FCV has a long track record of organizing educational activities in association with organisations from different countries. When it comes to accountability and impact, it is important that all entities know, share and achieve clear objectives and, therefore, practice reflection and exchange of opinions about the established objectives well in advance and at the beginning of any non-formal learning process. This is important in terms of creating a realistic outlook across all the organisations involved as wells as the participants themselves who can contribute to the achievement of their own learning objectives. As always, on the last day of the seminar, we asked the participants to reflect on their personal level of satisfaction with regarding each objective.
- To empower your organisations to change
- To empower your organisation to focus on impact and results
- To empower your organisation to create new active volunteering opportunities with/for young people
- To empower your organisation to improve their support to young volunteers to be change agents and achieve tangible results (educational, personal, professional and social)
- To foster partnership and networking with youth workers and voluntary-based NGOs
- To learn new ways to support and empower volunteers
After analyzing the results of the final evaluation forms, filled out anonymously by the participants, we can say that despite the complexity of the objectives, they have been met to a relatively high extent. Regarding the first objective of empowering organisations to reflect on the changes they need to make, at the organizational and volunteer management levels, the result was 4.2 out of 6, which is equivalent to 7 on a 1 to 10 scale. In terms of the second objective of to focusing on changes at the individual, organizational and community levels, and more specifically at identifying, managing and recognizing the social and educational impact of voluntary actions the result was 4.58, which equals to 7.6/10.
Regarding the third objective of helping organizations create new opportunities for voluntary action where young people can achieve tangible results at the community level, the score was 4.89, which is 8.15/10.
The fourth objective of scaling up the organisation’s support and empowerment of young people to develop their key competences as volunteers, including motivating them and guiding them in their personal and professional development process, the result was 4.58 which is equivalent to 7.6/10.
Moreover, in terms of the general objective of promoting cooperation and networking among voluntary-based organisations in Europe, the result was 5.21, which is equivalent to 8.7/10.
Finally, we have asked about more specific issues in a final question, dedicated to assessing whether the seminar has facilitated the exchange of knowledge and information about useful practices and routines of supporting volunteers to be agents of change in their communities. Here we also referred to the sharing of practical methods and tools to achieve this objective. The result has been 4.95, which is equivalent to 8.25/10.
Hence, we can affirm that the seminar has served the 12 promoting entities to “promote cooperation and networking at European level”. In our upcoming seminars FCV we needs to focus their efforts on improving the way we empower the organisations to reflect about the changes they should make at the organizational and operational levels of their volunteering programs for youth. On the other hand, the organisations can make more realistic assessments about their own limitations due to the duration and scope of their activities coupled with the available resources.
Beyond the evaluation, we trust that the seminar has served to reflect on the importance of seeing change as a threefold opportunity. It is an opportunity in terms of the sustainable development (organisational and operational), as a source of learning and as a competence to better adapt to our complex social working contexts.
Thanks again to all the participants and partners for their commitment to the objectives of the seminar, for their ability to work as a team and for their important contributions throughout the seminar.
Who said that non-formal education programs are difficult to evaluate?
Results from the final evaluations
Lluc Martí
Seminar coordinator