EYF (Re)mix – European Youth Centre Strasbourg, France
29 February - 4 March 2016
Context
Following the implementation of three successful seminars (EYF (Re)loaded in 2013, EYF (R)evolution in 2014 and EYF (Re)generation in 2015) and in view of the participants’ positive feedback, the European Youth Foundation decided to host a fourth seminar, EYF (Re)mix in 2016.
The first editions focused on the European Youth Foundation’s new approach and operational regulations. As the novelty of these gradually transformed into daily practice, the purpose of the seminars also shifted towards strengthening the partnership with youth NGOs, bringing further clarity to the cooperation and communication processes and involving more youth organisations in the work of the Council of Europe’s youth sector.
The ever-changing context of international organisations (structural issues, particularly related to the turnover in organisations) and of local organisations (lack of information/awareness and of capacity to attract available funding) was the starting point for some of the arguments that nurtured the reflection of the EYF team, with the result that it was decided to group together these two EYF target groups in this seminar.
EYF (Re)mix in brief
As this was the fourth seminar of the series, the organisers had the following Goals in mind to: create a common understanding of the work plans and pilot activities supported by the EYF; gain awareness about the different situations organisations address with the support of EYF grants; revitalise transparency and accountability between the European Youth Foundation and youth organisations; achieve open and informal networking between the EYF team and the people running projects with EYF grants; share best practices concerning projects.
Duration: from 29 February to 4 March 2016.
Participants: thirty-eight (38) participants representing thirty-eight (38) different local and national youth NGOs from 23 countries.
Selection criteria and process:
An open Call for Participants for the EYF (Re)mix seminar was spread through the EYF network of youth organisations and the Foundation’s website. The Call requested applicants to be:
- able to work in English;
- aged between 18 - 30 years old (some exceptions for 30+ will be possible);
- running youth projects (writing applications, implementing, reporting) for an international or local NGO registered with the EYF;
- working as multipliers in their organisation;
- experienced with grant applications to the EYF (successful or not) including first experiences working with the online system of the EYF.
In the selection process, the EYF team considered these criteria along with the following guidelines:
- focus on the personal motivation of candidates and their organisational needs
- ensure a balance between participants coming from both organisations having had successful and unsuccessful applications
- select one participant per organisation - in order to ensure a diverse organisational representation
- ensure a gender balance and a good geographical representation of Council of Europe countries and its civil society organisations.
Rationale of mixing internationals and locals:
The reasons for a mix group are two-fold. On one hand, the two target groups are a priority for the Foundation, while on the other hand, this was seen as a unique networking possibility.
This mix of international and local young NGOs seems to have had an effect on the group. If in their applications, 23 out of 40 participants mentioned networking, sharing and exchanging with other organisations (in general) as one of their learning goals, the evaluation of the seminar revealed that out of 27 participants responding to the evaluation 17 considered working in a mixed group “Useful”, 14 found it “Enriching”, 5 considered it “Easy”, 2 considered it “Useless”, 2 thought it was “Difficult” and 1 saw it as “Unnecessary”.
Learning needs expressed by the participants:
From the beginning, the programme was conceptualised with two key elements in mind:
- the objectives of the seminar as they had been set by the Foundation, and
- the needs expressed by participants in their application forms.
The preparatory meeting between the EYF team and the coordinators took place after the selection was done. This enabled the consideration of participants’ needs in the finalisation of the programme.
This process was repeated twice in the beginning of the seminar: during the session focusing on learning objectives, concerns and contributions and at the end of the programme when participants were asked to complete the programme with possible missing elements.
Team: two coordinators who worked closely with the EYF team.
Programme: the programme was built around three central elements: the objectives set by the EYF team; the learning needs expressed by the participants; and the EYF’s principles and spirit - two-way communication, transparency, accountability, flexibility and respect.
With these aspects in mind, the flow of the programme included half a day to get to know each other - personally and professionally (Day 1); one day dedicated to understanding the realities of the EYF and of the youth NGOs represented (Day 2); and one day dedicated to understanding and developing competences related to work plans and pilot activities (Day 3). From the EYF team’s experience, the reporting process and gender mainstreaming are relevant elements that are often not given the importance they deserve and/or are treated superficially, therefore the last day (Day 4) focused on these two elements.
Day 1: was meant to introduce participants to the seminar and its context and to allow them to get to know each other both on a personal and a professional level. A series of exercises, including ice-breakers, name games and an organisation market, were used to reach these goals.
