1 00:00:06,540 --> 00:00:17,460 Dariusz: Welcome to UNDER 30, the podcast series by the youth partnership that brings the research results, explores trends in young people's lives and themes relevant for youth policy and practice. 2 00:00:18,390 --> 00:00:25,300 The impact of learning mobility project is quite well known , it is well researched. 3 00:00:25,660 --> 00:00:29,380 But only when it comes to the impact on individual level. 4 00:00:30,220 --> 00:00:36,310 We think about it when we develop project ideas, what impact will the project have on the participants? 5 00:00:36,790 --> 00:00:40,390 But the impact does not end with individuals. 6 00:00:40,570 --> 00:00:48,880 It also extends to a community, people who are sometimes intentionally or unintentionally affected by the project actions. 7 00:00:49,630 --> 00:01:03,580 The recent development and European youth policies and programs show that more emphasis is put on understanding the impact, not only on the individual level, but also on the local community or wider society. 8 00:01:04,570 --> 00:01:11,560 What do we mean when we talk about community, what impact do learning mobility projects have on the community? 9 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:13,270 How to measure it? 10 00:01:13,570 --> 00:01:15,490 Why is it important? 11 00:01:16,150 --> 00:01:20,380 These are some questions that I'm discussing with our guests today. 12 00:01:20,860 --> 00:01:29,620 Alexandra Severino, one of the authors of the research paper on Community Impact Indicators for Learning Mobility, done by the youth partnership. 13 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:37,570 Susie Nicodemi, one of the authors of the Practical Guide on Community Impact of Learning Mobility Projects. 14 00:01:38,050 --> 00:01:45,970 And Romina Matei from Salto European Solidarity Corps Resource Center that developed the practical guide. 15 00:01:46,830 --> 00:01:47,590 Enjoy listening! 16 00:01:56,068 --> 00:02:00,568 Hello, and welcome to the next episode of our UNDER 30 podcast. 17 00:02:00,568 --> 00:02:09,028 Today, we are talking about community impact and community impact indicators of learning mobility. 18 00:02:09,108 --> 00:02:10,758 Yeah, it's a very interesting topic. 19 00:02:10,788 --> 00:02:26,538 A lot of the things have been written, or we probably know a lot of things about the impact of mobility projects or learning mobility on individual people or people who are taking part in mobility projects or learning mobility projects. 20 00:02:27,018 --> 00:02:31,398 We also know quite a bit about community and the impact on community. 21 00:02:31,778 --> 00:02:36,368 But it has not been, I think, elaborated enough until now. 22 00:02:36,398 --> 00:02:43,078 Now we have quite a bit of materials to understand what is community impact of learning mobility. 23 00:02:43,498 --> 00:02:48,028 But maybe we can start a little bit with clarifying what we actually talking about. 24 00:02:48,058 --> 00:02:49,108 What does it mean? 25 00:02:49,108 --> 00:02:50,848 What kind of impact we are talking about? 26 00:02:50,848 --> 00:02:52,648 What kind of community we are talking about? 27 00:02:53,552 --> 00:02:55,742 Susie: Well, these are very good questions. 28 00:02:55,832 --> 00:03:06,352 And, this is in fact where we started with our process, because actually community, as a concept can mean lots of things to different people. 29 00:03:06,352 --> 00:03:07,942 It can mean all sorts of different things. 30 00:03:09,412 --> 00:03:22,937 In sociology and other kinds of academic research, there are all sorts of papers and all sorts of stuff from years and years and years that define community in different ways. 31 00:03:23,487 --> 00:03:32,237 But there is one element that we feel helps define it quite in an accessible way for most people. 32 00:03:32,867 --> 00:03:44,357 So, in our practical guide that we put together, what we tried to do was explain community in a very simple framed way that would allow people to then get on with the next bit. 33 00:03:44,787 --> 00:03:48,747 So we tried to distinguish from a social group and an organization. 34 00:03:49,087 --> 00:03:51,997 These would be something different and for us. 35 00:03:52,592 --> 00:03:58,682 Our proposal is to explain a community where you have a sense of belonging. 36 00:03:59,342 --> 00:04:04,412 You have a sense of belonging, and this could be something that is very local, like with your neighbors. 37 00:04:04,512 --> 00:04:10,692 It could be something a bit bigger, like a regional level or even a group of countries, but it's not just geography. 38 00:04:10,692 --> 00:04:12,132 It's also other elements. 39 00:04:13,658 --> 00:04:20,728 Romina: The only thing that I would add to that is, because I'm working on the program, which is called European Solidarity Corps. 40 00:04:21,248 --> 00:04:25,118 And in everything that I do, I all the time I have the glasses of the program. 