We are glad to share the results of the written evaluation sheets filled in by the participants in the international seminar ‘Equal Volunteering Opportunities for All’, an activity coordinated by the FCV which took place from September 1 to 7 in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona), in association with 16 not for profit entities from 12 countries, and with the support of the Erasmus + program of the European Commission; results that, once again, are very positive.
The FCV has the practice of valuing elements despite them being intangible, it is possible to identify and improve these characteristics in an activity and, therefore, in the evaluation sheets we asked the degree of development of a specific list of competences, which they already know months before the activity starts, and which were the following: volunteer management, intercultural communication, cultural diversity management, conflict management and global awareness, competences that participants could experience from various approaches.
Between 1 = not at all and 5 = a lot. The results, from least to greatest, are very positive: conflict management (3.7); volunteer management (3.8); global awareness (4); cultural diversity management (4.2); intercultural communication (4.5).
In the FCV we use the non-formal educational methodology because it allows us to perform a wide variety of exercises and games, individual and in groups, focused on understanding the enormous variety of learning sources, the value of the key competences for lifelong learning and the impact of the processes of identification and recognition of competences, made individually; therefore we dedicated a space for the group to become familiar with the self-assessment processes.
In addition to involving the participants in their own learning, which is not at all obvious in all the training processes, we encourage them to get involved in the achievement of the objectives of the activity, which they also know months in advance.
As it is a practice in the FCV, we have asked the whole group about their own perception of the degree of fulfillment of objectives, with the results also being very positive.
The 4 general objectives *, valued between 1 = not and 6 = fully, we got the following results: 4.8, 4.5 and 5.2 and 5.2. On the other hand, the 3 specific objectives **, also valued between 1 = not and 6 = full, we got the following results: 4.8, 5.5 and 5.4.
The two objectives that were the most complied with were ‘to share inspiring stories, practices and experiences, successful or not, we can learn from this to empower the target group to become active volunteers, leaders and citizens.’ (5.5) and `to collect and spread the inspiring tools, ideas, practices and experiences at the local, regional and national level, in our communities and at the European and international level.’ (5.4).
The objective that was least met was ‘to learn how to diversify, increase and improve the support given to young people who are migrants, refugees and part of a cultural minority to encourage them to become leader of new projects and activities’ (4.5).
When we asked the whole group about the level of fulfillment of expectations, their answers being the following:
“I am satisfied with the seminar, because it was very enriching for me. I will definitely use my new knowledge in my NGO”; “it was a useful and enriching seminar, which offered multiple perspectives of different people”; “very satisfied, exceeded my best expectations”; “I feel like I gave everything I had and I am 100% satisfied”.
We sincerely thank all the partner entities for the excellent selection of the participants and for supporting them in the preparation and helping them when they needed it, as well as the whole group, for their commitment, help and participation throughout the activity, presenting their experiences, points of view, informing about their entities, making presentations and workshops and proposing new activities.
The international team of co-facilitators deserves a special mention: Aleksandra Lyutskanova and Balázs Kiss, and the FCV team: Alice Britta Kukk, reporter and support person and Alp Karabulut, photographer and videographer.
Lluc Martí
Seminar coordinator and co-facilitator
* The 4 general objectives of the seminar were: 1) To learn how to be more inclusive to people with a diverse cultural background, both in theory and practice. 2) To learn how to diversify, increase and improve the support given to young people who are migrants, refugees and part of a cultural minority to encourage them to become leader of new projects and activities. 3) To encourage a real exchange of ideas, information, tools, methodologies, practices, activities and projects regarding integration of third national countries. 4) To promote cooperation and networking among youth workers (volunteer leaders, managers, mentors and supervisors) and NGOs active in the field of non-formal learning and volunteering at the European level. ** The 3 specific objectives of the seminar were: 1) Learn / understand the basic of intercultural competence (including intercultural communication), and reflect on how to implement it, especially when recruiting/managing/supporting volunteers with a different cultural background, and gain new ideas and tools to identify, develop and recognize this competence. 2) To share inspiring stories, practices and experiences, successful or not, we can learn from this to empower the target group to become active volunteers, leaders and citizens. 3)To collect and spread the inspiring tools, ideas, practices and experiences at the local, regional and national level, in our communities and at the European and international level.