Skopje, 28-30 March, 2023
MIYO Consortium partners gathered in North Macedonia to discuss the project progress. The main agenda points were the methodology refinement, first pilots planning, budget and the deliverables timeline.
It should be noted that, prior to this meeting, partners already agreed upon the SPICES framework, initially developed and widely used by WOSM. The framework is divided into six main areas of personal development: Social, Physical, Intellectual, Character, Emotional, and Spiritual. Under each area of personal development, there are several items/constructs to be measured. Given the complexity of each construct, the academic team decided to initiate a prioritisation poll among youth leaders and youth workers in partner organisations to understand which items are more important under each category. This exercise helped to shorten the list of items and clarify the intended outcomes under each SPICES category.
The preliminary agreement is to combine both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus group) methods to measure the impact of youth programmes at personal, community, and institutional levels while considering six areas of the SPICES framework. Unlike previous studies, this survey questionnaire will be short and precise to prevent misinterpretation, respondent fatigue, and, consequently, invalid results. As a complementary tool, focus groups with young people will be facilitated to get more insight and feedback from direct beneficiaries. Self-perception statements will be used to review young people’s perspectives on personal growth and their contribution to community and institutional development.
The Skopje meeting allowed parters to get together and hold an extensive discussion on the first draft of the survey and focus group questionnaires. The discussion was moderated by the Maynooth University and the most outstanding comments were taken into account for further refinement of the methodology. The main comments were related to the clarity of language and possible translation challenges. Ahead of the planned pilot studies, it was decided to revise and submit the questionnaires at the beginning of April.
Several aspects of budgeting, particularly the translation and transcription costs, were raised and discussed. It should be noted that partners were overall satisfied with the support of the academic team and expressed their enthusiasm about the study. In addition, the Europe Scout Bureau team made a presentation and facilitated a discussion on project deliverables, upcoming tasks, and financial management. Overall, the project is in good health and progressing per the revised timeline.