41 00:04:25,218 --> 00:04:40,691 And also in our understanding, the community that we are speaking in the practical guide is a community that is impacted or kind of take part or it's touched by some actions that are supported by this program that supports volunteering in Europe. 42 00:04:41,321 --> 00:04:50,301 So from my point of view, it's a community that, yes, it has the sense of belonging, but it's also somehow connected, impacted with this program. 43 00:04:51,501 --> 00:05:06,936 Alexandra: I would also add that, as per what Susie just said and the complexity and the dimension of community and the different understandings, there was somehow this needs also linking it with the process of the indicators to establish this sort of common ground on what is community. 44 00:05:07,591 --> 00:05:08,551 How can we see it? 45 00:05:08,581 --> 00:05:14,377 And in the specific cases of the indicators how to link it to learning mobility. 46 00:05:14,444 --> 00:05:17,462 And it's a complex, but very interesting exercise. 47 00:05:18,799 --> 00:05:35,008 Susie: Yeah, I just wanted to add an a last bit because, in the past community has meant something quite obvious to people, but it's also with Corona and with different ways as life develops, there's all sorts of communities that relate to people in different ways, for example, like the different levels of your identity. 48 00:05:35,278 --> 00:05:42,628 So there's also communities that relate to, for example, your religion or your political affiliation or the things that you're passionate about that you want to change. 49 00:05:43,028 --> 00:05:46,954 And it's also online communities, not just like physical people that you meet. 50 00:05:47,074 --> 00:05:56,546 So the community, as a concept has so many dimensions, as Alex says, so many dimensions and it's needed somehow to frame this and find some common ground. 51 00:05:57,616 --> 00:06:07,344 Dariusz: Okay, we know now what community is, and then there's another aspect of what we are talking today, is the impact, which I think is very problematic sometimes. 52 00:06:07,374 --> 00:06:18,354 When we do the projects, we are always confronted with this outcomes, outputs, impact, all this very difficult sometimes concepts, and that are very often confused. 53 00:06:18,461 --> 00:06:28,497 It's written in the research, it's also in the practical guide, that this impacts can be happening on very different levels and it can be very different as well. 54 00:06:28,797 --> 00:06:34,857 If we can talk a little bit about it, what kind of impact we are talking about when it comes to learning mobility? 55 00:06:36,049 --> 00:06:36,349 Susie: Okay. 56 00:06:36,349 --> 00:06:46,729 So just to give it a little introduction and to help a little bit to again, frame it for people so they could find it, understand it, find it accessible, and then be able to do something with it. 57 00:06:46,759 --> 00:06:47,059 Right. 58 00:06:47,509 --> 00:06:57,574 So, to explain it briefly, when you want to make a change in your community, when there's a need, there's like a problem or a need, and you want to do something about it, you want to make a change. 59 00:06:58,084 --> 00:07:00,614 So to do this, you take action. 60 00:07:01,274 --> 00:07:04,054 And then when you take action, that creates an output. 61 00:07:04,084 --> 00:07:06,724 Something happens because you've taken action, right? 62 00:07:07,594 --> 00:07:10,745 And, the output is the result of what you've done. 63 00:07:11,340 --> 00:07:13,470 But this is not impact. 64 00:07:14,370 --> 00:07:27,405 Impact is the effect that the output has, it's the effect of what you've done and the effect could be on all sorts of people in all sorts of directions, this impact at all sorts of dimensions. 65 00:07:27,405 --> 00:07:32,565 And it's the people that are involved and other people, and it's the place that it happens. 66 00:07:32,715 --> 00:07:37,307 And other places, it's the system that you've changed and other systems. 67 00:07:37,667 --> 00:07:43,046 So, it's important to, to realize, that it's the action you take the output that happens, and then. 68 00:07:43,826 --> 00:07:45,746 Then, well then it's the change. 69 00:07:46,856 --> 00:07:51,266 And so then there's these like different levels of impact. 70 00:07:51,296 --> 00:07:53,786 There's the direct with the people directly involved. 71 00:07:53,846 --> 00:07:55,376 There's the indirect. 72 00:07:55,376 --> 00:07:59,196 So these are people who didn't really take part in it, but they were affected by it. 73 00:07:59,249 --> 00:08:05,727 And not just the people, also the systems, the places, the buildings, whatever, other things related to it. 74 00:08:06,177 --> 00:08:07,767 So there's direct, indirect. 75 00:08:08,127 --> 00:08:12,870 And then you can have the intended, the things you planned in your objectives, and the unintended. 