Good Practice Examples/Global Practices/Camp Style Activitites

GoTeach Camp-style Activity Case Study

Deutsche Post DHL and SOS Children’s Villages GoTeach Partnership - 2016

General overview

Objective

This case study was designed with the aim of collecting best-case practices to run camp-style activities within the framework of the GoTeach program. The findings can be used as guidelines for organizing and realizing camp-style activities for young people from SOS Children’s Villages. Please be aware that these are only examples and suggestions, and that every country should devise and run their own project in a way that best suits their local situation. On the basis of the different approaches taken by the three different GoTeach countries below, volunteers interested in running an activity should also feel encouraged to exchange experiences and work collaboratively.

Methodology

The topic of this case study was discussed and decided upon during the 2016 Global GoTeach meeting that took place in Vienna, Austria. Here, the global team discussed the benefits of the camp-style activity format, as currently organized by countries in Asia Pacific, and considered whether it might be of interest to all regions. In light of this, we chose to interview the countries in question and take a deeper look into: Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The concept, agenda and style of delivery are different from country to country, but what the events do have in common is the fact that they are organized for a group of young people (usually around 30-40) over several consecutive days (2-3 days) during which participants go through a series of activities with a specific objective connected to GoTeach.

In order to collect information, we held interviews with each country individually, including input from both DHL and SOS CV representatives. We created one questionnaire based on our own input and that of the regional coordinators, and used it as the basis to run interviews of about 60 minutes with each country. The results are discussed in this report, focusing on each country individually and how they manage their own version of the camp-style activity.

Benefits

From what we could observe during the interviews, there are many benefits in organizing camp-style activities. Firstly, the greatest benefit is that the size of the event allows GoTeach to approach a new target group - young people from remote areas often do not have access to the same opportunities as young people from the villages around the big cities. Moreover, another benefit in organizing such an activity is that it can address a larger audience (30-40 young people per event) for a concentrated period of time. This significant time investment (around 2-3 full days) allows the young people involved to become more comfortable being around the volunteers, so that they can open up about their dreams, and work on their career options. The camp agendas are based on a series of activities that take the young participants on a logical, step-by-step journey with a clear objective. This structure highlights the needs of the young people first-hand and can be adapted as required. The young people are invited to give feedback at the end of each event and their input is incorporated into the planning of the following year's events.

Recommendations

On the basis of our interviews with the selected countries and further ideas for the development of future activities, the following is a list of some suggestions and recommendations for anyone considering organizing a camp-style activity*.

• Get senior management involved early on in order to clarify official time regulations (do people get time off; must activities take place outside working hours/ on the weekend?)
• Ensure good communication between SOS CV and DHL and involve the young people so that their needs can be met
• Consider checking the expectations and needs of the young people during the agenda creating process
• Check early on if there are enough employees willing to volunteer in an activity entailing a significant time commitment for preparation
• Transportation must be organized in good time (people and materials)
• Define clear selection criteria so that the activity really offers young people added value
• Consider offering the camp-style activity for young people who have been previously involved in other GoTeach activities
• Offer interested young people follow-on activities, as well as job shadowing or internships at DHL
• Involve SOS CV in follow-on activities to see if jobs can be arranged for young people afterwards
• Calculate how many volunteers you will need on site, considering the number of young people and the costs of transportation (Indonesia uses a ratio of around 4 young people to 1 volunteer)

*Please take the following points as suggestions. One of our guiding principles is local ownership, therefore the camp-style activity can be adapted according to your own needs.

Brief Country Overview

	Indonesia	Thailand	Vietnam
Length of activity	3 days	3 days (until 2016) 2 days (as of 2016)	3 days
Recurrence & location	Once a year SOS Children’s Villages, in one village	Four times a year SOS Children’s Villages, in 4 different villages	Three times a year SOS Children’s Villages, in 3 regions
Preparation time needed	3 months	3 to 6 months	3 months
Resources	8 DHL volunteers (on site) + more volunteers supporting SOS CV staff from the village 60% of annual funding for GoTeach Indonesia Session materials	20 DHL volunteers/village SOS CV staff from the village External partners Travel agency for transportation Finances from the regional GoTeach budget Session materials	30 DHL volunteers SOS CV staff from the villages Finances from the regional GoTeach budget Session materials
# of young people involved	>30 young people/year	40 young poeple/event = 160 young people this year	30 – 40 young people/event = 90 – 120 young people this year
# of volunteers involved	8 DHL volunteers on site + others supporting beforehand	80 DHL volunteers involved in all 4 camps	30 volunteers (but only a few attending the event)

