Strength in Collaboration

6th August 2025

Putting Lived Experience at the Heart of What We Do

At GCVS, we believe that services work best when shaped by the people who use them. That’s why our Design and Engagement programme supports Glasgow’s third sector to place lived experience, participation, and co-design at the centre of service development.

Through training, events and conversations, we’re helping organisations build the tools and confidence they need to engage meaningfully with their communities.

What We’ve Heard So Far

In May, we welcomed organisations to the Albany for a lively discussion on engagement practice. Attendees shared their real-world challenges and success stories, and told us what support they’d like from GCVS.

We set out to explore how we can strengthen our training offer – and whether there was appetite for more peer learning and shared reflection. The answer was a resounding yes.

A strong theme emerged: people want more spaces to connect, share and learn from each other. You can read the full summary of what we heard here in our report.

In response, we’re excited to begin developing a ‘Community of Practice’ – a space for third sector staff to explore engagement and design together, alongside our training programme. Autumn dates will be shared soon.

Help Shape What Happens Next

Didn’t make it to the May event? We still really want to hear from you.

We’re inviting you to help shape our plans by completing a short survey. It takes just a few minutes and will help us understand what kind of support and events would be most useful to you.

Stay Connected

Want to stay in the loop about future training, events, and community of practice opportunities?

You can sign up for updates as part of the survey above, or reach out directly to Maja, our Community Engagement Lead: 📩 maja.naumczyk@gcvs.org.uk

Be Our Critical Friend

We’re also looking for a small group of people to act as a sounding board as we shape our events and learning opportunities. If you’re interested in being part of this and might want to get involved, please drop Maja a message.