76 00:08:13,020 --> 00:08:19,945 So, things which happened even if you didn't mean for them to happen, but they happened anyway, but that doesn't mean that they're still not valid, right. 77 00:08:19,945 --> 00:08:20,725 They still happen. 78 00:08:20,725 --> 00:08:21,516 And they're still there. 79 00:08:21,516 --> 00:08:26,590 And then related to these four levels, there's the concept of positive and negative. 80 00:08:26,596 --> 00:08:35,701 So, some things that you could aim for that you want to happen, a positive changes or some things could happen, which are kind of negative and you didn't really want to happen. 81 00:08:35,701 --> 00:08:48,241 And sometimes these negative ones can be great learning experiences, especially if it's related to the individuals that are involved, that there are a chance to reflect and adjust and think about the learning behind. 82 00:08:49,111 --> 00:08:54,107 And the returns, for the organizers and the project managers to think, ooh, that went a bit wrong. 83 00:08:54,107 --> 00:09:13,906 We didn't realize there was going to be this domino effect, if this happens, if this happens and this happens, and this is going to be the impact on people, and we didn't intend that at all, and it's a bit negative, then it's a chance to reflect and consider, how to do things differently or, how things could be adjusted or maybe next time, how to approach it in another way. 84 00:09:14,666 --> 00:09:17,316 So this is like impact in a nutshell. 85 00:09:19,074 --> 00:09:24,264 Alexandra: Perhaps I can focus more on the causal aspect of the question. 86 00:09:24,624 --> 00:09:44,024 So while we have all these different types of impact, specifically, if we focus on learning mobility, it's important to understand what is directly caused by learning mobility, because there might be impacts if we consider the overall context that are not necessarily related to the learning mobility project. 87 00:09:44,594 --> 00:09:57,354 So indicators in a sense are an effort to have these orientations and try to make this causal link more clear, It's in any case a complex endeavor, but it's important as you were just saying to understand these differences. 88 00:09:57,354 --> 00:09:58,484 So we are more aware. 89 00:09:59,374 --> 00:10:02,204 Romina: Can I add something 90 00:10:02,704 --> 00:10:03,084 Dariusz: Sure, you can. 91 00:10:03,104 --> 00:10:04,844 Romina: Okay, perfect. 92 00:10:05,624 --> 00:10:13,874 Because, having the glasses of the program, and I understand a bit how difficult it is when you write as well in application to think of the impact. 93 00:10:13,874 --> 00:10:46,760 What I want to underline is that we have to have in mind, both a young person that writes a project or an organization that the impact it's a process and measuring impact it's a process that you need to plan and you need to think of it, and describe it also when you write the application, and this is one thing, and the other thing is that, because we are speaking about people that are doing volunteering activities in the case of the program, you never know how long, when you will see the impact or how long it would take until you will really realize what happened because of a mobility. 94 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:53,390 So I know it's hard to describe this in an application when you write a project, but I think it's an important element to mention it. 95 00:10:54,227 --> 00:10:54,587 Susie: Yeah. 96 00:10:54,617 --> 00:11:05,921 And I would add also this point that, a little bit in the Solidarity Corps, and also maybe in a few other programs that sometimes impact is like the last box you fill in on the application form. 97 00:11:05,921 --> 00:11:19,051 It's like the last box you fill in on the report form after you've added up all your receipts and you've done, but actually for me, impact should be the second huge thing in the project. 98 00:11:19,051 --> 00:11:21,871 First, you have the need, like, what is the need for this project? 99 00:11:21,901 --> 00:11:23,701 And then what do we want to change? 100 00:11:24,001 --> 00:11:33,102 And for me, that should be almost the starting point of any project of working out what you want to change, what impact you want and then how to get there. 101 00:11:33,472 --> 00:11:40,614 Like if you've got something to aim for, you've got your frame, you've got your approach, and then you could break it into steps and work out how to get there. 102 00:11:40,914 --> 00:11:43,494 And I guess that links to indicators then in that way, 103 00:11:43,564 --> 00:11:52,084 Alexandra: I would also add that it was a very strong or core concern for the group of researchers while going through all the elements of the research. 104 00:11:52,084 --> 00:11:57,934 And it's actually part of our conclusion that indicators should not be used for funding projects. 105 00:11:57,964 --> 00:12:05,644 They should be a tool and to make a more consistent analysis of the project that is at stake, having community at the center. 