Abstract: | This article explores the relationships between evaluators and those who take part in community‐based programmes. It draws specifically on experience gained from the continuing evaluation of the Communities that Care (CTC) programme in Britain. Different community perspectives towards evaluation are discussed, highlighting the challenges these create for evaluators. In the final sections examples are used to identify different strategies used on the CTC evaluation, showing how ‘trust’, ‘boundary setting’, ‘independence’ and ‘identification of benefits’ are central to including community participants in evaluation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |