Evaluation is essential to achieving program outcomes, especially when stakeholders engage with evaluation and make use of the findings. Both of these activities require evaluation capacity that might not be present in community-based organizations. In this paper, we describe how community-university partnership models can support evaluation capacity building (ECB). The basic framework for our ECB initiative was a semester-long, master's-level university course in which 5–6 community partners worked with small groups of 3–4 students to design an evaluation plan. We used mixed-methods to assess (1) if organizations implemented the evaluation plans developed in the course; (2) how organizations used the findings; and (3) what evaluation skills participants continued to use after the course ended. We found that organizations that implemented their evaluation plans gained intended outcomes of ECB, such as improving practice and communicating with stakeholders. These results suggest that community-university partnerships for developing ECB can be effective.

中文翻译：

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通过社区与大学合作进行评估能力建设

评估对于实现计划成果至关重要，特别是当利益相关者参与评估并利用评估结果时。这两项活动都需要评估能力，而社区组织可能不具备这种能力。在本文中，我们描述了社区-大学合作模式如何支持评估能力建设（ECB）。我们 ECB 计划的基本框架是一个为期一个学期的硕士水平大学课程，其中 5-6 个社区合作伙伴与 3-4 名学生组成的小组合作设计评估计划。我们使用混合方法来评估（1）组织是否实施了课程中制定的评估计划；(2) 组织如何使用调查结果；(3) 课程结束后，参与者继续使用哪些评估技能。我们发现，实施评估计划的组织获得了欧洲央行的预期成果，例如改进实践和与利益相关者的沟通。这些结果表明，社区与大学的合作对于发展欧洲央行是有效的。