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This article explores the methodological challenges of implementing a participatory evaluation of a project addressing the issue of non-take-up of social benefits in Switzerland. By doing so, it focuses on the dynamics of a group of experts by experience who have all encountered barriers to accessing social benefits but whose backgrounds and experiences with non-take-up vary widely. Moreover, this participatory process engages a population that is often defined by its marginalization and is typically seen as distant from, or even absent in, social policy discussions. By analyzing the formation of the group of experts by experience, as well as the material and social conditions required to carry out this evaluation, the article provides insight into a participatory experiment aimed at transforming individual lived experiences into a collective expertise and led to a set of recommendations addressed to local authorities.