GoTeach Indonesia - Dream Camp

Key facts

The camp carried out in Indonesia is called Dream Camp. It aims to make young people think about their future by showing them various different opportunities open to them in life. The whole event lasts for three days and two nights, out of which only one full day is at an actual camp. It usually takes place during Q3 of the year, as beforehand they have other activities that build up to it, such as a public speaking workshop. The event takes place in one of the SOS Children’s Villages in Indonesia as it is focused on remote areas of the country rather than on the big cities. The reason for this choice of location is that young people generally have fewer opportunities in these areas as DHL and other companies are not present. By coming into contact with young people, DHL hopes to transfer knowledge that might help them start their own businesses.

The camp welcomes more than 30 young people every year, along with the support of 8 volunteers during the actual camp. In the months running up to the event, more volunteers provide preparatory support, but due to the high costs of transportation, only 8 of them go to the actual camp. The age of the young people plays an important role in their selection for the activity, as does the opinion of teachers from the village, who are also consulted. Young people from the Family Strengthening Program are also involved.

Preparation and responsibilities

DHL and SOS Children’s Village are in regular exchange during the preparation process and have shared responsibilities. Preparation starts around three months before the camp takes place. The steps are as follow:

• Decide together on the activity proposal
• Send the activity proposal to the Regional Office for approval
• Build the agenda and select content
• Initiate coordination between the different business units in order to align activities and objectives
• Start internal coordination to ensure that volunteers can be released for the activity (usually done around 2 months in advance). This is extremely important as the camp takes place during work days, therefore the working hours need to be approved by the supervisors
• Start arranging logistics and accommodation with the help of SOS Children’s Villages staff
• Prepare the demographic data of the young people taking part, deciding on gender, age, and other criteria that will be used during selection (carried out by DHL and SOS CV)
• Select the young people who will participate in the camp (carried out by SOS Children’s Villages)
• Ensure all volunteers have had training on the Code of Conduct before working with the young people

When it comes to the division of responsibilities, DHL is mainly responsible for the coordination with the business units and for communication with top management, but also prepares all the materials for the camp. For SOS Children’s Villages the main responsibilities are accommodation, meals and general logistics at the location where the event takes place, plus the aforementioned selection of the young people.

Feedback is collected informally by asking the young people and the volunteers about their experiences and opinions. There is no written feedback used to evaluate the activity. Although no formal follow-up has been carried out in previous years, the team is looking into how they could implement it in future.

Required resources

Apart from the 8 volunteers attending the camp, other volunteers also provide support in the months before the event. Moreover, SOS CV staff also provide support on the ground. When it comes to financial resources, annual funding from the regional GoTeach budget is used for the activity. As this is one of the biggest activities of GoTeach Indonesia, 60% of the annual funding goes into it. There is no other organization or stakeholder involved for financial support as the partnership is still very young and the aim is to develop it further before involving others.

Other resources needed are:

• Communication tools (banner)
• Session materials (dream board materials, career inspiration materials, etc.) All materials are shipped beforehand as it is a remote area

Additionally, the GoTeach Indonesia team organizes a fundraising campaign at DHL to collect money and in-kind donations prior to the event.

Content and activities

The GoTeach Indonesia team starts building the agenda around 2-3 months before the event takes place. The process is considered as a whole, with DHL putting together a proposed agenda that is then sent to SOS Children’s Villages in order to check if the activities are useful for the young people.

The agenda revolves around giving young people the space to create a dream and find out what they might want in the future. The main focus in on soft skills but also included on the agenda are:

• slots where young people can gain inspiration from others, opening their eyes to what they could achieve in their lives. They are guided to better understand what it is that they want to achieve so that they can start to build a plan of how to get there.
• a segment focussing on communication and marketing. As the program focusses on remote areas, where employment opportunities for young people are limited, entrepreneurship is encouraged. This way young people can learn how to create and market their own business using the natural resources that can be found in the area.

