Session 1: How to be a good Youth Representative?

Transcription

1 Session 1: How to be a good Youth Representative? Session Objective Indicators Youth understand their role as a representative of their Peers Youth understand what is a Representative & decide to collect information from their Peers Schedule 30 mins Facilitator and Notetaker World Vision staff and/or Partner Resources Required Flip chart, markers, tape Flip chart with objectives Flip chart with what makes a good youth representative Methodology Thank the Youth for coming and Congratulate them on being chosen to represent their peers! Make an ice-breaker/game Present the objective of the meeting Present and discuss what it means to be a good representative: o Good listener You take time to hear others, especially those who are different from yourself. Others feel comfortable talking to you. o Organised You come to meetings prepared and equipped o Fair Everyone has a right to express their point of view and you represent other s opinions in addition to your own o Good communicator You voice other people s ideas as well as your own to a variety of audiences 1 o Report back -- You inform your peers about how their feedback was used and involve them in meaningful follow-up o Ask the Youth to provide more to this list Discuss what they can do to represent their peers well. Remind the youth that a good representative is willing to present information that is different from their personal experience and opinions. It is important that they hear and represent youth with different capacities, abilities, social and economic backgrounds, religion, ethnicity, gender, etc. This is critical. Invite Youth to collect information from their peers. If they want to, move on with the following exercises. Documentation Notes including consent from Youth that they want to collect information from their peers 1

2 Session 2: What information do you want to collect from your peers? Session Objective Indicators Youth decide what information they want to gather from their peers & how Information agreed upon and added to the Youth Action Plan Schedule 20 minutes Facilitator and Notetaker WV Staff / Partner Resources Required Flipcharts (prepared with types of information ), markers, tape, music Methodology Present the types of information that would be useful and explain why. 1. What do Youth think they must have in the new MDGs 2. What are the three most critical issues facing Youth today 3. How do Youth think the new MDGs can be better than the old MDGs 4. How do Youth want to be involved in developing the new MDGs Place flipcharts with these 4 types of information around the room, including one blank flipchart. Play a game of musical chairs. When the music starts each person goes to only one flipchart, when the music stops they write yes or no on the flipchart - that they want to collect this information from their peers or not. The person who has to go to the blank piece of paper can write a new of idea of different information they would like to collect. When the music starts again, each person goes to a new flipchart. Do this until everyone has had a chance to write down their opinion. The youth move when the music is playing and they write when the music stops. You can play the music quickly to make it more fun. After each Youth has written down their opinion, find the pieces of information that the majority want to collect. Ask everyone if they agree, and then discuss the new ideas and have the Youth agree if they which ones, if any, they want to include. Be sure that the Youth do not commit to gathering more information than they can collect in the time given. Help them to manage their time well. Documentation List of Information that the Youth want to collect

3 Session 3: How do Youth want to collect information from their Peers Session Objective Indicators Youth decide the methods they want to use to collect information from their peers Data collection methods documented, and youth matched to methods Schedule 1 hour Facilitator and Notetaker WV Staff/Partner Resources Required Flipchart with information that Youth decided to Collect, markers, tape, snacks, hat Methodology Present the objective of the meeting Remind the Youth of the Information they decided to collect Explain that it is important they ask the right people (including those who are different from themselves) to be a good representative. Ask them to write on a flipchart a list of different types of youth they want to ask. Challenge them with the following groups, if they do not identify them on their own: o Youth with disabilities o Youth from minorities o Youth who cannot go to school o Youth who are living in very difficult circumstances (such as youth working on the streets) Explain that now they will choose a method to collect the information that will make it easy for these youth to share their opinions and feelings, without feeling uncomfortable. Explain the different methods of collecting information o Interviews o Focus Group Discussion o Scorecards (see guidelines) o Surveys or Questionnaires Allow Youth to group themselves in pairs and ask them to do a role play of each of these. The Youth who is the Representative should wear the hat. Encourage them to be creative and to have fun! After they practice each method, ask them which one they want to use for each piece of information they want to collect. You should have a chart like this (but the youth will fill in the x):

4 Session 3: How do Youth want to collect information from their Peers Interview Scorecard Focus Groups Must Have s x x 3 Priority Issues x Next, determine who is responsible for gathering which information and when. They should always go in groups of at least 2 and when visiting people they are not familiar with and they should have a chaperone for safety. Please consult your local Child Protection point person if you need advice. If you are still unsure, feel free to contact Brikena Zogaj, MEER s Child Protection Manager. Documentation Notes, list of «types of youth» to interview, chart which outlines what methods they chose to use to collect information (including who will collect this information and when)

5 Session 4: How do Youth want to collect information from their Peers Session Objective Indicators Youth create tools to collect information from their peers Data collection tools created Schedule 2 hours Facilitator and Notetaker Resources Required WV Staff/Partner Flipchart with information that Youth decided to Collect, Flipchart with the Diagram of the Data Collection Methods Youth chose per piece of information Blank flipcharts, markers, tape, snacks, computer, printer, printer paper Methodology Start with an ice-breaker Present the objective of the meeting Remind the Youth of the Information they decided to collect & how they wanted to collect it. Provide examples of the following o Interview Guide o Surveys o Scorecards (see template) Present information about the following: o Importance of expressing Conceptions and Aspirations o What makes a good interview question o Do s and Don ts of creating a survey Put the Youth in working groups of 3-5. (You may only have 1 group and that s okay.) Each group will create one tool at a time, with your guidance. (However, please ensure it s their work.) If possible, give them access to a computer to create it using Word. After they are finished with the tools, facilitate a peer critique by going over the materials together and referring to conceptions and aspirations, what makes a good interview question and do s and don ts of creating a survey. Enable the youth to make either other s tools better in a positive environment. Allow the youth to print the tools they develop so that they can take them home and use them in their communities. Ensure each youth knows how to use each tool properly. Practice together! Documentation Data collection tools

6 Guidance for Collecting Information from your Peers Expressing Conceptions and Aspirations In order to ensure that the information you collect and present is well understood, it is importance to express your conceptions and aspirations about that information. Your conception is your idea or your understanding about the topic. For example with youth unemployment, your conception would answer the questions: What is your idea of youth unemployment? What does youth unemployment look like in your community? How have you, your peers, or family members experienced youth unemployment? Etc. Your aspiration is your dream about the topic. This is where you think about your ideal world. Your aspirations about youth unemployment would answer the questions: What would a world without youth unemployment look like? What solutions to you envision to decrease youth unemployment? What actions could be carried out to decrease youth unemployment? And by who? What is the role of government to decrease youth unemployment? What can youth do to decrease youth unemployment? Etc. What makes a good interview question? Good interview questions are critical to ensuring you are collecting information that reveals the truth. Without the proper questions, the information you gather could be misleading and you could present an incorrect picture of the situation in your community. Here are some tips to creating good interview or survey questions: 1. Use simple language that your respondent will easily understand. 2. Start with easy questions to help your respondent become comfortable. 3. Try to make your questions short and concise, so your respondent will not get confused. 4. Ask open questions that allow your audience or peers to express themselves as fully as they wish. For example, tell me about the challenges that youth face in your community? 5. Avoid biased question which are questions that intentionally try to get someone to agree with you or give you the answer that you want to hear. A biased question could be: I think youth unemployment is the hardest challenge facing youth today, do you? 6. Ensure you ask only one question at a time. Avoid asking two questions at one time. 7. Don t make assumptions. If you are not sure you fully understand your respondent, ask them to clarify or to give you more information. Be sure you understand their conceptions and aspirations. 8. Have fun and stay positive! You are interviewing your peers because you want a better world. Dream positively with one another.

