Unit 4.1 Planning and Management of youth work

Unit Introduction

This unit will offer you the content which outlines the importance of planning in daily youth work

Unit Objectives:

To support participants to identify and follow required planning resource for effective youth work
To help participants establish how to measure results and milestones for planning

Unit Content:

The learning activities in this module is aimed at youth workers to provide information on how to plan youth work practices.

Learning Activities:

2 Content sessions with suggested videos
1 Checklist
2 Exercises

Planning and Management for youth work practice

Youth work is implemented in a wide range of settings, using a range of diverse activities involving young people in:

Informal and structured educational programmes that aim to enhance their personal development
Develop meaningful relationships within which young people can enjoy themselves, feel secure, supported and valued
Discussing issues relating to health, relationships, behaviour, and responsibilities
Becoming sensitive to components in their community environments, culture and heritage
Finding challenge, recognition and achievement through activities that can develop their resilience skills
Checking information and advice through the availability of published material, guidance, counselling and group discussion
Developing expressive skills through participation in dance, sport, music, visual arts, drama and role-play
Travelling, experiencing abroad opportunities and international exchanges

In order to implement these activities effectively, it requires to adopt some approaches for effective management settings.

We recommend you watch the video to understand effective and smart youth work and the ways to succeed that.
Video in English (5min)

As a first step of effective management process, creating a planning process would be helpful for youth workers in order to their activities in effective process.

Hence, youth workers need to plan their work with young people in order to:

Accurately arrange the time and effort required to complete a youth project or programme
Identify and check required resources for effective planning
Organise personal time to carry out responsibilities as youth worker
Maintain adequate preparation time for activities
Develop schedules and timetables with clear, specific milestones and deadlines
Establish how to measure results and milestones

There is good link between a successful management process and the planning process of the work carried out. Planning is a process for getting ideas into action and gives you systematic approach that by which you can:

Check that what you want to do is worth doing for your daily work
Find out which things are applicable
Arrange activities properly
Use resources efficiently
Experience success and failure and learn from both of them

Planning models are designed to show clear evidence of all the considerations that you take when you plan a piece of youth work. During placements, they are essential in order to meet certain criteria. Also, as more and more authorities look to promote careful planning of work with young people, it is good to have sound knowledge and experience of using planning models. The NAOMIE model is one of these models [1] that youth workers also can apply to.

The framework requires evidence of you identifying the:

Needs
Aims
Outcomes
Methods
Implementation
Evaluation

[1] https://youthworkcentral.tripod.com/naomie.htm

Framework for the NAOMIE Model

Establishing needs

The first stage is to establish the NEEDS to be addressed. What is the NEED of young people? Of the group? Of the Youth Workers? Why?

Relating Needs to Aims

Work takes place within a general set of AIMS. An aim is a general goal in response to the identified issues. If the issue is around, for example, poor housing or lack of facilities, or vandalism or unemployment, then the aim is to turn around or eradicate the conditions that have caused these problems.

Determining and Setting Objectives

Setting detailed OBJECTIVES is about breaking the broad intentions of strategy into concrete steps. Doing so appears to be self-evidently useful but some caution must be exercised.

This involves providing answers to the following questions:

Why must something be done?
What is to be done and achieved?
Where is it to be done?
Who is involved and in what way?
When is it to be done and over what period? o How is it to be done?

Below, there is the table explaining on ‘’Planning an Activity or Project’’.

	Actions
Needs	Determine the need for the activity Why you want to implement this activity?
Aims	Once you have established the need for an activity you can decide what the general aim of that activity will be. An aim is a long-term statement of intent.
Objectives	Whilst your aim illustrates what you, as the youth worker, intend the activity to be, objectives describe what the young people will be able to do, or know, or value if the learning takes place, i.e., objectives define a desired change of behaviour.
Method	You need to decide which methods you are going to use in order to achieve your objectives. For example, are you going to show the young people a video or are you going to demonstrate the activity yourself, or are the young people going to learn by having a go themselves?
Implementation	Once you have chosen the methods you are going to use then you need to decide how you will deliver the activity. This implementation plan will include resources.
Evaluation	The Evaluation of the planned activity is as important as the activity itself. Critical analysis allows the activity to be improved in the future and also highlights reasons why an activity did not go as well as planned.

Table 1: Planning an Activity or Project

Exercise 1

Titel	Planning an Activity or Project M4 U4.1 Ex1
Objective	To enable the participants to create an activity or project following the planning table
Module, Unit	Module 4, Unit 4.1
Description/ Instruction	Check out the table 1. Planning an Activity or Project, and then create an activity or project through these questions, What’s the need? What do I aim to do about this? What specific objectives can I set? What is the best method to achieve the desired results? How do I implement the plan? How do I evaluate the plan? After you have created your plan or project, ask the questions in good planning checklist below. Good Planning Checklist Have I Identified and prioritized the important activities and milestones for my plan or project? Have I assessed risk and thought about alternatives and contingency plans if circumstances change? Have I defined, clarified and assigned roles and responsibilities? Have we agreed a budget and costed all activities, and will we achieve results within the budget? Have I also planned how we are going to monitor and evaluate? Checking the template above (10 minutes), create a daily activity (25 minutes), answer checklist questions in the Forum (10 minutes)
Time needed	45 Minutes

Selecting Methods

Selecting methods is essential stage in order to provide the best youth work process or delivery method to enable you to achieve what you need to with young people. Street theatre, community arts, outdoor pursuits, cultural action, research, social action and detached youth work, are all examples of methods that you can apply to.

