Helped by their researcher Briana, the team constructed an evaluation strategy which covered the three main phases: before, during and after the course.
Taking the principle of needs analysis assessment seriously meant making sure that the course would be based on the input of the various stakeholders. The team had their own combined experience of youthwork and exchanges to draw on when imagining what might be necessary to include in the course – and they were able to share their opinions during their September planning meeting in Sitges. They were also briefed by some of the National Agencies about the reasons for running it. Still, they felt it indispensable to check properly during their preparation process. This involved adapting one of the tools provided by the SALTO resource centres for their own training courses and conducting targeted phone interviews.
Applicants who were accepted for the course were sent a pre-course questionnaire based on the SALTO model. Briana made a summary of the results for the team.
Link to interview
The team decided to get further information from the two groups of stakeholders in the course: participants and National Agencies.
Using the data from the questionnaire, Briana and Anna chose 6 participants from different countries to interview by telephone. The interviews concentrated on the following topics:
Ensuring a geographical balance, Anna and Brianna chose 6 people responsible for training in different National Agencies for interviews. These interviews concentrated on the following topics:
Anna and Briana sent a summary of their discussions to the rest of the team who used the data to inform their joint preparations. One of the results of the interviews with the participants was that they had fewer concrete ideas for projects than had at first seemed to be the case – this led the team to give more emphasis in the programme to partner-finding and informal discussions about possible projects.