Kick-off meeting of the project Recognition of learning in Scouting and Guiding

Date of event 27 - 29 May 2011 Place of event FDFs forbundskontor, Copenhagen, Denmark Date of report 29 May 2011 Author of report Milutin Miloevi Summary Recognition is one of the key issues today in several national Scout associations across Europe. Project proposal from the Scouting Netherlands got support from the Youth in Action program to lead a project that involves associations from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. WOSM and WAGGGS European Regions are supporting the project providing expert support if and when needed. KFUM Denmark hosted the first meeting of the project managers from all involved countries, from 27 to 29 May 2011 in Copenhagen. It was the opportunity to share and plan project ideas from each country and discuss next steps in project implementation. The associations have a variety of needs and priorities in this area. Some of the are similar, and partnerships were foreseen during the project, while others will be used as a good experience for others in the future projects. At the end of September, whole project teams from all 8 countries will meet to share even more and work together on recognition. Number of participants and countries represented Countries Belgium (SGV and Les Scouts) Czech Republic Denmark (KFUM) France (SGdF) Netherlands Portugal (CNE) Slovenia (ZTS) Spain (ASDE) WAGGGS WOSM TOTAL Females Males 1 1 1 2 Total 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 13

1 1 1 1 1 1

1 1

Participants were project leaders from NGO's. Aims of the event Aim of the meeting was to start writing a national project plan and to start working on establishing a project team in each partner country.

Programme Programme included elements like getting to know each other, review of the initial weekend held in December 2010, discussion about expectations and possibilities within this project, presentations of the possibilities within the WOSM and WAGGGS network on European level to support the project teams, setting goals and aims for each partner organisation, writing the project plans, including the possibilities for exchange of methods and experiences on international (European) level, matching the goals and aims of the national project plans with the goals and aims of the Youth in Action program and planning the meeting of national project teams. Follow up action The project includes individual projects in each of the countries and three more meetings of the project leaders or teams. From 14 to 16 October 2011 there will be a larger network meeting of the project teams (3-5 people from each partner organization) in Portugal. This network meeting will focus on sharing ideas, discussing approaches, exchanging methods and materials and developing activity plans for each national project team. There will also be the opportunity to present the proposals of the EYV 2011 Alliance in the area of recognition and ask for a feedback. Goals by countries established during the meeting include: France: within this year exchange tools with other countries; next year develop an e-tool of recognition based on "Valirise Toi"; by the next meeting matching the specialist in the association Czech Republic: make recognition part of all trainings (next year); make use of the result of the other projects they do, distribute self-evaluation tools, minimum competencies profiles and qualifications; improve the mentoring system for Scout leaders Denmark: this year they plan to make a toolbox for activities that will help leaders to create their portfolio Slovenia: by September half of the participants in all the training this summer will use the tool they are designing now (in a test phase); within one year the Training System will be re-designed using the competency-based approach Belgium: there is the whole project going on in Les Scouts, there are 5 people working there and the deadline is end of this year; they plan chats with CEO and business people; discussion selfassessment tools with their leaders; and PR campaign to parents. Scouts and Guidsen Vlaanderen plan to complete their recognition tool by September Spain: have a new Training System adopted to the new (federal) Law in the country (meeting of the training coordinators planned for June 2011); evaluate "Scout schools" in each of the 17 provinces in the country and get them validated by the regional government (in one year time); implemented and evaluated new Training System, and agreeing between different Scout associations about adjusting their Training Systems Portugal: they are renewing their Training System (to the new Youth Programme) and there is the team working on that; the main goal is to create awareness in the society of the value of their training; sub-goals include formal recognition by the state (EFP); they also want to get into communication with business companies; process wise, they need to create a project team to work on the issue Netherlands: this year they implement the new Training System and renew the scheduled plan to produce 35 training modules; they trained around 1.000 leaders, and this year they will train 5 6.000 more; they need to train 750 coaches on national level; they will try to reach 4 "university level" institution who will recognise their training system and accept it as a valid credit for their students Participants also agreed on having regular updating/coaching Skype meetings. Evaluation The exchange on recognition on Saturday morning was very interesting and helpful. Some ideas generated there may be worth developing more. I am under the impression that not all the countries are still fully involved in the project, and therefore I am looking forward to the meeting of the project teams, when they will hopefully all be more active in implementation of the ideas they have. The meeting was organised in an original Scout way, with participants sharing tasks in all the issues including preparing food. This contributed to creating good atmosphere and working and friendly relations.

Some suggestions Associations involved have a variety of needs and priorities in this area of work, and that is an additional quality of the project. But, some of them are already advanced in their work and projects (The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark), while others are only at the starting point. Sometimes, the project team from Scouting Netherlands engages more than just coordinating the projects in countries, trying to ensure the success of the whole project. I am under the impression that their approach to offer coaching to other associations is a bit too much, as the associations are capable and have initiative. Budget and financial report Travel costs were refunded for 70%, including the bus or train tickets to and from the airport and accommodation from the Youth in Action programme. The Regions covered WOSM and WAGGGS representatives' travels.