Working with different groups may be a feature common to all of them but when there is a commitment to a particular approach, this can be considered as a method. Choice of method is dependent on aim of youth work practices and the next stage ensure to select the method.

For implementation two ways can be highlighted, firstly the act of carrying out the plan. It is the action phase when intentions and commitments are carried out in concrete actions to influence the identified situation or address the specified issues. When working with two or more peers it is important to assign responsibility for particular actions to individuals. This way everyone provides a clear way about who has undertaken to do what and by when. Care has to be taken to ensure that the workload is spread sensibly and equally.

This may mean going back to the objectives phase to think again about what is achievable. It may also mean that resources have to be obtained and this requirement can be set up the strategic or the detailed objectives. Another useful acronym to assist in this process of implementation is the notion of being SMART. It means ensuring that objectives are:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Resourced
Timed

We recommend you watch the video on S.M.A.R.T goal (3min)

Exercise 2

Titel	Using S.M.A.R.T goal method M4 U4.1 Ex2
Objective	To enable the participants to apply S.M.A.R.T goal method to their daily practice
Module, Unit	Module 4, Unit 4.1
Description/ Instruction	There is an example for using S. M. A. R. T. goal to check it four your turn Broad Goal: I want to start a business. Specific: I will sell handmade cake through business Instagram account. Measurable: I will open an Instagram account and be ready to take my first order within four weeks, and I will aim to sell a minimum of five cake per week. Attainable: I will set up a website for selling. Then, I will build an inventory of 10 handmade cake to sell. Finally, I will promote my business and build customer relationships through word of mouth, referrals, and local networking. Relevant: Selling handmade cake will allow me to benefit financially from my favorite hobby. Now, it is your turn, create a goal using S.M.A.R.T goal method for your youth work practice. You can benefit from the questions in the template below. Download template
Time needed	30 Minutes

Evaluating the work (Monitoring)

The final phase in this model includes evaluation that is the process by which results are checked against intentions. It literally means ascribing value to what has been done and achieved. At its simplest it involves answering apparently straightforward questions such as:

Did we achieve what we set out to be successful?
What parts have we succeeded in and where haven’t we been successful?
What did we do well and what did we do badly?

As part of a learning and development cycle – evaluation or reviewing is crucial to good youth work practice.

It should be done with young people throughout sessions and programmes as part of the monitoring process. By getting feedback the session or programme can be changed to make it more fun/appropriate/effective according to young people needs. Evaluation process doesn’t have to take too long or be substantial, it can be based on simply fun activities.

Evaluation should also take place at the end of a session or programme: A. With young people – it is an opportunity to seek their feedback. They have been on the receiving end and may have a lot of insightful things to contribute.

All these enable youth workers to get an effective youth work practice.

Activity recommendations to be held with the Participants on Planning and Management in the E-Learning Layout

1. Design Thinking Training

With this training, it is aimed to gain competence and awareness to reach a solution by practicing the stages of planning / designing.
In order for the participants to be active in the training and to strengthen learning, a problem may be determined, and the participants may be asked to create a solution map suitable for the planning processes. While creating this solution map, we can divide the participants into small groups, divide them into special rooms, and make them think aloud. We can ask small groups of participants to share their solutions with other participants and explain how they went to a solution.

2. Sustainable Development Goals Workshop (SDGs) Memory Game

In order for this workshop to be interactive, the main focus should be on creating awareness of the symbols related to the topic and the goals should be described together with their symbols. A memory game can be played at the end of the workshop; A small gift can be sent to the participant who can do symbols for all targets or the most symbol-target match. In this workshop, which will be held without saying that the memory game will be played, it can be tested through the awareness of the participants, how much the sustainable development goals are embraced by the society with which colours and symbols are expressed beyond their names.

3. SWOT Analysis Workshop

Youth workers, who are the target audience of the meetings planned to be held, should know themselves both institutionally and individually in order to create more impact and efficiency in the institutions and regions where they carry out their activities. Knowing strong, weak points of the activity or plan and opportunities and threats that they face with, will gain more efficiency in the work to be done for young people.
In the SWOT workshop, after a small introduction to the participants, they can be asked to make a swot analysis about their institution or themselves. In addition to institutional and individual analyses, they may be asked to analyse through a brand that is known to everyone in today’s world. While doing these analyses, participants can be divided into rooms with small groups or breakout rooms in online settings.