Reflecting on the lived experience is an essential element for learning in any non-formal learning activity and, for that reason, throughout the course ‘Ecorasmus 360º’, held from October 27 to November 2 in Vilanova I la Geltrú (Barcelona), we asked the group every day whether or not the program activities met their expectations, a fact that allows us to adapt the program on a daily base.
One of the last activities of the course was to fill out, hand-written, the final evaluation form, 3 pages long, whose statistical results we share here, to show the work carried out by the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària, course coordinator, the commitment of all the partner organizations (11 NGOs from 8 countries) and the fulfillment of what is perhaps the 1st sustainability rule: achieving results between 7 and 9, which justify the dedication of so many resources and energies.
When the whole group was asked about their perception of the degree of fulfilment of the course objectives, the average score was 8.47 out of 10, with values ranging between 8.23 and 8.78.
The 2 general objectives and the respective average scores were:
– Upgrade eco-friendly standards when preparing, implementing, and evaluating activities and projects – 8,23.
– To build an informal network of NGOs committed to greener youth work across Europe – 8,33.
The 3 specific objectives and the respective average scores were:
– To explore, share, and learn applicable green tools, practices, and guidelines to organize eco-friendly activities only – 8,78.
– To develop a tool to assess and upgrade the green competencies (skills, attitudes, and interests) of both youth workers and young people – 8,46.
– To develop new partnerships for greener educational youth projects and activities – 8,56.
In the evaluation we also asked to what extent the activities allowed the development of 4 skills that we consider key for the organization of activities in an ecological and sustainable way, such as environmental awareness, green thinking, initiative and teamwork, with an average score, added up to 72 scores, that almost reaches 9 (8.95) (!).
The evaluation of the Hotel César as a place to do the activities, as accommodation and meals received an average score of excellent, higher than 9 (9.17) (!).
Along with these statistical results, the evaluation sheets allow looking into many aspects of the activity, identifying results and aspects to improve; in them, we ask which activities have been most significant and which learning has been most relevant, in addition to other questions related to the group atmosphere and their sense of participation in the activity itself, aspects that we consider equally key to achieve the course objectives.
The activity was visited by an external evaluator, who assessed it as a ‘good practice’, stating in the report that “projects like this allow us to become more environmentally aware, reduce consumption, choose more sustainable products and suppliers, recycle more and, in short, reduce the environmental impact of activities.”
We would like to take advantage of these good results to thank the Erasmus + program of the European Commission for the support received, the people who have been part of the organizing team: Jannes Z. Herman, from the Netherlands, Lusine Karapetyan, from Armenia, both trainers, and Aleksandra Grzybowska, from Poland, as well as the group of 18 people who have been part of it, for their commitment to organizing more sustainable and ecological activities.
For more information about the results of the course and upcoming ECOrasmus training activities, you can send an email to projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat
Lluc Martí
Coordinator