106 00:12:06,124 --> 00:12:18,464 And, so elaborating on what Susie was saying, this was one of our key concerns while going through the different methodology and analyzing the structure of what the indicators will hopefully be in the future. 107 00:12:18,464 --> 00:12:20,072 So this is what I wanted to add. 108 00:12:21,044 --> 00:12:21,794 Dariusz: Okay, thank you. 109 00:12:22,004 --> 00:12:27,686 We'll will talk about the practical aspects a little bit later, about the tools and indicators and so on. 110 00:12:27,686 --> 00:12:37,836 But I would like to come back a little bit to the roots of the discussion when it comes to the community impact of learning mobility, how this idea came about, how did it all start? 111 00:12:38,521 --> 00:12:49,609 Susie: About six, seven years ago, something like this, there was an emphasis from the European programs, well, first of all, the European programs were well-recognized and there was momentum starting. 112 00:12:49,705 --> 00:13:07,325 There was recognition in different parts of the European Commission and there was a, how do you say this, a more of a priority given and more money, that more money was made available for the European programs in a very positive way to encourage more people to have more opportunities. 113 00:13:07,395 --> 00:13:22,034 In response to this, European Platform for Learning Mobility, which brings together different institutions and programs and, European ones, but also other ones related to work camps and bilateral things, anyone that does stuff internationally with young people, right? 114 00:13:22,034 --> 00:13:23,444 This is what the platform does. 115 00:13:23,471 --> 00:13:34,151 So in response, they really wanted to help, support, especially newcomers or people who perhaps wouldn't have so much experience or wouldn't understand the breadth and depth of what could be possible. 116 00:13:34,421 --> 00:13:35,681 So there was a focus on quality. 117 00:13:36,761 --> 00:13:39,071 And certain quality tools were developed. 118 00:13:39,071 --> 00:13:43,484 We don't need to go into them here and now they're available on the websites and they've happened over in the past. 119 00:13:43,489 --> 00:13:45,319 So the quality was a real focus. 120 00:13:45,979 --> 00:13:54,970 And then, once we developed these, the question was raised quality, why do we need these tools and what are we going to do with them and how's it going to work? 121 00:13:55,420 --> 00:14:02,272 And then the conversation started with the development, the initial development of the Solidarity corps in 2017. 122 00:14:02,286 --> 00:14:23,980 It developed into a let's have a look at individual learning as it had been in a European voluntary service, but now balance it, counterbalance it also with the service aspect, this connection to others, the solidarity approach of reaching out and supporting, helping, whatever your concept of solidarity is, let's not go too much into that. 123 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:27,352 And, so there's these two angles, right? 124 00:14:27,382 --> 00:14:31,706 There's personal learning and then there's the benefit also for the community and society. 125 00:14:32,126 --> 00:14:44,507 So this is where it came and there was a big, event hosted by Jint the Belgian Flemish National Agency in April 2019, called The Power of Learning Mobility and it balanced these two angles. 126 00:14:44,567 --> 00:14:50,237 And this was one of the big events that kicked off a lot of the stuff that happened related to community impact. 127 00:14:50,343 --> 00:15:09,910 Alexandra: Also from that event from the researchers group that were present at the time, there were a lot of discussions on learning mobility in general, and this assumption that all projects in a way or another, learning mobility projects, in a way or another, as I was just saying, they always generate positive results. 128 00:15:09,974 --> 00:15:22,277 And the discussion was don't they lead to quality in certain cases, shouldn't we looking to this, try to understand what is the real impact for communities too. 129 00:15:22,547 --> 00:15:33,437 And there was a lot of discussion too around social impact and from social impact, then we realized that there were not many instruments that would consider the community level. 130 00:15:33,947 --> 00:15:44,154 There were some for the individual level, some for the organizational level, but not many or in some cases they were even inexistent to the community level. 131 00:15:45,204 --> 00:16:01,110 Romina: And I enter in the scene in 2019, in somewhere in autumn, because, of course with the new program as Susie was mentioning, so that kind of puts on the main scene what happens in the community when you are doing a volunteer service stage? 132 00:16:01,140 --> 00:16:11,050 It's not only if we look back a lit a little bit on the previous volunteering program, which is called Europeans Voluntary Service which was until 2018. 