Day 2: the first half of the day was dedicated to understanding the context and the functioning of the EYF. The metaphor of the ‘EYF Express’ was used, an imaginary train ride to enable participants to familiarise themselves with elements such as the co-management system of the Council of Europe’s youth sector, the types of projects supported by the EYF, the life of a grant application, work plans, pilot activities, the EYF two-way communication principle, etc. The journey was tailored to participants’ backgrounds: they travelled on two different trains, one representing local NGOs, the other the international ones.
During the second part of the day, after working in small groups, participants shared information on their own contexts. This allowed the EYF team to get an understanding of the realities, difficulties and opportunities that youth NGOs are facing.
Day 3: the lead-in session of the morning enabled participants to reflect on minimum quality standards or criteria for the main project management elements they use in their work. With these reflections in mind, participants worked in separate groups (local and international NGOs) and, as part of a simulation, developed proposals for work plans and pilot activities. As in previous years, the highlight of the day was the next session during which participants wore the “EYF’s shoes” and carried out an assessment of the proposals prepared by each other’s groups.
The day ended with a common reflection session during which participants shared their experiences, feelings and learning after the intense simulation exercise.
Day 4: was meant to bring more clarity to the reporting process and the concept of gender mainstreaming. During the first session participants worked in separate groups (local and international NGOs) as they addressed distinct elements of reporting for pilot activities and work plans. The next two sessions allowed participants to reflect on the concept of gender mainstreaming from different perspectives, as they included opportunities for sharing and exchange as well as experiential learning exercises. The day concluded with the final evaluation of the seminar and the farewell party.
Outcomes and highlights of the seminar
The evaluation focused on the highlights, the points to be improved and the next steps that could be taken in the future.
Some of the highlights
• meeting and seeing the EYF team in action
“Interaction with the EYF team. I am about to start working on EYF supported project and I find myself in an utterly comfortable position.”
“In particular, I was very surprised how the EYF team was interested in meeting and knowing us, how they were there the whole time…”
“… to have known first-hand the whole team of EYF and priorities that the Council of Europe has on youth.”
“I knew about EYF approach before and how responsive and sensitive to young people's needs EYF is, but meeting the team and getting from the first hand this spirit was something very valuable for me.”
“I would say the connection between team and the NGOs.”
“I think I really enjoyed the whole experience - getting to know the EYF team, sharing the experience with people from other organisations…”
“I was pleased to learn the EYF team uses a similar decision making process internally as the one in my collective. This made me very curious about EYF's history of process and internal discussions and changes.”
• understanding EYF and how it works
“Understanding the approach the EYF works with; networking with the other participants and hearing about their work”
“Getting a better understanding on how EYF works”
“Realising that EYF are there to support us and meeting people from other youth NGOs.”
“I think it was feedback from the team about the projects they are receiving. Two-way communication and another formula of 3C for the application success.”
• the work that was carried out together - particularly the work during the simulation
“My highlight was working together in a small group to write an application.”
“Work plan from an NGO's perspective was the best session(s). It was very useful for my organisation's work plan writing this month. It was also a pearl from the interpersonal networking point of view, I have learned so much about my team members and their organisations.”
“Practicing with the others, doing real stuff, not only talking about something. I'll always remember what I did, not always what I heard, so, that was very good method to work with us.”
“If the question relates to a specific point of time while working hours, then it was definitely handing in our "project".
• understanding better reporting
“For me was quite interesting and useful to learn deep details of grant reports”
• gender mainstreaming
“I especially enjoyed sessions about gender perspectives - because it was very interesting to see how different people approach it differently.”
• meeting, working and being with the rest of the group
“The debating moments with the whole group and the EYF team. “
“The people. I don't consider the meeting a training but a whole experience because we had the chance to get to know the EYF secretariat and awesome people working on projects and an awesome facilitator.”
“In my opinion the strongest point of the meeting has been the heterogeneity of the group and the perfect conduction of the training (thanks to Bodgan and the staff)”
“It was very inspirational to meet so many people working in or supporting NGOs. before coming to the seminar, I have had a phase of seriously questioning why I am doing this and after a week of supportive exchange with EYF and also other NGOs, I feel much better.”
“There isn't one only, but the people and the created atmosphere of sharing and working towards an opportunity is great!”
