learning she passed onto others and in turn, what impact it had on their work.
Read ‘Confidence to Cook – sharing evaluation skills to improve cooking skills courses’ here
Joy and Chris from Windmills Café took part in a small group of community cafés looking at self-evaluation with CFHS. They used personal planning, relationship mapping and other tools to evaluate how successful their independent living skills training and employability service was.
Read ‘Windmills Café – evaluating their service to young people with learning disabilities’ here
Violetta and Anne from Sycamore Tree Café took part in a small group of community cafés looking at self-evaluation with CFHS. They wanted to gauge how effective the café was as bridge between the church and the community, and whether volunteers and customers felt that they belonged to the café.
Read ‘Sycamore Tree Café – evaluating their place in the community’ here
Joanne and Hazel from Open Door Café took part in a small group of community cafés looking at self-evaluation with CFHS. They wanted to find out how well their Sunday Lunch and other activities helped reduce social isolation and whether diners felt a sense of belonging.
Read ‘Open Door Café – evaluating their service to older people’ here
Anne and Karen from Kate’s Kitchen took part in a small group of community cafés looking at self-evaluation with CFHS. They wanted to find out what difference the ‘pay what you can’ café made to people’s lives and how users thought the gardening service could improve.
Read ‘Kate’s Kitchen – evaluating their impact and finding out service users’ views’ here
Beverley and Amanda from Community Food Stop took part in a small group of community cafés looking at self-evaluation with CFHS. Recognising that the project couldn’t run without volunteers, they decided to evaluate what people gained from volunteering there and what past volunteers had gone on to do.
Read ‘Community Food Stop – evaluating outcomes for volunteers’ here
Caroline and Angela from North Edinburgh Arts Café took part in a small group of community cafés looking at self-evaluation with CFHS. They wanted to know what café volunteers gained from their experience there, from achievements to community connectedness.
Read ‘North Edinburgh Arts community café – evaluating the volunteer journey’ here
Fife Health and Social Care – a pragmatic approach to cooking skills
Lyndsay Clark from Fife Health and Social Care was a member of the CFHS cooking skills evaluation study group. In this case study, Lyndsay tells us what learning inspired her most and what changes she has since made to her own work to use a more pragmatic approach to cooking skills.
Read ‘Fife Health and Social Care – a pragmatic approach to cooking skills’ here