133 00:16:11,099 --> 00:16:15,102 There, the focus was on developing competencies and on learning a lot. 134 00:16:15,127 --> 00:16:25,164 And now Solidarity Corps trying to bring on the same level, you know, it's the updated version of what was previously with the feature that community impact is important. 135 00:16:25,164 --> 00:16:42,539 And we, as Solidarity Corps Resource Center, we were part of the EPLM platform, which is this platform that gathers smart minds and open hearts on mobility program projects, mobility actions in Europe, Yeah, we were saying, oh, there is a lot of work already done on community impact. 136 00:16:42,929 --> 00:16:45,779 What community impact could look like in the program. 137 00:16:46,499 --> 00:16:50,292 And this is also how the story of the practical guide came up. 138 00:16:50,307 --> 00:16:55,087 And then based on the practical guide seminar with that, we just ended in Vienna. 139 00:16:55,517 --> 00:17:01,701 Susie: It would be important to also say that there was a whole process of desk mapping and trying to understand what already exists. 140 00:17:01,716 --> 00:17:15,004 And there, it was great to have that gathered in one place, but then it was very obvious there were big gaps inside it, like there was some stuff from some places, but there were definite gaps that needed to be thought about and dealt with. 141 00:17:15,004 --> 00:17:23,364 And the whole thing about sending communities and hosting communities and the amount of data that was for this like different levels and different ways of looking at things. 142 00:17:23,904 --> 00:17:24,324 Yeah. 143 00:17:24,370 --> 00:17:25,314 there's a need there. 144 00:17:26,232 --> 00:17:26,502 Dariusz: Okay. 145 00:17:26,502 --> 00:17:32,893 So we know a little bit about the history of how it all started and actually developed very well. 146 00:17:34,093 --> 00:17:45,895 You mentioned the European Platform on Learning Mobility and yes, the platform and they youth partnership has done quite a bit of research, which is available also on the European Platform on Learning Mobility. 147 00:17:46,375 --> 00:17:50,275 And the research was on community impact indicators. 148 00:17:50,330 --> 00:17:52,727 What does this research tell us? 149 00:17:52,796 --> 00:17:55,366 What kind of impact we are talking about? 150 00:17:55,366 --> 00:17:58,576 What aspects of community are affected? 151 00:17:59,146 --> 00:18:01,516 And this is probably the question to Alexandra. 152 00:18:02,386 --> 00:18:02,896 Alexandra: Yes. 153 00:18:03,256 --> 00:18:07,224 Very happy to share something and very briefly about our research. 154 00:18:07,644 --> 00:18:14,954 So the indicators, there was background research work on what would be important to analyze at the community level. 155 00:18:15,314 --> 00:18:20,080 These included some thematic areas, active citizenship, participation. 156 00:18:20,500 --> 00:18:24,613 We also considered the more skills and competencies oriented side. 157 00:18:25,238 --> 00:18:26,678 Intercultural dialogue. 158 00:18:27,068 --> 00:18:45,045 So these were basically in a nutshell, the areas that were considered more relevant to analyze at the community level and to propose indicators within, to measure and trying to understand the link between the learning mobilities that were taking place in X or Y community and this respective fields. 159 00:18:45,825 --> 00:19:06,515 From our research, the key conclusions were that, there were some indicators, some instruments that could be already considered at a macro level, mostly for skills and competences and some instruments that could be potentially adapted to better respond to the needs of assessing community impact within learning mobility. 160 00:19:06,548 --> 00:19:11,653 We analyzed the different concepts, the different contextual approaches to this concept. 161 00:19:12,103 --> 00:19:26,828 And our conclusion was that we could propose a preliminary set of indicators that would need to be tested to ultimately develop a final list that could be helpful to measure community impact. 162 00:19:27,308 --> 00:19:29,168 It is indeed a complex process. 163 00:19:29,198 --> 00:19:42,023 We are currently in the testing phase, and I hope this is an opportunity and that it can be possible to post the link to the survey with a preliminary list of indicators studies being tested at the moment in the show notes. 164 00:19:42,073 --> 00:19:55,002 And we are indeed now through gathering that data, what the different people that are involved with communities, with organizations, with youth work, with learning mobility, think about these preliminary set. 165 00:19:55,482 --> 00:19:56,425 Are they useful? 166 00:19:56,425 --> 00:20:00,205 Can they be really effective in measuring community impact? 167 00:20:00,235 --> 00:20:01,985 Do they resonate to people? 168 00:20:01,985 --> 00:20:03,084 What can be changed? 