Journal:
This page is a space dedicated for sharing experiences from the field. The links on the left-hand side include testimonials and/or anecdotes collected directly from young participants and staff working with youth in Jamaica, South Africa, and Uganda.
Sharing and Learning Discussions
As part of the Sharing & Learning Component, frequent discussions take place among staff working in the three EFA Projects. These are conference calls, which are facilitated by EQUIP3/EDC, that have a focus theme for discussion to allow project staff from Uganda, Jamaica, and South Africa to connect and contribute with valuable comments, questions, and lessons learned based on their day-to-day experiences.
Participation in these discussions has been excellent. The enthusiasm of participants from City Year, PACT, and The Kids League demonstrated the value seen in this type of exchange and learning opportunity.
Below are the discussion themes that have taken place so far. If you would like to contribute with materials and/or resources related to any of these topics, please contact Alejandra Bonifaz abonifaz@edc.org.
Community Engagement (“Buy-in”) – August 2006.
Guiding questions included: How is the community responding to the project? What is their level of involvement? What are the expectations of the community? What are the challenges that your project faces in engaging the community? What successful strategies have you implemented in this or in other projects that have helped engage the community?
National Youth Service Movements and their Relationship to each EFA Project – October 2006.
Guiding questions included: Is there any National Youth Service Movement or Program in South Africa, Uganda, and Jamaica? If so, what does it consist of? How did it come about? For countries that do not have such a national movement, is there a more localized movement for youth (for the region or community)? How does it work? How did it come about? How does each EFA project address and work within an existing framework like this? What aspects of this framework are helpful to the project and what aspects present challenges? Are there any strategies in place in a particular project to address and work within this framework?
Sustainability – Institutional, Financial, and Programmatic – November 2006.
Guiding questions included: What do we mean by ‘sustainability’? What are the two most significant challenges to reaching sustainability? What are some strategies that each project is using to increase sustainability? What has worked and what hasn’t?
Project Expansion and Replication – December 2006.
Guiding questions included: How does expansion/replication play a role in each project? How has each project experienced this or how does it envision this taking place? What are key aspects that should be considered when planning to expand or replicate the project? (challenges and opportunities)
Support & Motivation for Project Participants – January 2007.
Guiding questions included: What is the level of participants’ motivation in each EFA project? Which concrete strategies worked well and which ones haven’t worked well when trying to motivate participants? How can some mechanisms be built into the project?
