EVS IMPACT: Past Present Future

Introduction:

This publication is a result of the EVS IMPACT: Past-Present-Future project, which was held betweenthe 1st February 2015and the 31st March 2016by Asociación Ser Jovenwhich constantly seeks to improve their projectsand Initiatives in frame of Erasmus+ andwishes to sharetheir good practice in order to inspireother organizationsand learn about other similar projects, which already took place in order to create new projects following the same topic.

The publication contains the description of the Project and some of the methods used, the experience of the exvolunteers and the impact EVS hado n their profesional and personal lives some years later (in English, Spanish and in participants’ mother tongue (in order to reach more people), results of the studyprevious to the seminarand some of the proposals of tools, which we consider useful for future EVS volunteers and their support structures. Our approach is quite innovative and unique, as usually the results of reflections of EVS Volunteers on impact of their projects are analysed immediately after their mobility projects have endedor evenduring the last weeks of the activities. With this publication we want to give the opportunity to analyse the Project impact from the time perspective.

This publication and other Project results can be downloaded here:

PART I:

EVS IMPACT Project

EVS IMPACT Past-Present-Future. Asociación Ser Joven. 2016///Part I: EVS IMPACT Project

1. Project Summary:

The main activity of the project: "EVS IMPACT: Past-Present-Future" was a 7 day seminar in Santander, bringing together a group of 26 volunteers from 12 organizations and 11 countries. All young people from Armenia,Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Turkey and Spain have participated in EVS projects coordinated by Asociación Ser Joven from Spain (coordinating organization) or where this organization was a partner.

The main objective of the project was to analyze the impact of learning in EVS on personal and professional life of former volunteers who participated in EVS projects (under different EU programs) between 2002 and 2013 and the evolution of the approach towards the recognition of this learning.

Moreover, the project was an opportunity to exchange best practices and was a showcase of good hosting projects running in Cantabria to give more recognition and visibility to local institutions hosting EVS volunteers. In order to obtain the broadest possible view of the impact of EVS over the years, the dates, when the projects took place were one of the selection criteria for choosing the ex-volunteers and were a total of 26.

Activity in all its phases was based on the methodology of non-formal education (using dynamics to facilitate peer learning, group learning), participative learning (participants will star and play an active role not only during the activities but also in the development of the tangible results of the project) and focused on the participants and their needs and based on their experience.

The project gave more visibility to the European Voluntary Service in the city of Santander and also in the town of Colindres.

The set of experiences and reflections are included in the publication, which also contains the results of the study previous to the seminar, seminar report and proposals of useful tools for future EVS volunteers and their support structures. To facilitate the dissemination and exploitation of the publication information is provided in Castilian, English and sometimes in native languages of the coauthors of the publication. To disseminate the publication available on the project website among other channels we uses a visual social media campaign based on pictures of objects and metaphoric sentences to capture people's attention.

The website created on the occasion of this project will serve as a platform for exchange of best practices and tools among participating organizations of the project and perhaps more organizations in the future.

EVS IMPACT Past-Present-Future. Asociación Ser Joven. 2016///Part I: EVS IMPACT Project

1. Aims:

Association Ser Joven started their adventure with EVS in 2001. Since then more than 100 volunteers have been hosted in Santander from almost all the Program Countries and some EU Neighboring Partner Countries (i.e. Russia, Armenia, Macedonia).

Together with our local hosting partners (ONCE Cantabria, Asociación Juvenil Atrio, AMPROS and SERJUCO) we have run projects in Cantabria, from which both the direct users of the services and the local community could benefit. In return coming youth thanks to their work, had a great chance to gather expertiseand could widely develop their range of skills.

Our support for volunteers during EVS mobility projects has evolved same as the EVS Programme, which gives now much more value to the process of learning in EVS and including the continuous and conscious reflection as an important part of each EVS activity.

In 2007 YouthPass was introduced and has been used as an excellent supporting tool.

