WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS - SCOTLAND 2005

DELEGATES' EXPERIENCE REPORT

July 30th to August 8th, 2005
Report Prepared for the Scottish Executive by:

Maria Sterniczuk, Canada
Cécile Bordier, France

In Collaboration with:
Tom Burke, United Kingdom
Antonin Kieffer, France

December 2005

INTRODUCTION

Please note that for the sake of conciseness, in this report, we will refer to all youth taking part in the congress as Participants, thus making no distinction between the four levels of Delegate, Activist, Young Journalist and Cultural Performer; all of these individuals received the same Evaluation Questionnaire; it should be noted, however, that the majority of responses come from either Delegates and Activists.

Aim and Goals:

The aim of this report is to present the outcomes of the Evaluation Questionnaire given to all participants of the 3rd World Youth Congress in Stirling, Scotland (July 30 - August 8, 2005). The Evaluation Questionnaire was designed and implemented to gather the views and experiences of the participants regarding all aspects of the congress. This is the first time that such an evaluation was formally conducted during a World Youth Congress and we hope that it will provide a series of benchmarks which may allow Peace Child International and future hosts to take the World Youth Congress series forward and continue to improve upon its processes, organization, content and outcomes.

This report will present the overall views of the participants by providing summaries, statistics and comments upon each area of the congress. The Evaluation Questionnaire, and thus the report, focuses on five major themes:

• Participants' views on the organisation before and during the Congress

Preparation process (application form, their use and experiences with the website, preparatory information sent out, etc.).

Contact with Peace Child International (PCI) and the Scottish Executive (SE).

• Participants' views on the Congress programme

Its' relevance to the themes, coherence, diversity of activities (discussion sessions, action projects).

• What the participants gained from the Congress

Exchange made with other participants, networking opportunities and the diversity of participants.

Skills gained and information learned.

• How participants plan to use that knowledge and experience post-Congress

Empowerment and future plan of action.

Whether they found the congress educational, inspiring, useful, etc.

• Comments, Expectations, Recommendations concerning future Congresses

What could be improved upon.

Ideas for the next Congress.

Methodology:

This report will combine the outcomes of the Evaluation Questionnaire and the one-hour informal Evaluation Session which was held on Saturday, August 6th, 2005 during the congress. The Evaluation Questionnaire was designed to gather feedback on all aspects of the congress, from preliminary processes to final outcomes and to convey the way that participants felt about each part of the process. The questionnaire was divided into eight sections, each containing a series of questions related to each heading. The Questionnaires were distributed to all clan leaders, who in turn distributed them to the participants in their group on the penultimate and final days of the congress. The Questionnaires were anonymous, thus giving the participants a chance to express themselves freely and without reservations. The Evaluation Questionnaire is composed of a combination of quantitative and qualitative questions, with room to provide feedback through further comments and recommendations.

The data was compiled using Microsoft Access. All findings are based on compilations using that program. A copy of the Evaluation Questionnaire can be found in Appendix A; we suggest consulting it in order to better understand the evaluation process.

The informal, one-hour Evaluation Session during the congress was conducted by Maria Sterniczuk (Canada), Céécile Bordier (France), Tom Burke (United Kingdom) and Antonin Kieffer (France) and was subdivided into three informal sessions in which the participants were invited to provide feedback on their thoughts about the congress. Their thoughts were noted down on flip-chart paper and a summary of these thoughts appears at the end of this report.

It is our belief that this provides a comprehensive analysis of the way in which participants experienced the congress and, subject to the views of the hosts, may provide a helpful framework for the next World Youth Congress, to be held in Quebec City, Canada in 2008.

Key References for this Report:

This report is divided into sections based on the format of the Evaluation Questionnaire. This report follows the same divisions as appear in the Evaluation Questionnaire (Appendix A). Each section offers:

• a short introduction about the aims and goals of the questions;
• statistics on the responses received;
• constructive criticism;
• a summary to tie it all together.

Every single participant (Activist, Delegate, Cultural Performer, Young Journalist) were given a copy of the Evaluation Questionnaire. Two-hundred and seventeen (217) questionnaires came back. (There were 536 participants in total at the World Youth Congress.)

