One World Week 2013

In 2013, the theme for OWW was ‘The World Young People Want’.

One World Week is a week of youth-led awareness raising, education and action that takes place throughout Ireland during the third week in November every year and links into the EU Global Education Week. During One World Week young people learn about local, national and global justice issues and take action to bring about changewww.oneworldweek.ie

Youth groups all over the country carry out activities from the education pack produced by NYCI. Some organise public events, quizzes and debates, invite guest speakers or have intercultural evenings. Many groups publicly display the work they have done in preparation for One World Week, or lead other people in doing a public action.

A resource pack was developed under six sub themes focusing on employment, environment, human rights, poverty, diversity and inequality, and community.

The issues explored in the six documents included child labour, child soldiers, conflict, poverty, violence, food, power, the Millennium Development Goals, post-2105 sustainable development agenda, genocide, aid, trade, consumption, mobile technology, migration, justice, gender, fair trade, land, water, coffee, education, climate change, HIV and AIDS, asylum seekers, young people, homelessness, NGOs, austerity, debt, chocolate, cocoa, hunger, governance, work, discrimination, etc

An animation was developed to encourage participation in OWW.

One World Week gave us the opportunity to:

  • Explore the links between our own lives and those of others we may not even know, so that we can work together for justice and peace
  • Celebrate the richness and diversity of belonging to one world
  • Recognise our responsibility to care for the earth and share its resources fairly
  • Challenge whatever keeps barriers intact or challenge what strengthens these barriers
  • Bring issues of justice, rights, and equality to the centre of our family, youth organisation, school, church, friends, work and community life.

Participants

Young people, youth workers, youth leaders, volunteers, teachers and 30 youth organisations and schools:

Young Christian Workers, Dublin; Meath Youth Federation, Meath; Manor St. John Youth Service, Waterford; Involve Youth Project, Meath; EIL Intercultural Learning, Cork; North Suburbs Community Youth Project, Waterford; Breffni Youth Café, Leitrim; Mary Immaculate College, Limerick; Beaufort College, Meath; Afro in Diaspora Centre, Cavan; Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service, Dublin; No Limits Youth Club, Leitrim; Aosog Child and Family Project, Dublin; Bornacoola Youth Club, Leitrim; The Shack Youth Café, Leitrim; Trim Family Resource Centre, Meath; North Connaught Youth Services, Leitrim; Native Woodland Trust, Dublin; Clane Youth Club, Kildare; Limerick Youth Service, Limerick; Celtic Youth Bray, Wicklow; Swan Youth Service, Dublin; Loft Youth Project, Donegal; Irish Wheelchair Association, Carlow; Gort Community School, Galway; Foroige Corduff Community Youth Project, Dublin; Ballyfermot Youth Service, Dublin; Clare Youth Service, Clare; SPA Road Youth Club (KDYS), Kerry; Rahoon Youth Project, Galway

Timeframe

  • One World Week – 16-24 November 2013
  • Events took place during this week
  • Training took place in the two months prior to One World Week

Materials

  • An animation was developed to encourage participation in OWW
  • An educational resource was developed to support the programme https://www.oneworldweek.ie/resources
  • A mini-grant was awarded to 30 organisations to undertake projects for OWW
  • Training was provided by two trainers to organisations on request throughout Ireland to youth organisations, youth workers, volunteers, students, and young people

Process

The theme of ‘The World Young People Want’ was decided by NYCI’s Development Education Advisory Group in July 2013. From here, ideas for an animation were explored with NYCI’s Communication Manager.

  • Topics and materials for supporting resource materials were researched from July through until they were drafted and published online in September.
  • The animation was finalised and shared online in early October on the new website www.oneworldweek.ie which was developed with NYCI’s webmaster.
  • Trainings were advertised as too were Mini Grants. Following the deadline, OWW grants were decided by a committee and notice went out to those who were both successful and unsuccessful.
  • Trainings took place throughout Ireland from September until November.
  • Central events were organised in Dublin and Athlone.
  • Window space was negotiated with Dublin City Council and many of the quotes from young people were showcased using these windows and a design company. Press releases were drafted.
  • The Minister was invited and accepted an invitation to attend the showcase event in Dublin.
  • OWW arrived and organisations, youth workers, young people, etc participated in events around Ireland. NYCI fed back on challenges and achievements to the Global Education Week Committee in Brussels directly after OWW.
  • Main actors were young people, youth workers, youth organisations, development education trainers, NYCI Development Education Advisory Groups, Irish Aid, Trócaire, Concern, Dublin
  • City Council, Gateway Project, Athlone, ECO-UNESCO, Alan & Maggie (Trainers), and NYCI staff. The Minister, Joe Costello, TD, attended the DE Showcase in Dublin.