Throughout the years, working with youth as an EVS receiving and sending organization we have noticed the repetitive problem. Volunteers are asked to draw conclusions about the impact on their EVS projects during the very last weeks of EVS or shortly after it is finished.

In those moments they are full of strong emotions as they need to face many changes after their coming back to the “old well-known environment” and forcoming decisions of: ,,What’s next”, they might experience the reverse culture shock. Facing with all that volunteers are more likely not to appreciate the impact of their EVS experience and not to see indirect long term benefits of it in their future private and professional life.

Our contact with the ex-EVS volunteers usually finishes at that stage and we have no possibilities to check the long term impact of our EVS projects on them.

The idea of a seminar to measure the impact of the past EVS experience on future professional and personal lives of EVS volunteerssome years later from a time perspective organized by SerJoven,was proposed to partners and former volunteers, who collaborate with different organizations. By analyzing of what happened in their lives after EVS had finished and by contrasting it with the experiences of the other former volunteers, the participants of the project could see new dimensions of EVS impact.

In addition, for those who have not had the opportunity for self-evaluation based on Youthpass (before 2007) or did not give much importance to Youthpass when it was already introduced, the seminar was a good opportunity to make up for this relevant part of their EVS.

EVS IMPACT Past-Present-Future. Asociación Ser Joven. 2016///Part I: EVS IMPACT Project

With EVS IMPACT project we managed to fulfill the following expectations and objectives:

• The seminar was an excuse to trigger the profound reflection about the impact of EVS experience in former volunteers’ future professional and personal lives, which is confirmed by the statements of the participants of the seminar during the final evaluation, like for example: “Now I can see everything much clearer, and I definitely appreciate my EVS experience more”, “by sharing my impressions with other participants of this seminar, I realized how big the impact of EVS Programme really is”, ,,When I was a volunteer I did not think of long-term impact of my voluntary work and how much my life would change”…
• The reflections about what happened after EVS in participants’ professional and private lives were contrasted with those of other participants of the seminar AND the opinions of the people , who were direct beneficiaries of the services of our EVS volunteers and how their lives changed thanks to that.

It is pictured on the video about ONCE project- one of the results of EVS IMPACT.

• We managed to assess and evaluate the impact of EVS on the personal contribution of volunteers in their career and private life. Besides that, we succesfully meassured the reflection about EVS from the perspective of time in the following fields: level of active participation in society, values such as equality, respect, multilingualism, multiculturalism and tolerance.
• We have created a space where people, fully not-known for eachother before, could meet, exchange the experience, share differences and similarities, adjustments and feelings. We enabled them to make new friendships based on the common Santander past, what frutified with new ideas and possible future international projects.
• We organized the special event combined with presence of the local authorities in order to thank our local partners and stakeholders who we have been collaborating with for last 14 years, for their contribution, engagment and continuous reliance and faith in our educating mission.
• Thanks to the results of this project, we can promote volunteering wider and more effectively to suit the offer to young volunteers. Ser Joven could reach the broader group of receivers during the dissemination through various events organized in public spaces in Santander.
• We have evaluated the learning assessment tools their utility and functionality involving the former volunteers into it AND we made meaningful improvements in this area of project managment.
• We have conducted a study of the impact of EVS combined with the feedback of current volunteers and perspective of former volunteers which gave us an interesting and informative result. To enlarge the source of data, we contacted through Skype (or online survey) and included opinions of those volunteers who had not participated in the event on the spot.
• We gathered, elaborated and published experiences from different time perspectives (volunteers who have made their EVS 10 years ago and a year before starting the project) in few versions: Spanish, English and the native languages of foregoing volunteers (in order to achieve greater impact and facilitate wider dissemination)
• We recognized EVS as a learning service on the professional level.
• We managed to enhance collaboration with our partners while working on developing and upgrading the evaluation tools.

E

EVS IMPACT Past-Present-Future. Asociación Ser Joven. 2016///Part I: EVS IMPACT Project

1. Participants

26 volunteers from 12 organizations and 11 countries.All of them ex-volunteers in projects coordinated by Asociación Ser Joven orex-volunteers sent by this organization.

