From the 3rd to the 6th of June FCV was visited by 3 researchers who met with the team at FCV (workers, volunteers, trainees and board members) in order to analyze the practices, routines and working methods used by FCV. The purpose was evaluating its programs and the management of their information and knowledge, among other topics which were subject to analysis through questionnaires, interviews and group dynamics, before and during the visit.
The visit is part of the 16-month-long project titled ‘Youth Impact- Strengthening Organizational Capacities to Build Peace in Europe”, which aims at improving the quality and the impact of the work done by non-governmental youth organizations in the context of the current European strategy dedicated to youth training and education.
It includes the conduction of 6 on site research visits and the publication of 6 researches, dedicated to the 6 promoter organizations. It will also include a guide of recommendations for improving the capacities of the organizations working in the field of Peace Education, with special attention to the areas of planning and strategy development, impact assessment and knowledge management.
Both the intellectual products (research and guidelines) are being created by a team of researchers from the 6 countries and it will serve to improve the key aspects of many other youth and non-governmental organizations, from resource management to external relations, from decision-making processes to inner capacity building.
The visit has helped us not only to remember the need to devote more time to exchange information and feedback and build internal capacities, but also to translate, review and give value to FCV’s 
documents, such as the voluntary plan or educational strategy, while recognizing the usefulness of some routine practices, such as the weekly team meeting or the use of evaluation sheets.
The project, supported by the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission and the Dutch National Agency, is led by United Network of Young Peacebuilders-UNOY (based in the Netherlands) in partnership with 5 UNOY members in Europe: European Intercultural Forum-EIF, (Germany), SCI-International (based in Belgium), CEIPES (Italy), PATRIR (Romania) and FCV.
For more information about the initiative, please contact us at: projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat