The impact of your project with young ethnic minority women

When applying for funding (e.g. in a Youth in Action application), you will normally be asked what you are going to do in terms of follow-up and dissemination of results.

An "actions and outcomes report" is a useful way to highlight the benefits and positive aspects, in terms of the potential impact at personal and community level, of an international project. It is a useful tool for campaigning to attract resources and support for future international actions; so, although it is the end of one project it is also the beginning of another!

Reports can be produced in a number of ways: use photographs, diaries, recordings from the before, during and after stages of your activity and make use of all forms of media and technology that are available to you to maximise the impact.

Connect with your audience by making the report up front and personal: include photographs of the event and real life testimonials from the young people.

Here are some questions to guide you in your reflection:

The chain in one of these picture shows that all these questions are interrelated and that you should make a coherent link between the 'products and outcomes' of your project.

This will determine, more or less, the scope of what you are able to achieve with your project and for whose benefit (objectives & beneficiaries).

Depending on the 'Target Group' you want to reach, you will need to 'adapt your actions', the timing of the message sent out and the medium and format used. Your 'available resources and competencies', but also your preferences will determine what you are able to achieve.

Last but not least, you have to be clear about 'who and how' you are going to ensure the follow-up, dissemination and exploitation actually take place, and have a look at what 'budget' you will need for this and where it should come from.

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Here are some suggestions for follow-up and dissemination of your project results:

• Give recognition to the learning and personal development of the young people who took part in your activity. Give them a certificate or a letter of recommendation. Within the Youth in Action programme, participants are entitled to get a European YouthPass to document their learning and their experience.
• Think about organising a follow-up project after your first experience. Consciously involve some of the participants of the first project in setting up a second project, and try to make the new project better than the first one. Find out if there is other learning that you could continue with after the project, for example: learning a language, continuing international contacts and friendships, interest in a topic.
• Document the outcomes of your project: this can include both visible (e.g. theatre play, a CD-ROM, a report, a piece of art....) and invisible results (e.g. learning points, conclusions, recommendations, new methods used during the activity....).
• Think beforehand about who would be able to use the outcomes of your project, and adapt it to their needs, so that it will be very easy for them to start using what you have produced. Involve the participants in the development of your product.
• You could produce a 'youth work manual for ethnic minority young women', which can be used by other youth workers in the same situation as you. However, make sure not to reinvent the wheel and integrate already existing documents into your work.
• Develop a strategy to show to the 'outside' world (and don't forget the local community!) the great work you are doing. Who would you like to inform? How best can you inform them? What are the best channels to reach them? What is the best way of having an impact on them?
• Give the participants the space within your activity to develop networking and follow-up projects themselves (through discussion, 'open space', action plans....)
• ...

> SALTO has developed a booklet on how to create the greatest possible impact with your youth project, called 'Making Waves'. It contains lots of tips and tricks on how to increase the visibility, dissemination and exploitation of your project results.

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