Moreover we based our selection on the following criteria:

Participants:

- active in the field of Youth work, both formal and non formal education, volunteering and tutors of trainees in different companies.

- eager to be involved in the project before, during and after the seminar.

-who want to learn and discover and eager to make a profound personal reflection.

-able to communicate in Spanish

We also bared in mind the group profile and tried to make the group involving people of both genders, with different level of experience, different ages, different time perspectives, different countries of origin.

EVS IMPACT Past-Present-Future. Asociación Ser Joven. 2016///Part I: EVS IMPACT Project

4. Before the Seminar

Santander, 3 de junio de 2013

• Hi my dear ex EVS and also friends  and also hello to those of you whom I did not meet personally, but whom I know from different stories, which Albertos told me :P

Motivated by a suggestion of some of our wonderful ex-volunteers, we are thinking of organizing a seminarto gather the ex-volunteers of Ser Joven. We would like to see how your EVS experience influenced your lifeafterwordsand it’s also an excuse to meet you in Santander again !!!!!

You will also have the opportunity to meet other wonderful people with whom you haveSOMETHING in common!!!

What do you think about the idea? Would it be possible for you to take 4 days off and come to Santander in April 2014???

We are going to apply for the grant from the EU and hope that you will only have to co-finance your trip. The rest will be covered (accommodation, food, activities, etc…)

Waiting for your answers!!!

• Hola mis queridos ex SVE y amigos! Y también a los que no os conozco personalmente, pero os conozco de las historias, que me han contado alguno de los Albertos :P:P:P
  Motivados por la idea de unos exvoluntarios, estamos pensando en organizar un seminario para los ex EVS de Ser Joven. El objetivo es ver como la experiencia SVE ha cambiado vuestras vidas (desde una perspectiva de tiempo) y una excusa para que podamos volver a vernos en Santander :):):)
  Podréis conocer también gente con la que tenéis ALGO en común...!!!
  Que os parece la idea? Sería posible que cogierais 4 días libres para venir a Santander en abril 2014??? Espero vuestras respuestas!!!

Queremos solicitar la ayuda financiera la UE y esperamos, que vosotros solo tengáis que co-financiar el viaje. Todo lo demás estaría financiado (alojamiento, manutención, actividades, etc…)

Un saludo

Katarzyna Bialkowska

Coordinadora de Programas Europeos/ European Programmes Coordinator

Asociación Ser Joven

C/ Hernán Cortés nº 29, 1º Drcha

39003 Santander-Cantabria (España)

Tfno-Fax: +34 942 214897

Móvil:+34 629 846 331

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Aviso de confidencialidad:Este mensaje va dirigido, de manera exclusiva, a su destinatario y contiene información confidencial cuya divulgación no está permitida por la ley. En caso de haber recibido este mensaje por error, le rogamos que, de forma inmediata, nos lo comunique mediante correo electrónico y proceda a su eliminación, así como a la de cualquier documento adjunto al mismo.

That’s basically how it started…and was followed by an avalanche of answers:

Ágnes

Todavía no tengo ni idea sobre mi Abril2014, pero me gusta la inic:iativa) y si ese evento se realiza mi preferencia nr.1 de planes de vacaciones sería volver y participar en el reunión:)

Ju

Hola Kasia! Me encanta la idea y estoy seguro que podré attender! Lo mejor seria el fin de abril porque tengo cursos hasta el 15 creo ! Pero si que me encantaria !!

Nora

That's a great idea! I have always wondered when are you going to collect us back in Santander:) I have no appointments in April 2014 yet and I'll join the meeting with pleasure! What do you expect from us as next steps?

Maria

Hola Kasia! A mí me encanta la idea! a ver... en abril..bueno, supongo que sea posible! o Cómo sería en junio, para poder quedarse más tiempo?

Gašper

Kasia!!! Estupendo - claro que si! Espero que nos vemos, aunque no tengo idea que voy hacer en April 2014.

IUana

Holaaaa. Sisisis, genial!!! Me apunto seguramente! Igual que Ju, tendre cursos en la Uni en Abril supongo, pero si no tendre examenes en este periodo, seria estupendo volver en Santander y ver a todo el mundo de nuevo!! Espero que la UE aprueba la idea, porque esta muy bien!!

Peter

Cool! I'm in!

Francesca

Kasia... Fijo qué sí!!

Lucie

Hola, que idea buena, claro que quiero ir a Santander y ver os a todos…

Mao

desde luego.. yo también

Bence:

Hi Kasia! Good news!

Magdalena:

Estaría bueno! ahora estoy viviendo en barcelona así que estoy cerquita ;) saludos a todos!

Jiří

I am in!

Marco

Holaaa!!! Me ancantaria! Pero ahora no pued decir "si" sin dudas porque no sè si en abril estarè Trabajando o que... pero me apeteceria muchisimo!

Hajna

Claro que sí!!:)

Christoph

A mi tambien encanta la idea, y pienso que sería posible venir..es mucho tiempo todavia, pero no deberia ser ningun problema coger unos dias libres.. Asi digo: Nos vemos!

Felix Koenig

Claro que si. Me gusta muchisimo la idea.
Si sabes las dias, voy probar a coger las dias libres.

Angeliki Douri

Yo tambien! Idea perfecta!!

Hannah

Y yo! Es una perfecta oportunidad para volver a Santander, hablar de experiencias compartidas y verse con viejos amigos! Yo si me apunto!

Elodie

Yes yes yes!!! Me Encanta este proyecto. Haré Todo lo possible para venir. Muchas gracias de darnos esta nueva oportunidad.

Tras estas respuestas tan llenas de entusiasmo nos pusimos manos a la obra. Contactamos con nuestros socios- entidades de envío para presentar la idea de la actividad y sus objetivos y solicitamos aportaciones y ayuda para crear el proyecto conjunto.

El primer intento falló y al final el encuentro no pudo llevarse a cabo en abril de 2014 pero retomamos la idea y a finales de 2014 presentamos un proyecto para poder llevar a cabo el seminario y un estudio previo en 2015.

Entre la idea inicial y el arranque del proyecto real hubo muuuchos cambios…

Embarazos, bodas, bautizos, enfermedades, jefes poco flexibles y otros asuntos personales impidieron a muchos de los candidatos a participar…

Hubo momentos difíciles en los que incluso nos planteábamos abandonar la idea del seminario, pero finalmente SÍ pudimos seguir adelante!!!

Toda la información sobre los aspectos prácticos del seminario, como el alojamiento, lugar de encuentro, programa con fechas, espacios, etc se publicó en la web del proyecto (creada para dar mayor visibilidad al mismo y para difundir sus resultados en el apartado: SEMINARIO.

EVS IMPACT Past-Present-Future. Asociación Ser Joven. 2016///Part I: EVS IMPACT Project

1. Seminar in Santander

In order to chose thAl final por motivos de la disponibilidad de la gente y los precios y disponibilidad del hotel, optamos por llevarlo a cabo el seminario del 16 al 22 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2015 en diferentes espacios de Santander y Colindres.

Esta actividad consistió en diferentes fases.

PREPARACIÓN:

- Contacto con los ex-voluntarios de Ser Joven para hacer un sondeo de la disponibilidad y predisposición de los jóvenes para participar en este encuentro y para elegir de acuerdo con todos y todas las fechas del seminario.

- Elaboración de propuesta del seminario (objetivos, lugar, fechas, resultados esperados, papel de cada socio, etc...)

- Contacto con las organizaciones y envío de la propuesta.

- Contacto de los ex-voluntarios con sus propias organizaciones de envío y su expresión de interés en desarrollar la actividad de manera conjunta.

- Diseño del proyecto y redacción del formulario en colaboración con los socios, que han mostrado su compromiso para participar en la actividad.