“Looking at the big black chalk wall and seeing all the participants "thank you" comments. It really inspired me, and made me feel this week was very intense, eye opening but most important memorable.“
Sessions pointed out as most useful
• EYF and its context
“It was good to know more about the structure and criteria for projects. I also enjoyed the needs tree and discussions between the participants - I think it was a good example of how international organisations can also find out more the needs of their members in a simple session.”
• Pilot Activity / Work Plan from NGO and EYF perspective
“The session made me realize that I am not only able to write a Work Plan application, but also identify shortcomings and work on improvements further. The methodology chosen by the team was perfectly responding to intentions of the session.”
“The session writing and feed backing on work plan applications, as it offered practical knowledge on the process.“
“I found most interesting the session about how to do the work plan, and how to apply for the EYF´s grants. It was a very practical session and I learned the different steps we have to climb.”
“Session where we were able to be in "shoes" of EYF and work with applications from other teams. It was very useful to understand how the selection process working.”
“Work plan from an NGO's perspective was a mind-blowing session“
“Drafting the work plan for me was very enlightening because you could get to know the flow in your own application. The session right after that one with the EYF team was SUPER helpful as they were guiding us in the issues we encountered.”
“Testing, testing on Thursday, when we were split and the international NGOs worked on work plans.“
“I considered all the sessions very useful. In particular it was very interesting for me the simulation to apply for the pilot project and the following evaluation of the proposals.”
“Work Plan project writing and evaluation : it helped me to understand the working style of other NGO colleagues while making the application; when we evaluated the application through EYF glasses, it helped us to understand better what it means to have a coherent flow and objectives etc.”
“Even though it was very very exhausting, I really liked the simulation of the project application. Also the session about reporting has been very enlightening.”
• Gender mainstreaming
“The gender mainstreaming session was extremely interesting session for me. It was both informative and confusing. It is also very useful topic and issue we need to address in our future projects. I have picked up some useful ways in which we can address the issue at different levels in our projects. (Ladder of gender mainstreaming)”
“It reminded me that power becomes very visible in a group and in the structures of wider society when we try to discuss about systems of oppression. The gender discussion put in the open that unequal distribution of power on one field does not operate on a segregated compartment, but inter-relate with others (race, age, experience, education, rank in a group,…). It also showed me how hard is to challenge those with power, but how necessary it is if we want to move from a society based on competition to one based on cooperation. On my understanding, dedicating time for talking about gender in such a setting as this seminar, helps those traditionally privilege because of their gender to hear and open up to things that usually they don't hear or won't listen to in their home groups.”
“Gender perspective, session 2. It was a good exercise to reflect on contexts and diversity.”
“I am really interested in the topic and I really enjoyed the discussion. It also showed me that the topic is relevant for any kind of an organisation and people will always have something to say about it.”
• NGO reality and context
“It was pretty useful to get to know the issues and context in which other INGOs are functioning as we are often stuck in our own “context bubbles''. Knowing the others and issues of other young people helped me to understand that the problems my INGO is facing are similar for the others, mostly related to lack of internal capacities. Therefore, the solutions can be similar, and I directly got few ideas how things can be improved.”
“It helped me to identify which are the NGOs that my organisation can partner with. I also was impressed by a diversity of causes EYF supports.”
• General points
“The moderation as a whole, and the information on the grants and the networking.”
“More than one session was extremely useful. The "practical" ones were the hardest but, in my opinion, also the most valuable. […] I also liked a lot the possibility to discuss with the EYF team about the different reporting phases, giving us the chance to ask questions and immediately get an answer. Lastly, a fundamental session in this kind of meetings is the one where each participant presents its organisation, it allowed us to find out about organisations that we did not know of and I have to say that even after the first days some other participants came to me asking for more information on my organisation.”
Some of the aspects to be improved
• networking
“I would have given more space for networking and getting to know each other on a personal level.”
“give more space to the organizations presentation and to organize a special session on "developing and build new partnerships"
• more time for project management
“Maybe more project management things, more things to be inspired with that can be concretely implemented, and love the idea of the handover tool”
“To shorten the time for "gender perspective" and add more time for practices on project management.”
• evaluation
“I did miss more of a critical evaluation at the end of the meeting. Yet, I want to acknowledge that this is always a very tricky part of a project, when the energy is the lowest, and some people have already left. Besides, I wouldn't know were to take time from.”
“Actually I miss in this form some transversal questions about the process and methods used during the seminar.”
• food
“The caterer. The food wasn't very inspiring.”
