Put lived experience at the heart of what you do
26th August 2025
Authors: Maja Naumczyk, Community Engagement Lead and Zsara McEwan, Service Design Lead
At GCVS, we believe that services work best when shaped by the people who use them. That’s why we are pleased to announce our programme of Engagement and Design events for autumn/winter 25-26. We aim to support Glasgow’s third sector to place lived experience, participation, and co-design at the centre of service development.
What’s new?
Our new programme has been informed through sector engagement and survey feedback. Thank you to all who contributed their time and insights to help us shape this programme. In response, we have expanded our training offer and added events to support a community of practice.
Training
Our Engagement and Design team will be running our popular Designing Services with People training, accompanied by Community Engagement Planning: Putting Theory into Practice. To complete the training journey, we are adding a new session on Group Facilitation Skills, which we have heard you have a clear appetite for. Coupled with Engaging With Your Community training, delivered by our GCVS Sector Development colleagues, there will be something for everyone, regardless of your level of expertise. We encourage you to attend all sessions as part of a cohesive learning journey, designed to equip you with the skills to understand, structure, plan, and host activities that engage your community in decision-making and service development.
Community of practice
We heard that practitioners from the sector interested in community engagement and service design would value a space to come together for peer-to-peer support. We will foster opportunities for this through our community of practice events, designed for networking and sharing of knowledge and practice. This community of practice will be open to all third sector organisations delivering in Glasgow and will evolve based on the needs of members.
Overview of upcoming events
Training: Designing Services with People
15 October (in-person)
An introduction to service design, its relevance to engagement, and an exploration of mindsets for collaborative, empowering participation and co-design.
Community of Practice Event
5 November (online)
Join us for the first Community of Practice event! There will be opportunities to connect with other practitioners and shape how we want to develop this community.
Training: Putting Theory into Practice
28 November (in person)
An introduction to service design, its relevance to engagement, and an exploration of mindsets for collaborative, empowering participation and co-design.
Training: Facilitation Skills for Community Engagement
28 January (in person)
This new addition to our training programme explores ways in which we can facilitate collaborative and impactful sessions to engage all.
Community of Practice Event
26 February (in person)
Our community of practice events are an excellent opportunity to connect with practitioners across the sector on all things engagement, service design, participation, lived experience and co-design.
Stay in the loop
If you would like to be kept up to date with events and opportunities relating to engagement and design, you can sign up for our mailing list using the link below.