The Making my Future project has been evaluated several times during its lifetime. The evaluation reports can be found below. If you have any further questions or remarks concerning our evaluation, do not hesitate to contact us!
Evaluation Report #1
Future post corona – Intensive week in Liepaja, Latvia, 16.-21.8.2020
This report is based on online post-evaluation questionnaire that the participants replied two weeks after the intensive.
The most important experiences the participants of the Latvia intensive week had, were 1. Getting to know the other participants and 2. The activities they had. They commented about learning about different cultures, communication skills, getting new perspectives and doing new things together as a good experience. The participants would have improved the duration of the intensive week, to make it longer, and making the timetable of the week looser, with more free time. One participant wished for more group introduction activities and one that the weather would be considered when going outside for activities.
The practical matters were grated from 1 to 5. Number five meaning very happy/pleased and one not so happy/pleased. The program (drama workshops, Karaosta, evening activities etc.) and the arrangements (food, hotel, premises etc.) got a 4,44. The collaboration and interaction between the participants and the general atmosphere in the group got a grade of 4,66.
All in all, the participants gave excellent feedback from Latvia’s intensive week and the room for improvement was found mostly in the timetable and duration of the intensive week. For most of the participants the activities and spending time with other young people was the best thing they experienced.
Jenna Ikäheimo & Eeva-Mari Miettinen, 27.8.2021
Evaluation report #2
My future, my planet – Intensive week in Estonia
Finnish version in Kaarina, Turku 29.7.-2.8.2021
This report is based on interviews that were done after the intensive with the participants.
The participants of the My future, my planet intensive week in Kaarina, Finland, found that there was a nice atmosphere and a lot of good activities during the week. They commented about learning together through all the games and found the location of the intensive week very beautiful and relaxing. The general atmosphere and interaction in a small group was also a good experience. It was also pointed out that the feeling of belonging to a group where people care for each other was found significant, especially in times of corona.
The budget of the intensive was originally planned for face-to-face gathering. Due to hybrid intensive, the budget of organizing and implementing of the week was mostly directed to Estonia. Therefore the catering and premises were challenging to organize in two different locations. The solution was to prepare meals together with the participants in Finland, which would be also a good starting point for building possibilities of participation for the participants. The participants would have changed the arrangements with the food, since the cleaning and food preparation took quite some time.
Another challenge was the hybrid itself. The Finnish participants didn’t like being online, because they didn’t get to connect and interact with the participants in Estonia due to language barriers. Our participants have come to Finland as refugees and asylum-seekers and their educational background doesn´t include English. In other aspects some also hoped for more outdoor activities and information about the intensive week in advance.
All in all, the participants gave good feedback from My future, my planet intensive week Finnish version, but also found some room for improvement, mostly of being online and food arrangements. The participants were happy with their experience of the atmosphere and enjoyed the premises a lot, especially the sauna and the common spaces we had were liked.
Jenna Ikäheimo & Eeva-Mari Miettinen, 27.8.2021
Evaluation report #3
Mid-term Project Progress Meeting, online, 8.9.2020
The mid-term project progress meeting between the Lead Partner (TAMK) representatives and the project contact person of the Programme was held online in September 2020. In the evaluation meeting, several aspects of the project were discussed and assessed from both sides. Firstly, progress in the implementation activities towards obtaining the project’s main results at three specified levels (individual, community & national/crossborder) was evaluated as convincing. Practical activities and projects were executed where young people genuinely participated from all three partner countries. Well-planned evaluation procedures of the implementation were also put in place. In terms of programme level outputs at the time of the mid-term evaluation, the target values set for the project were to be reached by the end of the project.
The project specific objectives and outputs such as empowerment and improvement of entrepreneurial skills of young people were mainly promoted during the intensive weeks organized in Liepaja and Tampere during the first half of the project as scheduled. Feedback and development ideas were gathered from the participants using written questionnaires and interviews. Additionally, the methods utilised were further studied in a bachelor thesis based on the project experiences. Local impact with small scale projects were included in the programmes of the intensive weeks. In addition, public dissemination in the form of the project www site and blogs was well underway.
Concerning the progress towards implementing activities and achieving deliverables, some deviations from the application form were identified. The main reason was the COVID-19 crisis, which had affected some of the planned implementation activities. However, the Lead Partner jointly with the project partners had made some revisions and rescheduling for the activities which were found appropriate. In addition, the reporting and the financial management of the project were discussed and assessed as appropriate.
Hanna-Greta Puurtinen, 31.8.2021