169 00:20:03,084 --> 00:20:06,594 And there's room in the consultation to try to gather that data too. 170 00:20:06,641 --> 00:20:38,303 So we are excited about what is potentially to come and to look into more detail on the feedback that is given to our research, so we can indeed hopefully propose that something that will be, or that will add some value in this path towards making community impact more relevant, and also providing a tool that is in a way harmonized that can be used by many different people, different communities to assess the impact, in this case of learning mobility projects. 171 00:20:39,230 --> 00:20:40,100 Dariusz: Thank you, Alexandra. 172 00:20:40,112 --> 00:20:41,282 The research is very important. 173 00:20:41,282 --> 00:20:54,262 I think in very many instances, the research papers are not very accessible for, let's say people who are on the the grassroots level in the youth organizations, or maybe they even done look sometimes at this research. 174 00:20:54,307 --> 00:21:02,955 that's how probably the idea of the practical guide came about, which was produced by Salto European Solidarity Corps Resource Center. 175 00:21:02,959 --> 00:21:06,459 If we can say a little bit about this practical guide. 176 00:21:06,489 --> 00:21:11,506 We know how it came about, but what we can find there, who is it for, how it can be used. 177 00:21:11,536 --> 00:21:16,216 Very simple questions, but I think very practical as the guide should be probably. 178 00:21:17,176 --> 00:21:17,426 Susie: Yeah. 179 00:21:17,426 --> 00:21:19,628 I would start with a few points related to it. 180 00:21:19,628 --> 00:21:27,839 So, I have to admit I've been involved in international youth work for over 20 years and I'm good at all sorts of things but I'm not an academic. 181 00:21:28,109 --> 00:21:36,134 And if you give me a research paper that is more than three pages long, I will just skip through it and look at the things that are in boxes or the quotes. 182 00:21:36,256 --> 00:21:41,580 And, I know that's terrible and I know I probably should like develop my competencies and all that kind of thing. 183 00:21:41,850 --> 00:21:49,954 And there's probably other people who are also busy or who don't have that desire to dive deep into the academia of stuff. 184 00:21:49,988 --> 00:21:58,777 And when we were going through this process, that Alex was explaining all the research and understanding the importance of it and the connection, which is what the EPLM does. 185 00:21:58,807 --> 00:22:03,854 It connects research with policy, with practice around the needs of young people. 186 00:22:04,244 --> 00:22:16,624 And, the group of us that were involved or like, well, okay, if we're really pushing this around the needs of young people, the young people themselves, and the organizations that people that work with them, they need to understand all these long words and all their stuff that's going on. 187 00:22:16,624 --> 00:22:17,644 It's really important. 188 00:22:17,644 --> 00:22:22,054 It's really, it's the key to the Solidarity Corps, this connection with community and impact. 189 00:22:22,066 --> 00:22:25,239 And it needs to be translated and it needs to be hands-on. 190 00:22:25,239 --> 00:22:30,204 It needs to be quick, cause youth leaders are busy people that are overwhelmed with all sorts of stuff. 191 00:22:30,594 --> 00:22:37,360 And so we work together to try to distill as much as possible, the main messages from the different research stuff. 192 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:42,419 Well, what happened is we created the report and then we wanted to add a few visuals to the report. 193 00:22:42,869 --> 00:22:49,700 And then as we went through the whole process, we were like, well, maybe what we could do is kind of put a lot more emphasis on the visuals. 194 00:22:50,210 --> 00:23:05,009 So what we have, what's produced right now is, there is, a written document that helps explain what is community, what is impact, how to know if it's there, how to measure it, and some great, good ideas of how to do more community impact in your project and what it can look like in the Solidarity Corps, a whole document. 195 00:23:05,009 --> 00:23:08,009 That's got all that in it and it's a download and you can read it and it's there. 196 00:23:08,549 --> 00:23:15,389 And there are also some visuals that represent the key core messages that are inside that. 197 00:23:15,426 --> 00:23:23,978 And we worked with a visual designer who helped us translate a bit the main elements and they have short descriptions next to them. 198 00:23:23,978 --> 00:23:36,806 And the seminar that we've just had now in October, in Vienna hosted by the Austrian National Agency together with the Resource Center for the Solidarity Corps, it was the very first time that this tool was tested on a real audience of real people. 