“This workshop has had a great impact on me personally and I am sure that it is going to have it on my everyday work too”- commented one of the participants at the last workshop of our EMBEP programme which was held in Lucerne from the 11^th to the 14^th of March. We discussed the issue of evaluation of mentoring and befriending projects at the headquarters of Caritas Switzerland in Lucerne, which is located in a beautiful position over the city with its lake and its stunning mountain chains.

On Wednesday afternoon the steering group meeting took place which focused both the on the final report of the present project and the possibility of applying for a future project within the Erasmus+ Programme. In the evening all participants were invited to a delicious dinner at the Restaurant Libelle which is also a social integration project for unemployed people.

On the first day of the workshop, Mr. Oliver Bieri from ZEWO introduced impact measurement and presented a results-based model for measuring the impact of social projects. In the first group activity participants were asked to work in groups according to their nationalities and to provide an overview of the already existing practices for impact measurement in each country. After lunch break the workshop continued with an input lecture from Stefan Siebenhaar from Caritas who went deeper into the logic of input-impact and pointed out some critical points in the process from output across outcome to impact, the so-called attribution gaps. A lively discussion on measurement methods followed among the group. The task of the second group activity consisted of determining the most suitable methods of collecting data to evaluate a case study of a mentoring/befriending project. In the evening the participants had dinner in the canteen of Caritas, which runs a similar project to Libelle for reintegration of unemployed people in the Swiss labour market through vocational training in the field of catering and service.

On Friday morning the discussion continued, with the same groups as the afternoon before, about the outcomes of each case study project and participants developed suitable indicators for each identified outcome. The workshop closed with an oral feedback round and a written evaluation of the whole workshop organization and content. In the evening most participants left for the Alps to stay in a chalet half up Mountain Pilatus at 1216 metres altitude.

On Saturday morning the group went on a fantastic hike through the wood and on snowed hills guided by the Swiss hosts. In the afternoon it came the time to say goodbye to good friends but at the same time everybody was aware of the inspiring and thought-provoking work done together and left with the strong will to have an EMBEP 2.0. soon!