24/10/2025
Strategic Evaluation of CUSP's Role in Fostering Multi-Level Engagement in PRO-Coast
Within the PRO-Coast project, the CUSP (Community Sustainability Platform) serves as our central nervous system for stakeholder interaction.
The CUSP is a network to be built and maintained to 2033 by European Sustainable Use Group. It consists of a multilingual Hub which links, for each language area, to Satellite sites which host most PRO-Coast content in local languages- https://esug.sycl.net/6/10/naturalliance,-second-edition . To quantitatively & qualitatively assess its effectiveness in fostering genuine, sustained engagement, we deployed a triad of complementary evaluation approaches:
Stakeholder Clustering for Synergistic Collaboration: We are strategically facilitating the formation of stakeholder clusters, uniting scientific experts with field-level practitioners,at both pan-European & national levels creating a powerful network effect. The primary objective is to catalyze collaborations, promote ancillary projects aligned with the specific, self-identified objectives of each cluster (T7.4), thereby moving beyond generic engagement to targeted, value-driven partnerships.
Community Outreach via Established Channels: Leveraging the proven, on-the-ground network of ESUG's Country Coordinators, we execute a targeted outreach strategy to local administrations. This method has demonstrated high efficacy in prior survey rounds. Building directly on the empirical lessons learned from the PRO-Coast case studies (T7.5), we deploy tailored surveys to gauge interest & identify priority areas. The engagement prompt is carefully crafted to emphasize mutual benefit: "Your insights are vital. By completing this questionnaire, you directly inform impactful research and help us prioritize the projects most pertinent to your community's needs."
Data-Driven Engagement through the Garden-REDS Platform: A cornerstone of our evaluation is the deployment of the bespoke Garden-REDS digital platform, developed explicitly for PRO-Coast. This tool is being utilized to systematically gather rich data on user engagement & organizational capabilities from gardens within our case study regions, with potential for broader expansion. This initiative serves a dual purpose: it acts as a powerful dissemination engine for the project's findings, while simultaneously serving as a critical stress-test to determine if the REDS methodological approach can generate the levels of user engagement required for long-term, self-sustaining participation.
These 3 methodologies are not operating in isolation; they are deeply interconnected, creating a feedback loop. The insights generated from this integrated evaluation strategy will be instrumental in 2 critical phases: identifying & scoping concrete opportunities for the exploitation of project outcomes (T7.6), formulating evidence-based, pragmatic policy recommendations (T7.7) to ensure the legacy of PRO-Coast endures.
PRO-Coast @ακόλουθοι
