Once we have read and analyzed all the activity evaluation sheets, handwritten on the last day, we can say that the seminar for building new associations ‘What in YOUTH Job Culture Woul Look Like?’ The Voluntary Catalunya Foundation from March 15 to 21 in Vilanova I la Geltrú achieved the six objectives with an average score of excellent, exceeding our best forecasts.
The activity included the participation of representatives from 16 entities from 12 countries, most of them with directive and management responsibilities, to provide answers to the challenges and difficulties that young people encounter in accessing decent work in Europe.
The general objectives were achieved with an average score of 8.97 out of 10 and specific objectives with 9.3 out of 10.
Being the general objectives the following: 1) to share experiences about the needs and challenges young people are facing to have decent jobs while identifying some trends, and risks, from a European perspective; 2) to build new partnerships to tackle the challenges related to youth employment/ unemployment from a European perspective; 3) to think together about what a “Youth Job Culture” would look like. And the specific ones: 1) to learn from each partner’s different approaches, practices, and initiatives in this regard;2) to share experience and ideas to create new programs, projects, and activities to help young people
find or create a job in their area of interest and skills; 3) identify and share useful activities and tools to improve key competencies.
Despite these being ambitious objectives for an activity that lasts only 6 days, we could not be more satisfied with the results (2 points above what was expected), especially considering the diversity of experiences, origins, and knowledge of the group and the complexity of the topics.
We would like to highlight that the good results were possible thanks to the good selection of the partner organizations and their commitment to taking advantage of the opportunities generated by the activity, as well as the communication, at first with the contact persons of the NGOs and, later, with those selected to participate. The online conversations, despite their
brevity, helped to understand the collaborative and participatory perspective of the program and encouraged the group to become protagonists of some activity, presenting their personal experience, informing about activities, tools, and programs they carry out, and conducting outstanding workshops.
In the evaluation we also asked about logistical aspects (venue, accommodation, and food), with an average score of 8.69 out of 10 (1.69 higher than expected).
We are also satisfied regarding the degree of development of the 4 specific competencies we wanted to focus on throughout the project, due to their close relationship with the challenge of achieving a decent job and helping young people comprehend their resources and capabilities. The average rating of the answer to the question: to what extent have the activities allowed the development of initiative, self-knowledge, resilience, and digital skills? –
offers a result of 8.47 out of 10, with an average score of 9.22 with initiative and digital skills (recognized as key skills for lifelong learning), which also exceeds our forecast (by more than 2 points).
The activity has been possible thanks to the entire group, the 16 partners, and the support of the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission. We are very thankful to the international team of facilitators: Aleksandra, from Bulgaria, and Lolo, from Germany.-
One of the results of the activity has been 5 project proposals for the capacity building of youth workers and young people, focused on strengthening the skills necessary to access a decent job, which we trust to carry out soon.
We encourage you to keep you informed of upcoming activities and, at this link, watch one of the short videos of the activity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJxVDoyYPbk
Lluc Martí
Coordinator