In order to give the reader a comprehensive and clear picture of what the participants thought about each element of the congress, all of the data from the Questionnaire data have been provided within each section. In each table, the highest percentage is shown in bold print. Numbers related to each are also provided.

Please note that the reason that the percentages (%) provided in the tables do not add up to 100% is because some participants did not answer all of the questions. In order to make things more clear, we have also provided the numbers of participants who chose each answer.

All quantitative questions on the Evaluation Questionnaire were graded on a scale of 1 to 4;

1= strongly disagree,

4=strongly agree.

The tables present the percentage of delegates who chose each one of the numbers as well as the amount of delegates who chose each one of the numbers as a response to the questions.

The list of comments and recommendations under each section are taken from the written components of the Evaluation Questionnaire. Due to the large number of questionnaires, this is a summary of some of the most common comments and recommendations. A summary of the recommendations from the one-hour Evaluation Session are summarized at the end of the report.

Evaluation Questionnaire Participant Feedback

About You

The aim of this section was to gather a profile of the participants who were answering the questionnaire. Unfortunately, the returned questionnaires did not provide a balance of participants from each continent. As noted below, the majority (52%) (113 in total) of the respondents were from Europe, however, this also has to do with the fact that there were a greater proportion of participants from this region than from the other continents (note: this is not the amount of participants from Europe in total at the Congress, but only those who responded to the questionnaire). The same holds true for the type of participants in the data; 85% (184) of the respondents were classified as Delegates. However, it must also be remembered that about 9% (19) of the data comes from the views of Young Journalists and Cultural Performers. They were given the same questionnaire as everyone else, though some of the questions are not particularly relevant to their role in or experience of the congress. It is safe to say that the majority of the figures which appear in this report are based on the views of those who participated as Activists/Delegates (the line between the two, as expected, became quite blurred during the congress).

The following table provides a summary of the numbers:

Before the Congress

This section aims to evaluate what the delegates thought of the organization, efficiency and effectiveness of pre-congress activities and processes; it analyses what the delegates thought of the application process, the communication that they had with the Peacechild/Scottish Executive planning team, the World Youth Congress website and its elements.

How did you find out about the congress?

Please note that tables in this document which show two numbers have the following meaning - the top number in each row is the percentage (%) and the bottom number is the amount (#) of participants who chose the answer.

Application and Selection Process

Communication with the Organisers

Website ( www.scotland2005.org)

Comments or Recommendations about the Preparation Process and the Website:

(these come from the Evaluation Questionnaire and are not direct quotes, but rather a summary of some of the most common comments grouped into themed sections)

Programme:

• Create a more comprehensive programme to display on the website so that delegates have a better idea of what will be happening (guest speakers, workshops, etc.)
• Choose the Policy Document drafting group before the congress and allow them to meet to start drafting ideas
• Ensure more and better information is transmitted to the delegates
• Ensure better information and communication with cultural performers
• Ensure more detailed information about what to bring
• More information on outcome documents
• More information for young journalists on their role and what is expected of them

Acceptance:

• There were many problems encountered with a lack of communication; often participants emailed the Peacechild/Scottish Executive planning team to ask for confirmation on their status and received no answer.
• Select delegates one-year before the congress to ensure useful preparation process and effectiveness
• Ensure that invitations arrive earlier to give delegates more time to apply for visas

Website:

• Create better discussion forums on the website
• Make Action Project sign up information clearer
• The discussion forums on the website were not being used at all
• Message boards on the website were hard to navigate around
• Ensure a design of a more user friendly website
• Ensure that the website is always transmitting up to date news
• Ensure better translation of the website
• Put up more information on participants before the congress
• Include more pictures

SUMMARY

The majority of participants were satisfied with the way in which the preparatory process went. Some of the Evaluation Questionnaires commented on problems communicating with the organizing team. Essentially questions were not being answered in a timely manner, creating some confusion.