“the food :)”
• EYF team availability outside the seminar
“Is not to change, but to improve: I missed interacting more with the EYF team during "out of the program" activities: coffee breaks, lunch, dinner, etc.”
• reflection/evaluation of the day
“Also, I have included "reflection-evaluation" sessions in small groups at the end of the day.”
“I would add more input from the EYF team and more time to ask questions:)”
• a lot of participants did not give any further suggestions…
“Everything was perfect!”
“Everything was just great.”
“All the sessions, methods and group shuffling were beyond my expectations - no desire to change anything.”
“I am so happy with the methodology that I would have to make up that something could have been changed.“
Added-value to the organisations
• “I will now be able to better understand the working style of EYF and come up with more relevant applications. I have understood the background of several rules. I realised that the EYF can be funding projects we actually care about and there is no need to always fulfil all of the priorities at the same time, but it is sufficient to be well linked to a part of them. Also, I learned lot about the activities of the other organisations which gave me new ideas and also ideas for cooperation.”
• “First, we got answers to some of our questions related to projects and grants. Second, as a fairly new employee in my organisation, I was very interested in meeting the EYF team and I did! Third, I might have found possible new member organisations for my organisation, which is great! Thank you EYF! :)”
• “We now understand the approach the EYF has towards youth organisations, and are better equipped to apply for grants and work together with the EYF on projects.”
• “The reaffirmation that EVERYTHING should go through communication is a confirmed fact and yet bear most significant added value… because to be told something will always stay different from experiencing it with the EYF team... thank you again for that amazing experience“
• “I realised my organisation had some misunderstandings regarding specific criteria to be eligible for Structural Grant. After being immerse in the seminar I have enough knowledge to shift, shape and improve my organisation's strategy regarding EYF funding.”
• “I hope our projects will be better and we will be able to collaborate with the EYF in the future. We will definitely explore the gender perspective more and will try to include it in our projects. I will look at the work plan from a different side also. I will prepare the written report about the seminar for people from the office and the Board.”
Proposals for the future
There are several suggestions regarding the organisation of a similar event in 2017; some of the recurrent ideas are:
• the mixed group of representatives from international and local NGOs - while agreeing with the richness of experiences that the group had, some participants found it hard to see clear synergies between the two sub-groups and several mentioned the need for more joint sessions.
• the focus of the “next” seminar - among the ideas advanced, two stand out: project writing/management and networking - based on participants’ experiences with EYF.
• duration - several comments suggest the need to make the event longer (by at least one day). Another perspective is that of organising the event several times a year.
• interaction with European institutions- given the connection of the EYF with the Council of Europe and its proximity to the European Parliament, some participants suggested more direct interaction with these institutional actors
Co-ordinator’s conclusions
Strong elements:
The involvement of the EYF team in the seminar proved to be once again crucial. The physical presence and the interaction between the team and the group of participants were very much appreciated by participants. On the other hand, the EYF team has achieved a high level of autonomy and confidence in running sessions based on the non-formal learning approach following the series of EYF seminars.
The preparation of the seminar was good, it covered every element of the programme and allowed the whole team to contribute, to feel safe and confident about the sessions, the methods and the content to be delivered.
Weak elements:
This is not necessarily a weakness, but it is important to mention. The fact that the second coordinator, Marta, faced serious health issues and could not join the seminar, although she fully participated in the preparation, was unfortunate.
Among the weaknesses to be mentioned, most of them are related to the implementation of some of the methods. For example, the information about some of the major topics (e.g. pilot activities, etc.) seemed to be fragmented, delivered in small pieces at different moments of time and this could have left questions unanswered. The use of the space and the room setting could have also been conceptualised in different ways in various sessions in order to be more learning conducive.
Major learning points:
The use of the simulation method in order to explore the process of preparation and evaluation of grant applications proved once again to be fruitful and to create “Aha” moments.
Another important element worth mentioning is the possibility to make use of the experiences of participants. Among those present, there were participants that had an extensive experience in project management and grant applications; they could be involved more in the role of experts.
Trainer’s opinion on the methodology:
The use of non-formal learning methodology was deliberate and consistent with the work of the Council of Europe’s youth sector. It was also aligned with the values that the EYF stands for and in this sense, showed participants the integrity of the Foundation - saying what they do and doing what they say.
Achievements:
Last but not least, the word cloud below speaks for itself in terms of what has been achieved during this seminar.
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EYF (Re)mix experience word cloud: