In YEU we have been focusing our work in recent years on developing educational methodologies especially to improve the involvement of young people coming from disadvantaged groups to be more involved in societies, as well as to support those delivering youth work activities to do it in a quality manner.
The “Plan B-strengthening resilience of youth organisations” process is a step forward – preparing organisations and youth workers to be resilient and agile in order to be able to organise their work and work with beneficiaries by thinking several steps ahead. In times of crisis, of any kind, organisations would have a Plan B – thanks to well developed risk assessments and plans through this process.
In our case, in times of a pandemic, we will always have a Plan B: If the situation doesn’t allow the realisation of the activities as planned, they will be adapted to the virtual sphere.
This process is supported by the European Youth Foundation and is a direct answer to the COVID19 pandemic and its impact on the work of youth organisations.
With Plan B we will focus on:
- Raising resilience of youth workers on both personal and professional level
- Developing and acquiring resilience and sustainability strategies of youth organisations by planning the long-term antifragility strategy
- Learning to learn and adapt: understanding the needs, analysing them and discussing the possible solutions face-to-face and online
- Offline, rethinking and re-connecting: building resilience on both organisational and individual level through experiential learning
Aim of the workplan:
The aim of Plan B workplan is to prepare youth workers, educators, coordinators, managers of youth organisations to develop resilience strategies in terms of organisational and people management with a focus on supporting beneficiaries in the times of crisis.
Objectives:
- To support youth organisations around Europe to analyse different aspects of their work and make them more resilient to challenges and crisis by adapting new, more agile approaches in their work
- To support core teams of participating organisations to develop resilience related skills to make them more efficient and creative when working with young people and overall communities at local level
- To develop Plan B publication with recommendations related to resilience that will lead to long-term impact on youth organisations’ approaches to work and “always ready” attitude based on the individual and organisational learning reflections carried out during the Plan B process
Results:
- 10 youth organisations around Europe actively involved in different aspects of learning that led to more agile organisational and people management
- 50 young people from 10 organisations developed resilience related skills on both professional and individual levels and improved the work of their organisations both short-term and long-term
- 30 young people developed Plan B publication and recommendations on how to be more resilient in times of crisis (internal and external).
- Main outcome of the project will be a publication compiling learning reflections, diaries/badges, guidelines, conclusions and recommendations on how to be better prepared as an organisation in the times of both internal and external crisis.
Partner Organisations – who can take part and is expected from your organisation?
YEU is looking for 10 youth organisations from around Europe; with the following profile:
- (Well) established in local communities
- Working with young people directly
- With a clear idea of contributing to local community development through the development of their skills (learning mobility and follow up activities included)
When applying, organisations will be asked in the questionnaire to share their idea on resilience, the impact of COVID-19 to their functioning, their goals and expectations from this process.
Activities
Activity 1: Shifting the focus
Who: The activity will include 20 participants, two from each partner organization and it is aimed for organisation leaders: the organisations will be asked to send decision makers, managers, coordinators or any member who is/could be responsible for the “resilience” of the organisation. At least one of the participants of Activity 1 will be expected to take part in Activities 2 and 3.
Objectives:
- Allow the organisations to reflect on their approaches to management, people and work with beneficiaries.
- Involve the participants in a reflective and learning process, to embed the “continuous learning and development” culture into organisations
- Create a community of organisations that act as a “safety net”
How: This activity will set the grounds for the whole process – learning, rethinking and reconnecting. Before the actual activity organisations will be asked to create a screenshot of their organisation – current state of affairs. Apart from covering several topics in the face to face part of Activity 1, plenty of learning will happen afterwards, through webinars and creating an online space (through Basecamp) in which participating organisations can create a “safety net” – a place to discuss different sensitive topics related to resilience and sustainability. There are going to be follow-up webinars related to organisational sustainability and resilience, as well as reflection diaries, to be kept by each participant, in order to track their learning and collect different ideas. The results of Activity 1 will be the basis for activity 2.
Place and Duration: Activity 1 will be carried out entirely online and will last 4 days
Activity 2: Back to Basics
Who: 50 participants, 5 from each partner organisation. Participants of the Activity 2 will be core teams of participating organisations consisting of 5 people involved in the organisation on a daily basis. The organisations will be advised to select young individuals they want to further invest in as a potential group that will be the basis of the future leadership and a new generation. Organisations will be requested to select participants of different genders. Additionally, at least one participant of Activity 1 will be expected to participate in this activity, too.
Objectives:
- Building capacities of participating organisations’ core teams
- Empower the participating organisations’ resilience related skills, to simulate learning by doing experience in a safe environment
- Enhance the sense of community and peer-to-peer cooperation among the participants.
How: The participants will develop a micro-society through experiential learning where they can build resilience on organizational and individual levels. The participants will take a lead from the scratch – from camp building to preparation of food. Through this activity the organisations will be able to reflect on their mission, vision and goal, their target groups, their programmes, as well as on how they are making a change and ensuring knowledge transfer and the sustainability of the organization, and finally on how to build resilience and support their communities in times of crisis. There will be a daily session on individual resilience, covering topics like self-esteem, self-image, managing feelings and impulses, stress management, problem solving skills and communication skills. As a follow up of Activity 2, organisations will have to form a plan with clear steps on their further development, focusing on resilience and sustainability.
Duration: 10 days
Activity 3: Plan B Think Week
Who: 30 participants who have already participated in the previous activities, 3 from each of the partner organizations
Objectives:
- Finalise resilience and sustainability strategies
- Demonstrate the importance of self-reflection
- 10 organisational resilience and sustainability strategies
- Plan B publication “Plan B – how to ensure organisational resilience”, providing organisations with tools on how to assess their work and build resilience strategies
How: The Activity 3 will be a wrap up of the whole process during which we will aim for organisations to develop their capacities and knowledge that will ensure their sustainability but also strengthen them as teams. This activity will comprise the following elements: Finalisation of organisational strategies and feedback by others; development of Plan B publication chapters; think Week in a day – simulation with new “out of the box” ideas regarding organisational work and productivity; evaluation of the whole process. The participants will be allowed to disconnect from the online world and to practice self-reflection and truly be present.
Duration: 6 days
We still don’t know if all activities are postponed or adapted to online format.
Costs
YEU will cover all the costs of participants regarding their participation in the process – 100% of accommodation, food and visa costs and 70% of travel costs in accordance with travel costs limits set by YEU for each of the activities.
If interested, please apply here no later than December 31st 2021 (23:59 CET).
This process is supported by the European Youth Foundation.