Many of the participants felt that much more information could have been provided on the program (guest speakers, action projects, workshops, etc.) in order to have a better idea of what the congress would be like. The idea that more information should have been present about the participants also came up. Many people felt that there was not enough connection being made between the participants before the congress began, and that there should have been more provision made for the exchange of ideas and information between delegates before the congress.

The data shows that most participants had easy access to the internet, and were generally satisfied with the website, but this may be skewed by the fact that most respondents were from Europe (113 of the respondents, or 52%). .

Organisation of the Congress

This section summarises what the delegates thought of the logistical aspects of the congress and the way in which the congress was organised. This section also evaluated what the participants thought of the staff and the clan structure - a major element of the way in which the congress was organized.

General Organisation

How would you rank the organization in general?

Comments or Recommendations about the organisation:

(these come from the Evaluation Questionnaire and are not direct quotes, but rather a summary of some of the most common comments grouped into themed sections)

Site:

• The site was far too large; it took a lot of time to get from place to place and it was very hard to find people
• Rooms were isolated and thus making it hard to interact with others

Food:

• Ensure more cultural variety in the food served as well as vegan options

Sustainability:

• Ensure better recycling facilities
• Congress must strive to be far more sustainable
• Unsustainable and hypocritical. A disgrace!

Organisation:

• Sometimes it was too organized; congresses such as this must ensure some flexibility
• Very Impressive given the large number of delegates attending
• Organisation was brilliant and at the highest level
• Workshops sign-up system was very confusing

Congress Staff

Comments or Recommendations about the Staff Team:

(these come from the Evaluation Questionnaire and are not direct quotes, but rather a summary of some of the most common comments grouped into themed sections)

Comments:

• Amazing staff
• Brilliant Clan Leaders
• Clan structure was amazing; it was the best thing about the congress
• Friendly, helpful and caring staff
• Get volunteers with better social skills
• Very hospitable staff
• Wonderfully and well trained staff

Recommendations:

• Retain clan structure in future congresses.
• Allow more opportunity to interact with other delegates not part of the clan
• Ensure a better diversity in the clans
• Ensure that all clans receive information at the same time; sometimes there was different information circling around
• Select clan leaders that speak more than one language
• Structure clans based on people's interest, so that better networking can take place

SUMMARY

The participants seemed to be very satisfied with the general organisation of the congress. People were generally impressed with the fluidity and smoothness with which everything ran considering the incredible amount of people that the events had to accommodate.

In other positive thoughts, the overwhelming consensus was that there was a deep satisfaction with the staff. Participants felt that the staff, particularly the clan leaders, was the highlight of the congress. It is evident that the clan structure worked very well for everyone and should be repeated during subsequent congresses. The staff were well trained and thus added to the comfortable and unobtrusive atmosphere of the congress. All participants felt safe and that there was a great support network available for them.

A good percentage of participants (over 60% as seen from the table above), felt that not enough effort was made to ensure that the congress was environmentally sustainable. They thought there was a large waste of food, which was very hard for some people to accept due to the nature of availability in their own countries. Moreover, these same people felt that a lot of money was put into things that they thought were unnecessary for the success of the congress. Delegates were given free gifts, formal dinners, and large buses to drive them around to the various action projects sites. A lot of money was spent by the Congress Organising Committee to ensure the professional appearance of the congress, but not enough attention was paid to whether this was sustainable. Thus, participants thought that if possible this money would have been better spent on action or scholarships. As a recommendation, participants felt that in future congresses there should be a specific committee to prioritise sustainability issues.

Program of the Congress

This section aims to evaluate the individual elements of the congress. That is, what participants thought of various elements of the congresses program (Action Projects, Workshops, Plenary Sessions, and Evening Entertainment).

For clarity, the evaluation of these elements was split into two different sections: firstly, we wanted to get a sense of how well the participants thought that the elements were organized, secondly, we wanted to get a sense of how they felt that they benefited from them. In addition, extra attention was paid in this section to the participants' experiences with the Action Projects, as this was a major component of the congress program.