7 Dos, Don ts, and Tips for creating a survey Creating a good survey includes many of the same elements as crafting good survey questions. You want to ensure that you are gathering the most accurate information possible, so that you can tell the truth. The following are a few key tips to creating a good survey. DO use simple language. DO make your questions short and concise. DO include instructions with your survey, or explain it in person. DO offer your help if a question is unclear. DON T ask for personal information, unless you plan to use it. DON T ask two questions at one time. DON T ask questions that will not be used in your presentation. Also, here are some examples of the variety of ways you can ask a question in a survey. Yes or No Ex. Do you have a job? Basic response Ex. How much money do you make per week? Multiple Choice Ex. How do you spend your money? (Circle all that apply.) Food Clothes Books Games Anything I want Ranking Ex. I am generally happy with my life right now. (Please circle one response.) Strongly Neutral Strongly Disagree Agree Open Ex. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? Please also consult with your local Monitoring and Evaluation department for additional guidance, as needed.

8 Session 5: How to organize (analyze) and present the information collected Session Objective Indicators Youth organise the Information they collected and are ready to present it at the Regional Youth Conference Youth report prepared, including data collected Schedule Half full day exercise Facilitator and Notetaker WV Staff/Partner Resources Required Flipchart with information that Youth decided to Collect, Flipchart with the Diagram of the Data Collection Methods Youth chose per piece of information, Data collection tools, and Data collected by youth Blank flipcharts, markers, tape, snacks Methodology Start with an ice-breaker Present the objective of the meeting Remind the Youth of the Information they decided to collect & how they wanted to collect it & the tools they developed Ask each Youth to share the information they ve collected, from whom, and how in 2 minutes or less. Have a timer and count down from 10 seconds for fun and to avoid long speeches. Next, in one large group, analyse all of the interviews and focus group discussions using the following steps: o Read through their notes 3 times. Read for comprehension and clarify anything confusing. Read for patterns: look for words/ideas that are repeated and write them on a flipchart. o Read for analysis: ask the youth what the patterns mean (including culture, local traditions, mentalities, etc) Put the patterns that are identified into a table like this (you may include other categories to this list or delete ones that aren t relevant): Interviews Focus Groups Priority Issues Must Have s Ideal MDGs Youth Employment Violence in families School Dropouts

9 Session 5: How to organize (analyze) and present the information collected After you have completed a table such as the one above, discuss conceptions and aspirations. For each issue, must have, and/or ideal MDG create a very simple chart that clarifies what they mean and what they dream to achieve. The chart can be as follows: Issue Conception Aspiration Youth Employment Realistic jobs for youth, jobs that youth want to have and can feel proud of Less than 10% Youth Unemployment For surveys, support the youth in counting their responses for each question and creating statistics in percentages. Track the total number of responses and the type of response per question. Example: of 100 youth surveyed, 75% said that Youth Employment was the most critical issue that needs to be addressed. After you have the themes and data calculated, then encourage the youth to put all of their results into one report that fully represents their peers. The report should include the themes identified and their conceptions and aspirations. It should also include any statistics that were generated from surveys or questionnaires. Each theme should be one paragraph. Help the youth to organise their information according to themes and in a logical manner. Remind the youth that a concise report is often the most effective. This information will be used at the Regional Youth Conference to help Youth represent their peers (a larger constituency) during their debate. It will be proof that they are true representatives. It will also be an advocacy tool for the Youth because the information will later be used in a report presented to influence a wide audience including World Vision, the United Nations, the Beyond 2015 Campaign, and other important partners. If you need additional support organising (analysing) data with the youth, please consult your local M&E team. Please keep it as simple as possible. Documentation Tables with patterns from Interviews and Focus Groups, Survey data counted and calculated into percentages, report stating all the data including their conceptions and aspirations