199 00:23:36,806 --> 00:23:51,202 and there was lots of positive feedback and there was this could be improved a bit and that could be improved or you could adapt it like this and, or maybe you could use it for young people and you could like chat, or what you could do is you could like put some persuasive messages so that managers understand why community impact is important. 200 00:23:51,412 --> 00:23:56,803 So we had quite a few suggestions of where it could be taken and how it could be improved. 201 00:23:56,846 --> 00:24:06,566 And for us, what's really important as all this like theory and long words and academia actually gets out in the real world and makes a difference to people that do hands-on projects with young people. 202 00:24:07,250 --> 00:24:23,632 Alexandra: As I was involved in the different process and doing also with the colleagues working on the practical guide, this translation effort, that is a very interesting experience and also an effort to, I think it should be done, also from the point of view of the research, making it more accessible. 203 00:24:23,902 --> 00:24:49,712 And of course, while in the desk research we go through significant details, through the theory of change, different concepts with different levels of complexity for the practitioner, the conclusion, or what is the result of the analysis and these processes is what matters because of what Susie just said at the time constraints, the need to focus, the more practices or practice oriented approach, it's extremely important. 204 00:24:49,712 --> 00:24:52,592 So I think this is an excellent example. 205 00:24:52,592 --> 00:25:00,516 Of course I'm biased, but I'm saying these interconnection between the three corners of the triangle, so research, practice and policy. 206 00:25:01,398 --> 00:25:10,765 Romina: I would just add that for us the guide is the first step, and this is dedicated mainly for youth workers and project manager and youth leaders. 207 00:25:11,305 --> 00:25:20,675 So if you are planning to write any project on Solidarity Corps in the near future, please, take 15 minutes because this is more or less the time that you need to go through the visuals. 208 00:25:21,239 --> 00:25:24,989 We are also working now to develop a bit of video. 209 00:25:24,989 --> 00:25:31,679 We had the seminar in Vienna and we had a really nice presentation and that will accompany the guide. 210 00:25:31,679 --> 00:25:48,981 So we will also have for the ones that are more audio visual, we will have this and, the guide is also a stepping stone in creating an understanding of what means community impact also in the level and in the network of National Agencies and how they evaluate community impact in their projects. 211 00:25:48,981 --> 00:25:51,592 So, yeah, it's a beautiful beginning, let's say that. 212 00:25:52,912 --> 00:25:53,482 Dariusz: Thank you. 213 00:25:53,572 --> 00:25:54,862 A beautiful beginning. 214 00:25:54,862 --> 00:26:01,566 We know that, Alexandra already mentioned that, the testing phase is now on and people can take part. 215 00:26:01,566 --> 00:26:06,576 And of course we encourage our listeners to take part in it and we will post the link in the notes to this episode. 216 00:26:07,278 --> 00:26:11,072 So, what's next, when the thing will be finished? 217 00:26:11,072 --> 00:26:12,284 What about dissemination? 218 00:26:12,787 --> 00:26:14,467 Romina: It's only the beginning, as I said. 219 00:26:14,575 --> 00:26:22,100 Based on what happened in Vienna , we will have a bit of time to digest, needs that we received, we as a resource center. 220 00:26:22,100 --> 00:26:24,890 And because it's also a nice timing in the year. 221 00:26:24,890 --> 00:26:35,510 For the ones that you don't know in October, November is the time where we plan all the activities for the next years, we as the Resource Centers, but also National Agencies across Europe. 222 00:26:36,050 --> 00:26:45,490 So we want to digest a bit the needs that we heard and plan what we will do for committing back to the next year, for sure something will be developed of course. 223 00:26:45,490 --> 00:26:50,850 My personal preference is also to see how it's possible to have events around the publication. 224 00:26:51,379 --> 00:27:00,717 So, if you are listening to this podcast, go on Salto website in the future, in this training calendar where we announced future events and also on social media. 225 00:27:00,747 --> 00:27:03,052 We are, I hope, active on that as well. 226 00:27:03,113 --> 00:27:23,655 And what is really important for us is to continue also the research and a bit of understanding on the links between the community impact and Solidarity Corps, and even to have to work more on this, having a common understanding in the network of National Agencies and the common understanding of what means community impact also from the perspective of the ones that are evaluating the projects. 