In the following tables, the participants were asked to rate each of the elements of the congress based on both organisation and benefit. *1=Unsatisfactory; 4= Very Satisfactory

Program of the Congress - About its organisation

Program of the Congress - How much you have benefited

Comments or Recommendations about the activities of the congress:

*(these come from the Evaluation Questionnaire and are not direct quotes, but rather a summary of some of the most common comments grouped into themed sections)

Content:

• Create better and more structured regional meetings throughout the event
• Try to create discussion sessions with guest speakers and participants and not lectures. There were too many speeches which didn't lead to anything
• Discussion sessions in the Tennis Centre were very poorly organized
• More youth-experts should have been present
• Speeches were motivational but lacked content
• The entire program was a bit overloaded - there was not enough time to process everything
• Ensure regional meetings happen at the beginning of the congress

Closing ceremony:

• The Closing Ceremony and Closing Plenary were unsustainable and not a very good finish to the congress.
• Closing event at the Scottish Parliament was a waste of time
• The Closing Plenary at the Scottish Parliament was an anti-climax
• Try to include everyone in the Closing Plenary
• Opening and Closing plenary was too long

Sharing experiences:

• A lot more time and space should have been given for delegates to share their experiences with one another. Allow more time and space for youth-led workshops.

Participation:

• Find ways in which cultural performers can also be involved in an action project
• Make the Exhibition area in a more centrally located location and the workshops more relevant

Miscellaneous:

• The cultural performances were great
• It was disappointing not to have had the chance of visiting more of Scotland, after having traveled so far.
• I did not feel that I learned much from the skills workshops
• There should have been more variety in the evening program
• I would have liked to see more sports activities organized
• Find ways in which cultural performers can also be involved in an action project
• Create better and more structured regional meetings throughout the event
• The Closing Ceremony and Closing Plenary were unsustainable and not a very good finish to the congress.

Action Projects

Comments or Recommendations about the Action Project:

*(these come from the Evaluation Questionnaire and are not direct quotes, but rather a summary of some of the most common comments grouped into themed sections)

The statements below are both positive and negative. That is, that while participants found the Action Projects to be a unique and vital initiative, there was also a sense that these projects did not allow them to harness their skills and truly benefit from the knowledge of one another. While there may seem to be a series of opposing views in the statements below, they are there in order to show the variety of opinions which existed among the participants in reference to the Action Projects.

General statements:

• Action projects were a great idea- the best part of the congress
• Action Projects provided me with an amazing experience
• It was the best experience of my year - thank you
• I felt that the Action Project was related to the things that I do at home - I felt it was a great experience

Involvement of the participants:

• Many of the Action Projects were not about Active involvement
• Action Projects should be geared at creating a better global perspective
• I was a bit bored in my action project - I spent three days doing internet research
• I felt that the Action Project was a sightseeing tour
• Create fewer, but more involving action projects
• It was nice to see some parts of Scotland, but there was very little action

Learning experience:

• All Action Projects should relate to the congress theme that we are discussing
• I felt that I enhanced my skills with the Action Project
• I felt that the Action Projects were not adequate to my skills
• There was little relevance to the Millennium Development Goals
• I felt that the Action Project was simply a way to experience the outdoors, and I was very disappointed

SUMMARY

The evaluation of this section showed that participants were generally or very satisfied with the individual elements of the congress. The tables above give a quantitative indication of the way that participants felt about the various elements of the congress. It is useful, however, to also analyze some of the negative elements: There was a general dissatisfaction with the Closing Plenary at the Scottish Parliament. The tables above show that 66% of the responding participants gave this section of the congress between a 1 and a 3 (in terms of level of satisfaction; this is further seen in the additional comments above). Certain other problems which came up, as seen from the additional comments which came up were that the opening and closing plenary sessions were too long. Another area where participants felt that there could have been improvement was in amount of interaction between 'experts', so as to generate interesting and engaging discussion around the issues of Youth Led Development and the Millennium Development Goals.