The agenda is the same for everyone. At the end of the activities, the young people have compiled their own dream board that they can keep and use as motivation and inspiration for their future plans.

Advice

It is very important to find out something about the young people involved, including their backgrounds and the general demographic. This makes it possible to adapt the content to their needs. Furthermore, close collaboration is stronlgy advised - between SOS and DHL, and across all the different business units at DHL. Another recommendation from the Indonesia team is to involve the volunteers from the outset. This way there is clear communication on what is happening and what different parties are expected to do.

The Indonesia team actively recommends doing a camp activity as they have received very positive feedback from both youth and volunteers – for the young people it is quite an intense experience, where they are given dedicated time to explore their dreams and think about how they can be realized. For the volunteers, it is interesting to see how the young people live in remote areas as it is very different from their own lives.

Over the past year, the team has managed to collect and compile videos and photos that have been edited by external partners and financed via the GoTeach budget – a very good way of showcasing the activities of the partnership and a visual means of demonstrating the impact that such a program can have on the young people involved. (Please contact us should you wish to see the video).

GoTeach Thailand - Ton Kla Camp

Key facts

The camp carried out in Thailand is named “Ton Kla” which means Young Plant in English. It is a career-oriented camp designed to boost employability among young people connected with SOS CV. In previous years, Ton Kla Camp was a three-day activity that took place in Bangkok, where all the young people from different villages came together. From 2016 onwards the model changed and the event is now carried out on one weekend in the different SOS Children’s Villages. That year there were four smaller Ton Kla Camps a year. The following year a follow-up camp was planned, whereby the villages came together in Bangkok again and focused on more advanced topics. 20 volunteers are involved per village, and 40 young people can take part. The participants should be at least 15 years old. The idea is to target senior students who are soon to graduate or are transitioning from school to the working world.

Preparation and responsibilities

DHL and SOS Children’s Villages are in regular dialogue during the preparation process and have shared responsibilities. The preparation starts around three to six months before the camp takes place (past years three, now six). On the DHL-side there are four people (one per BU) responsible for the organization of the event. From SOS CV around five people - both from Family Based Care and Family Strengthening Program - are involved. DHL and SOS CV teams work on the activity internally but meet once a month to discuss it together. The steps to prepare the camp are as follows:

• Set the dates of the camp
• Discussion between the organizational team, management and the village directors to check the dates
• Internal communication at DHL; the DHL team informs all employees and recruits volunteers
• Create the budget and ensure coverage of costs for travel logistics to the camps
• Create the camp agenda: done by DHL with the help of SOS CV who represents the interests and needs of the young people, taking care that the content of the activity is useful for them
• Brief the volunteers (handled by the DHL team) and organize Code of Conduct training
• Create the materials for the camp (handled by DHL)
• Recruit young people well suited to the program (handled by SOS CV)
• Coordinate accommodation and restaurants at the location (handled by SOS CV)

After the event both teams meet for a follow up. Based on the experiences shared, the agenda and content of the next camp can be adjusted.

Resources needed

Apart from the organizational team and the volunteers, there are also some external partners involved. A travel agency takes care of the flights and the hotel booking. Furthermore, people from the area in which the camp takes place help with recommendations e.g. how to reach the places best. DHL develops material for the activities, and this is printed at the office and brought to the camp in their luggage to save costs. All other expenses are covered by the GoTeach budget from the regional office.

Content and activities

The new model separates the content into two levels. At the first camp in the villages, basic skills are transmitted. The following camp focuses on more advanced topics. In the first round, activities target soft skills like social manners, personal motivation, and successful habits but also consider input like eemployer expectations, some English vocabulary, how to do an interview and perhapps even CV writing. For some topics, external experts are invited to support the team, e.g. an entrepreneur, a psychologist, a politician. The style used for the activities differs. There are speeches, workshops, ice-breaking activities, games etc. Every participant has the same schedule, but the activities are carried out in smaller groups. Sometimes there are tasks that involve the young people competing against each other in groups.