227 00:27:24,055 --> 00:27:31,135 So the ones that are writing the project and the ones that are evaluating the project have a similar understanding of what community impact is. 228 00:27:31,936 --> 00:27:37,846 Susie: The Resource Center does great stuff to support the Solidarity Corps in a real strategic way. 229 00:27:37,940 --> 00:27:42,246 You'll be surprised to know they don't have 80 staff working that they only have three. 230 00:27:42,246 --> 00:27:48,046 So when you see the aim and the suggestions and the strategy of what they hope to do, they make a really big difference. 231 00:27:48,112 --> 00:27:55,337 But what's important I think is that this topic needs to be taken up and taken onwards by many more actors. 232 00:27:55,401 --> 00:28:04,162 I think there needs to be a kind of ownership and emphasis, and acceptance that this is something that really makes a difference. 233 00:28:04,192 --> 00:28:05,242 And it's very connected. 234 00:28:05,276 --> 00:28:08,486 it's not just a kind of heard you say a tick box on a form. 235 00:28:08,486 --> 00:28:11,222 It's something that really makes a difference to people. 236 00:28:11,222 --> 00:28:16,568 And there's all sorts of angles to it, for example, community impact connecting to sustainability. 237 00:28:16,598 --> 00:28:30,906 For example, the more people in the community that are connected, affected, involved in a granted project means a better social cohesion and better trust and relationships and longer term projects and an easier assessment of needs next time. 238 00:28:30,906 --> 00:28:38,396 And that it doesn't only rely on a European grant for a six day project, but it could then continue into something much longer, broader and wider. 239 00:28:38,786 --> 00:28:48,719 And if there is this emphasis on community impact and approach, then it really gets also the whole inclusion, diversity, you get more different people involved in all sorts of levels. 240 00:28:49,079 --> 00:28:52,340 So, well done to the resource center for everything they're doing to push it. 241 00:28:52,760 --> 00:29:06,278 Let's now encourage other actors to develop training, to develop support, to do more research, to make it more aware, to connect to the local development, the people, the heroes that do amazing local development work at grassroots level. 242 00:29:07,818 --> 00:29:11,328 Alexandra: I just wanted to say that thinking about what my colleagues just said. 243 00:29:11,328 --> 00:29:35,129 And also one of the points Susie was mentioning at the beginning, from the research standpoint, I think it's extremely important to map what is the understanding of community, because there was a very traditional understanding and now we need to figure out what changed, what we add to that understanding and what does really community means in different contexts for different actors at different levels. 244 00:29:35,429 --> 00:29:45,299 And I think this is something that should be a focus in the future from the research angle, but also involving of course, all the other actors, the policy and practice. 245 00:29:45,629 --> 00:29:48,957 So this is my, my, my last few words about this. 246 00:29:49,544 --> 00:29:53,894 Susie: Because if you think, what does community mean to you, right? 247 00:29:53,924 --> 00:29:55,364 And then you start thinking about it. 248 00:29:55,364 --> 00:30:00,254 You think, which communities do I belong to and which communities don't I belong to. 249 00:30:00,254 --> 00:30:00,884 And why? 250 00:30:01,214 --> 00:30:08,234 Does community have a positive meaning to me, does it have a positive meaning to my language, to what's used in social media. 251 00:30:08,474 --> 00:30:20,834 And once you start discussing that with others, from other places you realize that's actually quite a difference in how people understand the concept what's behind it and how it's developed and how it's used in the youth field as well. 252 00:30:20,954 --> 00:30:23,774 It's quite specific or different. 253 00:30:24,224 --> 00:30:26,461 So there's definitely a need to understand it. 254 00:30:27,108 --> 00:30:29,598 Dariusz: I think it's a very nice ending of our episode. 255 00:30:29,628 --> 00:30:31,693 We started with exploring what is community. 256 00:30:31,693 --> 00:30:37,333 And we actually ended up with asking a question, what community is for you, what it means for you. 257 00:30:37,543 --> 00:30:50,795 So this is the question maybe our listeners can now reflect on where feel they belong, which community they belong, which community they feel they don't belong and what it actually means for them belonging to this community. 258 00:30:50,795 --> 00:30:54,368 Thank you very much Susie, Alexandra and Romina. 259 00:30:54,778 --> 00:30:56,072 There is a lot of tools available. 260 00:30:56,132 --> 00:31:01,382 And as you heard, this is the work in progress and there's still a lot of processes going on. 261 00:31:01,382 --> 00:31:08,588 It's not finished, but you can find the links to all what is already finished and what's available in the notes in this episode. 262 00:31:08,638 --> 00:31:09,748 Thank you very much. 263 00:31:09,808 --> 00:31:10,498 And bye-bye.