Most of the participants were satisfied with the way that their Action Project went. It was evident from the Evaluations that the majority of respondents thought that they were well organized and gave them skills and information that they could take back with them to their home country and use for further youth-led action. There was however, some concern over the type of projects that were being done. Because this congress brought together a diverse, dynamic and very intelligent group of young people, they felt that they had many skills and experiences to offer which were not necessarily effectively utilised in the Action Projects. Though the majority of respondents (53%), felt that the Action Projects were engaging and active, we must also note that the rest of the respondents felt that perhaps these projects did not allow them to learn as much as they would have liked. Furthermore, some of the respondents noted in the additional comments that they did not always feel that the Action projects were directly related to the theme of the congress - Young People and the Millennium Development Goals.

Content of the Congress

This section aims to evaluate the impact that the congress had on its participants, both during the event and the impact that they all feel that it may have on them post-event. This section of the Evaluation Questionnaire tackled the participants thoughts on the educational aspect of the congress- were the themes relevant, did the participants come away with increased awareness and practical skills? It also focuses on the outcome documents of the congress, the implementation of these and whether the delegates felt that they had a significant role to play in the drafting of the Policy Document and the Action Toolkit. This section is very important in the evaluation of the congress, as it gives us a better sense of whether the congress accomplished something beyond the 10 day session.

What other workshops or themes would you have liked to see organised that were not part of the congress?

• Globalisation
• Agriculture
• Career planning in international development
• Environmental issues - climate change, endangered plant and animals, sustainability, permaculture, new energy sources
• Conflict resolution (something very hands on)
• Fair trade and trade rules
• More hands on and practical workshops
• Leadership
• Community Involvement and Local Knowledge involvement in the development context

Outcomes of the Congress

SUMMARY

Though the majority (over 55-80%) of participants was satisfied with the workshops, they felt that their focus was not practical enough. Certain comments came up which showed the participants felt that they did not learn enough practical skills and knowledge and that the topics and structure should have been more hands-on.

In terms of the outcome document, while a good percentage of people ranked each element on a '3' or '4' on the scale, 43% of the respondents did not feel that they gave input into the outcome documents and about 51% were sceptical about whether the Action Toolkit will be a useful guide for young people from around the world. Additional comments made by the respondents showed that the participants felt that Policy is something which is so hard to change and influence, that a small document written in such a short period of time by only a small group of people can have very little, if any influence over the international community. Thus, it should be noted that perhaps this type of outcome document is not necessarily the best way by which to make a youth-led statement and should be seriously re-considered as an effective tool for further post-congress promotion.

Sharing Experiences and Networking

This section had the aim of evaluating whether the participants felt that the congress provided them with adequate and meaningful opportunities to share experiences with one another and network. The aim of this section was also to evaluate whether the participants felt that the congress provided a good diversity of cultures and experiences amongst the participants.

Comments and Recommendations related to networking:

(these come from the Evaluation Questionnaire and are not direct quotes, but rather a summary of some of the most common comments)

• There was a lot of under representation from certain regions of the world
• Despite the best effort to include everyone, the participants were the 'elite' of their country; much more effort should be made to include those in disadvantaged areas
• It would have been nice to received a contact list (emails) of all of the delegates to ensure pre-congress and post-congress networking
• There should have been more forums to share experiences instead of just listening
• More regional meetings should have been organized
• More work in clans or in small groups would have offered better networking opportunities
• A more rigorous screening process and selection process should have taken place to ensure that delegates were there for the right reasons and not just as holiday goers

SUMMARY

The majority (over 60%) of respondents found the congress provided them with a great experience to meet other people with a diversity of backgrounds and culture. In fact, it is safe to say that this is the aspect of the congress which delegates evaluated most positively. Due to the good feeling that all participants had from what they were able to learn from other delegates, recommendations were made to include delegate contact information at some point in the congress to ensure that networking effectively happens post congress and not just during the 10 day event. Moreover, in order to facilitate networking opportunities, many additional comments conveyed that it would have been beneficial to have Regional Meetings at the beginning, middle and end of the congress.

Empowerment of the Delegates

This was also a very important part of the Evaluation Questionnaire as it allowed us to assess the impact that the Congress had on the feelings of the participants. We wanted to know whether this congress was a good tool for self-development and internal change. We asked delegates how this congress affected their knowledge, commitment to social activism, change and their self esteem, among other things, as well as the sense of community and commitment that they developed to the causes of young people and the issues that they face.