Advice

It is very important that DHL and SOS CV commit to this activity. Both sides must contribute to the preparation in order for the event to be a success and ongoing dialogue between the teams is critical. Frequent meetings with both DHL and SOS CV (at least once a month) and inside each team (more frequently) are necessary. Another critical point is the involvement of the young people. The participants must be asked for feedback so that the agenda can be adjusted to their needs.

The team in Thailand actively recommends doing a camp activity as it allows a huge audience to be reached. The camp is also a great opportunity to get information about the young people. Based on their needs, it is then possible to offer other follow-on activities (e.g. job shadowing, internships).

GoTeach Vietnam – Career Counseling Days

Key facts

The camp-style activity in Vietnam is called “Career Counseling Days”. The activity takes place on a regional basis and is conducted three times a year. Each village can send between five and ten young people to the activity and, in total, around 30 to 40 young people can participate per region (a grand total of 90 to 120 young people). The target group is boys and girls of 17 and above; they should have a good education level (high school or soon-to-be university graduates). Participants come together at one SOS CV village per region and take part in the “Career Counseling Days” for three days. While there are 30 volunteers engaged in the preparation process, only a few attend the camp.

Preparation and responsibilities

As it is a three-day activity the preparation takes longer than other GoTeach activities. About three weeks of work are spent on “Career Counseling Days”. Some of the preparation is done earlier as it has to be submitted for the annual GoTeach plan. The steps to prepare the Career Counselling Days are as follows:

• Prepare the general concept, together with the annual plan, at the beginning of the year
• Create the agenda; handled by DHL (the material is aligned with that of Dream Camp in Indonesia and Ton Kla Camp in Thailand, as the teams share the documents to get inspiration)
• Share camp content with SOS CV staff to ensure that the need of the young people is addressed
• Involve the volunteers, brief them and organize the training on the Code of Conduct
• Select the young people (handled by SOS CV)
• Arrange travel to get participants to the camp; this can be by plane, train or bus (handled by SOS CV)
• Arrange the transportation needed during the activity (handled by DHL)
• Participants give feedback via a questionnaire after the event
• Evaluate the activity and adjust for next year on the basis of the feedback

Resources needed

As mentioned earlier, around three weeks of preparation are needed to organize the “Career Counseling Days”. Around 30 volunteers are involved. The tasks are clearly defined and allocated: some employees work on the content, others on the logistics and others on the communication. Some are only involved as special guests (for example top management), and they only attend the event for a short time. The team organizes the required resources such as flipcharts and slides, brings laptops and other materials for the activities. All expenses are covered by the GoTeach budget, even the travel costs of the participants. All young people are accommodated in the village. It is also important to note that the entire activity takes place during working hours for volunteers; therefore it is crucial to have top management approval beforehand.

Content and activities

All participants follow the same agenda during the activity. Some exercises and visits take place in smaller groups to make them more efficient and effective. In addition to the DHL volunteers, and top managers as special guests, external tutors are also involved to help with some topics. The activity starts with ice-breaking games to create a positive and open atmosphere, as the young people can be quite shy in the beginning. The content block starts with an introduction to the annual GoTeach plan. At the following career talk the young people are given the opportunity to create their own ideas of what they would like to do. They also practice CV writing and how to behave in a job interview. During role play activities the young people are confronted with situations they are going to face as they pursue their career path. On the second day the group visits a DHL facility to explore different job opportunities in the logistics sector. The third day is used to review the activities of the first days, as the young people now have new impetus following their visit to DHL. Stories are shared and the entire activity is wrapped up with a feedback and closing session.

Advice

During the preparation process, communication is a critical success factor. There are different levels and different BUs involved that aren’t always easy to reach, and SOS CV needs to be well informed so that they can follow the agenda.

Some time and space should be planned for ice-breaking activities at the start of the event. The SOS young people can be quite shy and it is important to make them feel comfortable so that they are able to open up and fully participate in the activities.

Case-study on camp style activities

Chapter lead	Susanne Novotny

Attachments

• AP_Camp_style_Case_Study_Report.pdf -- Martin Schmid, 13 November 2020, 08:34