10 Appendix A. Survey Example Hello! We are from a community organization, and we are conducting a survey about what life is like for young women in your village. We are planning to start a free community club with activities that will be helpful and enjoyable for you. Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary, and you can stop at any time. We will not share your answers with anyone else. Thank you for your help! Instructions: Please answer all questions as truthfully and accurately as you can. If you have any questions, please ask the program representative. Biographical Information Name: Mobile Number: May we call or text you? YES NO Age: Ethnicity: How many years have you lived in [NAME OF VILLAGE]? Occupation: Do you want to continue living here if possible? (Please circle one response) YES NO MAYBE Are you currently attending school? (Please circle one response) If you are not attending school, what was the last grade that you completed? YES NO Family Information Are you married? (Please circle one response) How many children do you have, if any? YES NO Who do you live with? If you have children, do they live with you? (Please circle one response) YES NO Do you have family or friends living in other countries?(please circle one response) YES NO Financial Information About how much money does your household make each month? (Please consider the earnings of everyone in your home who works) Would you consider moving to another country? (Please circle one response) YES NO MAYBE How does your household spend their money? (Check the most accurate response) We can buy anything we want We buy food, clothes, and some other

11 items We can afford only food and clothes We can afford only food Other: How much money do YOU make each month? (Please consider only the money you earn) How do you spend MOST of your money? (Check the most accurate response) I use it to help support my family/household I spend most of it on things I need (ex: food) I spend most of it on things I want (ex: jewelry) I save it Other: What is your ideal job? If you save any money, what are you saving for? Lifestyle Information I am generally happy with my life right now. (Please circle one response) Strongly Neutral Strongly Disagree Agree About how much alcohol do you consume in a normal week? (Please circle one response) None More than 10 drinks drinks drinks drinks If you are unmarried, are you in a romantic relationship? (Please circle one response) YES NO MAYBE/UNSURE I have good friends that I like spending time with. (Please circle one response) Strongly Neutral Strongly Disagree Agree Have you ever seen someone that you live with hit someone else? (Please circle one response) Never Once Sometimes Frequently Are you sexually active? (Please circle one response) YES NO MAYBE/UNSURE If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? When you have a problem, who do you usually talk to?

12 What is your favorite thing to do and how often do you do it? When you re not at work or school, what do you spend most of your time doing? Thank you for participating! We will contact you soon with the results of the survey & details about our activities!

13 Appendix B: Creating Your Own ScoreCard (Modified for Youth) EXERCISE 1: The MDG Score Card Introduction: Score Cards are a simple way of gathering opinions about performance against some measures eg what is the quality of your school building? DISCLAIMER: The tool is based on the Community Scorecard process from Citizen Voice and Action. This activity should be facilitated by a lead facilitator (WV staff), with volunteers (ideally youth themselves) to record the information on the flip chart for documentation. Once youth are confident about the process, they should be able to administer the scorecards themselves to their peers, to gain more feedback for analysis. Purpose: The objective of the MDG Scorecard session is to gather the opinions of youth about the current performance of their country against the MDG indicators, and to encourage discussion about their ideal indicators for the Beyond 2015 framework. The ideal indicators are not formal policy. They are the ideas and opinions of youth about what aspirational targets their governments should be working towards. Method: 1. To ensure youth understand the scorecard process, introduce the MDG Scorecard template. As you do so, remind them about the MDGS, that they represent the commitments of countries all over the world to address poverty and inequality. You could also encourage them to conduct further research to inform their views. A list of further references can be found below. 2. Next, introduce a simple voting method, the smiley scale. For each indicator, participant will vote, by indicating whether he or she feels very good, good, OK, bad, or very bad about that particular indicator. 3. Do a practice run on something simple to make sure youth understand i.e. the weather - is it good or bad that day? or the national sporting/football team s performance (see pictured). 4. Then ask the youth to vote with the Smiley Scale using the MDG Scorecard. Collection of opinions using the scorecards could be collected in 2 ways:

14 OR a. Via survey. Youth distribute the scorecards to their peers and help them to complete it. b. Form Focus Groups. Divide youth roughly into age and sex disaggregated small focus groups, to ensure maximum participation. You should ensure representation of marginalized or vulnerable groups such youth with disabilities, as appropriate etc. Go through the scorecard process for each group. NB Make sure you make a record of the location, ages and gender of the participants, as this will be an important factor in the analysis of results. 5. After voting is finished, collect all of the scorecards and ask a youth volunteer/s to calculate the results for each performance measure. Each smiley face will be given a number 1-5 along the scale. Then ask a volunteer to report back on the results and talk about which performance measured were rated the best/worst. 6. Facilitate discussion on what areas they think need improving, and how? What recommendations for improvement would they make for each performance measure? Write these up on a flipchart and use this as a basis of Exercise 2. EXERCISE 2: Youth Create their Own Scorecard of the Performance Measures THEY want Purpose: Youth develop their own performance indicators for the goals they want their governments to achieve beyond 2015, and rate the current performance. By the end of the session they will have developed an easy to use data collection tool and tested it in their group. (NB keep in mind that this is a deductive process ie by choosing indicators you are limiting the variety of responses. However this can be mitigated against by asking some follow up open-ended questions eg What is missing from the scorecard? what else would you like to see as a target? ) Method 1. Ask youth participants to think about the characteristics of their ideal society. How would you describe a good future...what does that look like in terms of health, environment, education, technology, fairness and justice etc? Some prompting may be needed. For example, Would you expect teachers to respect you? Would you expect a clean environment, and spaces to play? Record these performance measures, or indicators on a sheet like the flip chart at right: 2. Request ideas for a symbol or simple drawing that will represent the performance measure. Below, here are some examples of symbols.

15 3. Voting. Next, transfer the criteria from the Characteristics of a good future... flip chart to the group s scorecard and invite them to vote. You could draw up something like this and ask the group to vote together OR Youth can design their own scorecard for distribution (see template attached) 4. Once everyone has voted, ask the youth to record an overall average score - represented by a smiley face in the column marked scores. Deciding on an average score might require a lot of discussion, especially if there is disagreement among the group members. 5. For each performance measure, encourage youth to propose solutions and record these. These proposals could include actions to be taken by youth themselves, the community, government, or any other stakeholder. The feedback from this discussion will provide good input into the Youth Conference.

16 6. Prior to the Youth Conference a volunteer or WV facilitator should write up each focus group s Score Card findings. Further Resources for CAY on MDGs UN Cyberschool Bus: World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts page on MDGs (good ideas on practical advocacy can be found here): MDG Monitor (progress reports and statistics from each country can be found here):

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18 Appendix C: ScoreCard Templates for Youth SYMBOL PERFORMANCE MEASURE RATING Millennium Goal 1: Poverty and Hunger The number of poor people is reducing There is plenty of food for everyone to have enough Millennium Goal 2: Education All children can go to school no matter where they live or how much money they have. Millennium Goal 3: Girls and Boys are equal As many girls as boys go to school and university. Women are treated fairly and with respect, when they go to work and when they are at home with their families. Millennium Goal 4: Healthy Infants Children don t suffer from diseases that can be cured with a visit to the doctor and good medicine. Millennium Goal 5: Healthy Mothers Pregnant women can visit a midwife, nurse or doctor during their pregnancy and when they have their baby. If they need medicine, it is available Millennium Goal 6: Disease Terrible diseases like HIV/AIDs, malaria, TB are being treated with medicine and stopped from spreading. Millennium Goal 7: Caring for the Environment Trees are being planted; water is conserved; we walk instead of drive in our car when we can; we recycle; and the lives of people living in slums is getting better. Millennium Goal 8: Global Partnership Rich governments help poor governments, and people help others in different countries by paying them fair prices for food and goods when they buy.

19 Create Your Own Scorecard: What Does the Future that YOU want look like? SYMBOL PERFORMANCE MEASURE RATING