There were no further comments or recommendations provided in this section.

SUMMARY

As seen from the tables above, participants were distinctively happy with this element. It seems that despite their reservations about the outcome documents and the lack of substance in the content, people left the congress with a new sense of awareness, knowledge about global issues and commitment to want to act for change. This congress provided an excellent opportunity for networking and developed the knowledge of all of the participants - giving them a new sense of awareness on global and youth issues.

Scotland

Part of the value of holding a Congress in a particular place is the opportunity to promote that region of the world as an exciting place to visit, study and to work in. The last part of this Evaluation aimed at understanding a little bit better the impact that Scotland, as a country made on the participants - whether they enjoyed spending time here, whether they would like to return, and whether they would be excited about promoting Scotland to their family and friends back home.

There were no further comments or recommendations provided in this section.

SUMMARY

Overwhelmingly, the majority (well over 50%) felt that they were likely to visit Scotland again in the future and recommend Scotland as a place to visit to their family and friends. This is a good sign, considering that most delegates did not really get a chance to see much of the country.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This final section allowed delegates to share with us any of their other thoughts about the impact that the congress had on their lives, and any comments and recommendations that they had related to the future congresses. We wanted to assess what the delegates thought was special about an event such as the World Youth Congress, thus further assessing its impact. The following are some bullet points based on the answers which appeared on the Evaluation Questionnaire:

(these come from the Evaluation Questionnaire and are not direct quotes, but rather a summary of some of the most common comments)

Do you plan on doing anything differently as a result of attending this congress?

• Becoming more active in my community and university
• Becoming more active in my organization
• Working on a campaign to promote MDGs in Europe
• I want to commit myself to changing my lifestyle and that of my family
• Combat apathy in my area
• Being committed to my personal action plan
• Create a youth group specialized in resolving conflict and peace building
• Create my own NGO
• Do my action project with the grant that I received
• Encourage people to recycle
• Engage in volunteer work
• Work on environmental issues
• Find out which local groups exist supporting the MDGs, start a lobbying group and further develop my action toolkit and spread the outcomes of the congress
• I am going to conduct a workshop in Schools on MDGS
• I am going to start a project between Spain and Ecuador
• I plan on setting up a network of societies in Scotland working towards education on MDG issues
• I want to be part of an international youth project in my country
• I want to get more involved in Action Projects in Scotland
• I want to spread MDG awareness in my country
• Change my lifestyle to make it more sustainable and support projects in developing countries
• I will go to the ministry of education with the Policy Document
• I will try and influence my classmates
• Implement my personal action plan
• Inform my newspaper employers about the congress and write a story about it
• I intend to organize an MDG workshop
• Create a campaign for fair trade in my town
• Make more necessary personal changes
• Create a charity shop to help rural schools
• Become more involved in social/political issues
• I plan on organizing an education project
• Set up a community youth-group
• Start some youth clubs to empower youth locally
• Take the policy document to my government and find out their strategies on the MDGs
• Increase cooperation between NGOs
• Run a youth-led development project in my country that will contribute to the MDGs
• I want to create a global program to raise awareness on developing nations
• Work on skills training programs for young women

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us about your experiences at the 3rd World Youth Congress?

• The action projects were a waste of money. The congress should be much shorter and take place in a developing country
• It was an amazing opportunity to meet a lot of inspirational young people. I had a feeling that I made a positive contribution and it prepared me to make a difference in my community
• The congress must be much more sustainable. There was too much money spent on it.
• Ensure a better Policy Document writing process
• Ensure that better team building and interaction occurs early on
• Ensure a better fusion between the Cultural Performers and all of the Delegates
• It was an excellent opportunity for networking, but the content was too naïve and superficial
• This congress has inspired me to continue to work in the field of youth
• Less speeches, more Action!
• Perhaps make a policy document drafting clan
• Ensure a better representation from Africa
• Make available more information on what other delegates are doing in their home country
• More sessions need to be created where delegates get the chance to talk about their own experiences
• There was not enough experience with local people and local cultures
• The process which led to the outcome documents was rather political
• The performance for the opening ceremony was not appropriate
• Put all of the information on workshops up on the web, so that if we did not get the chance to attend, we can still find out what went on
• I really liked the congress, but wished I had more free time to do some sightseeing
• The Scottish Executive did not seem committed to youth-led development
• The most exciting experience of my life!