Case Study

Dozens of activities are associated with One World Week in 2013, as highlighted in the process section. Evidence of activities organised and shared can be found under the Twitter hashtag #oww13.

Project Learning

  1. Providing direct support to organisations to undertake projects in advance of/during OWW is and has been a success. This is especially so given that funding opportunities have become increasingly limited and youth sector has been increasingly challenged in terms of personnel resources and time
  2. Hand held resources are the preferred choice for those involved in working with young people. NYCI provided educational resources online only
  3. As the NYCI DE programme had been closed for 6 months, it has taken time to rebuild relationships, and provide support to organisations given the new methodologies and work circumstances
  4. Varying challenges have been encountered and these are being addressed on an ongoing basis

Measuring Impact

  • 33 funded projects in 16 counties
  • Trainings in 11 counties
  • 593 participated in OWW trainings delivered by NYCI
  • 1,061 hits on YouTube Animation (October-December)
  • Media mentions in 41 newspapers throughout Ireland with a circulation number of 772,701
  • Attendees included youth and community work students; youth organisations; youth workers; volunteer youth leaders; teachers; community workers; young people (9-25 years); colleges of further education. These trainings were provided on request
  • Social media was coordinated on Facebook and Twitter with discussions and posts being organised under the hastag #oww13
  • Over 100 attended the Dublin Central Event
  • Approx 75 attended the Athlone Central Event

NYCI collects quantitative and qualitative data including training questionnaires, event feedback forms and media monitoring. A pre-training questionnaire to assess knowledge and skills to form a baseline of trainees’ knowledge and skills; A second questionnaire given to trainees directly after training to assess changes in knowledge and skills and looks at other benefits of the training; The third questionnaire is the long term follow up questionnaire that looks at whether trainees have applied any of their learning in their own roles. NYCI will also use the following outcome based tools: – Anecdote spreadsheets to capture qualitative feedback on our performance.

The monitoring of work undertaken by NYCI Development Education Programme also includes: day-to-day interaction in the implementation of projects –formal, minuted bi-monthly advisory group meetings involving youth, development education, and development organisations to discuss programme progress and/or difficulties being experienced; youth advisory meetings and activity involving young people from youth sector organisations; quarterly work programme reports to the NYCI Board of Directors; development of an action on a logic model for Development Education; and quarterly financial review reports involving the NYCI finance officer and the Director.

In 2011, NYCI Development Education Programme published monitoring and evaluation tools for use by the youth sector in supporting their development education work with young people which includes exemplar activities for doing M&E as part of planning DE youth sessions.

Links to Project Activities

  • One World Week is promoted as an annual focus for development education in the youth sector
  • The project is informed by representatives of youth organisations, development education organisations, development organisations, and young people through advisory structures
  • Youth workers, volunteer youth leaders and others engaged in non-formal education with young people have gained knowledge and skills to engage young people in learning and action for global justice
  • A diverse range of youth services, specialist organisations and community, voluntary and not for profit youth organisations in Ireland have explored local and global justice issues through participation in OWW
  • Mini-grants disbursed for local youth-led action projects in lead up to and during One World Week
  • Showcase events organised in collaboration with development education support structures, including One World Centres, showcased youth-led actions and engaged policy makers and wider public
  • The profile of One World Week within the youth sector and with the wider public is raised through online promotion and increased social, local and national media coverage
  • An educational resource for the youth sector is developed as a tool to support the delivery of quality development education training throughout Ireland
  • OWW Animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfxsWYaFUEg
  • World Young People Want short film directed by Laura Gaynor