What do you think makes the World Youth Congress special?

• The fact that it gathers over 500 young people from diverse areas of the world
• The action projects!
• The atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation
• The amazing cultural performances
• Diversity!
• The feelings and power of all of the delegates
• The huge amount of energy concentrated in one place
• The opportunity to meet like-minded people
• The idea of 'Be the Change'
• The people, their talent and commitment

Do you have any suggestions about the content or themes for the 4th World Youth Congress, to be held in Canada in 2008?

• A better compliance of the Policy Document with MDGs
• More diversity in cultural performances
• Conflict reconciliation/resolution workshops
• Continue to focus on the MDGs
• Create more action projects that actually touch people in impoverished communities
• Each delegate should be given more opportunities of expressing their ideas
• Ensure that the congress is more eco-friendly
• Create more focus on gender issues
• Include a review of the action projects which were funded during the congress
• Focus on indigenous issues
• Change the Policy Document writing process
• Make the congress more focused on practical issues and skills
• Ensure more experienced facilitators
• Ensure that there is more information on the opportunities that young people can take advantage of
• More practical skills workshops
• More working time for the outcome documents
• Include a wider age range of participants (older participants with more experiences)
• Ensure that the work and focus is directly related to the MDGs

COMMENTS FROM THE EVALUATION SESSION

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2005

The following are comments gathered during the group Evaluation Session held on the penultimate day of the congress. There were roughly 30-35 people in attendance and they were split into three groups led by Maria Sterniczuk, Cecile Bordier, Tom Burke and Antonin Kieffer. Comments were taken from open discussions, noted on flip chart paper and then transferred into this document.

Positive:

• Great support staff
• Learned a lot about the personal experience of others
• Toolkit was a good idea
• Learned a lot about MDGs and sustainability issues
• Other experiences of delegates are inspiring and make you go forward (when you compare yourself to others, you see how little you are doing and how much needs to be done)
• Young guest speakers are inspiring
• TakingITGlobal was an excellent resource
• Workshops were very good, but make them more specific to certain areas
• Enjoyed the delegate led workshops
• Enjoyed the cultural fusion
• The congress allowed me to feel part of something
• Congress allowed everyone to see what young people are doing up until now
• Great opportunities for networking
• Congress allowed us to focus our minds on future actions
• Congress allowed me to make links to various NGOs and access various funds
• Congress had an amazing atmosphere of integration
• Clan structure was inspiring and allowed people to create contacts that they will have for the future

Negative:

• Various visa issues during the organization process
• There was nothing at the congress about health and this is a very important subject
• Motivation may not transcend past the congress for long
• Though the display area was good, there should have been more opportunity to speak with these people
• VIP sessions not well advertised
• All of the free stuff given to delegates was unnecessary - this money could have been used for other things
• Workshop sign up was a mess and chaotic
• Policy document drafting process was extremely ineffective
• Structure of action projects not as effective as it could be (relevance to themes to be improved and a better link between the action projects and the MDG theme of the congress
• Action projects did not necessarily teach me how to run an action project
• Some regional meetings were not as effective because it is hard for all countries in that region to discuss issues which are relevant to each one (ex: Asia)
• Discussion sessions lost their point
• Campus was too big, therefore a lot of time was spent just by walking from place to place
• Theme of sustainable lifestyles was not present in the congress at all

Recommendations

• Arrange meetings with people working in the same field
• Set sustainability example by using fair trade products and talking about young people's role in environmental processes
• Create a list of the hierarchy of youth involvement prior to the congress
• Appoint an environmental sustainability team for the next congress
• Have more focused themes
• Have some sort of system where the delegates themselves can have a say as to what action projects are going to happen during the congress
• The congress has to be more ambitious and go into issues on a deeper level
• Give delegates more notice about action project funding so that they can better prepare themselves
• Perhaps have workshops or sessions focused on non-violence processes
• Focus on the source of the current problems and not just the solutions
• Residential actions projects worked best
• Have more educational information present before the congress as there seemed to be a gap in knowledge levels between the delegates
• Shorter and more concise plenary sessions
• Have more VIP Young People from different countries (Bloomer sisters were good but not so relevant to the least developed countries
• Create a space on the website for the delegates to suggest speakers
• Have more discussion groups in the evening rather than just entertainment
• Create more opportunities for delegates to schedule their own meetings
• Spread the workshops out over the week and allow more time for them
• Delegate information package needs to be sent out sooner
• Send out confirmation of acceptance earlier to allow people to have more time to get flights and find money, etc;
• Allow the discussion boards on the website to be accessed earlier
• Create a rough draft of the policy document before the congress
• More communication between food staff, campus staff and organizers so as ensure a very environmentally friendly congress
• Create an "eco-footprint at the beginning of the congress so that each delegate realises how they are affecting the environment
• Use more local transport (trains, less planes)
• Create more workshops which could have been linked to the outcome documents
• Ensure a good range of speakers who cover the entire range of MDGs
• Allow for a few questions after the speeches
• Ensure a greater diversity of backgrounds among the delegates (ex: athletes, engineers, scientists, artists)
• Ensure accountability when delegates get home; organize regional and national coordination to ensure that development of the action plans
• Ensure effective facilitators
• Have more energizers in the morning
• Ensure transparency and clarity of outcome document drafting process and what they are all about
• Basic sustainability education for everyone before they arrive
• Ensure presence of people from major inter-governmental organizations to get their feedback
• Perhaps create more specific language meetings
• Make the website a better place for networking
• Invest more money on scholarships
• Create a forum for congress feedbacks
• Create strict contract with the organising committee and PCI to ensure sustainability

FINAL SUMMARY AND FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS

Overall, it can be confidently said that this congress was received and perceived very well by the participants.

Their questionnaire responses make clear that as they left the Congress they had experienced an amazing ten days and enriched their lives in countless ways. It would be interesting to review that body of opinion after an interval of a few months to gauge longer-term benefits. That said, a few key points deserve to be mentioned once again in summing up this evaluation and looking ahead to future Congresses.

In gathering data about the way in which participants came to know about the congress, we note that only 0.46% of the respondents heard about the congress through local press. This may potentially be an indication that improved international media outreach could reach a wider, possibly more diverse, audience.

Delegates clearly value effective two-way communication. In the future, website design and content could be more aligned with delegate needs and feedback. That would help improve every aspect of communication between the participants and the organizers.

The participants were very impressed with the staff team and the way in which everyone worked together to organize, nearly flawlessly an event with some very complicated logistics. Everything ran very smoothly and seemed extremely professional. In particular, many of the respondents felt that the clan structure was one of the best elements of the congress as the staff was supportive and energetic and it allowed participants to get to know others very well.

While the event was spectacular and professional, sustainability was a major issue for delegates. Participants felt that more effort could and should have been made to minimise and manage waste. Establishing a sustainability committee for future Congresses should be priority.

The World Youth Congress 2005 left the participants with a sense of empowerment and a renewed and refreshed commitment to youth issues and community development. The opportunities for networking were unique, but in future participants would like to have more Regional Meetings scheduled throughout the Congress in order to enhance liaison with other young people from their region.

While the content of the Congress was relevant, even empowering, participants felt that it could have been richer and supported the development of more potent and representative outcome documents. Furthermore, delegates did not greatly value plenary sessions involving a series of motivational speeches. Future congresses should aim for a well thought-out and organized set of themes, to which discussion and plenary sessions should be directly related.

All in all, the key finding from this evaluation is that participants were very excited about and by the 3rd WYC. They were influenced in countless positive ways to "Be the Change".

APPENDIX A - Evaluation Questionnaire

Thank you!