setting up and managing projects

On these pages we explore some of the key questions and issues that have arisen in work with the Rank Charities with regard to setting up and managing youth work and informal education projects. They have grown out of discussions between workers, managers, trainers and funders involved in the Rank Foundation's Youth or Adult? Initiative. We have had two audiences in mind. First, we wanted to write something that would contribute to debates within the projects associated with the Foundation's youth and community work initiatives. Second, we hoped that we could say something useful to those involved in youth work and informal education projects generally.

Thinking about youth work projects: Alan Rogers draws together a number of issues and themes that appear and reappear in project work with young people. These include:

• having clear aims;

• making appropriate organizational arrangements;

• considering the impact on the organization;

• attending to the needs of youth workers and informal educators;

• thinking about training and development needs; and

• adjusting to working with funders and trainers.

We see these themes in each of the pages that follow. 

The birth of a youth work project: Cathie Cox reflects on the process of setting up Youth Route 70, an innovative youth work project in the Douglas Valley. She shows how a particular need became articulated by local people - and how a partnership developed to address those needs. We can see how the possibility of funding - and having a focus for youth work - enabled local commitments and enthusiasms to be harnessed.  Crucial to this process were the activities of local community educators - making links with funders, drawing together participants, facilitating meetings. What is particularly noteworthy here is the importance laid upon the involvement of young people in the process. 

Preparing a business plan: Trefor Lloyd asks some basic questions about business plans and gives some advice concerning:

• why we might prepare one, and what  benefits it may bring to a youth work or informal education project;

• what we should include in one; and

• what will we need to know about our organization to write one.

The attention given to business plans by many funders means that youth work and informal education agencies need to appreciate their limitations and possibilities.

Where there's muck there's money - the expectations of funders: The perception of funders is the focus of Charlie Harris' piece. He uses the experience of the Rank Foundation's Youth or Adult? Initiative to develop some central questions that agencies must consider. In particular he highlights the importance of four factors to the success of a youth work or informal education project. The:

• quality of management;

• level of integration into the organization;

• ability and commitment of the youth worker or informal educator; and

• the organization's capacity to undertake face-to-face youth work or informal education.

Managing youth workers and informal educators: We go on to examine some special dimensions of managing youth work and informal education projects. As Peter Drucker has argued, management consists in attending to three key dimensions:

• thinking through and defining the specific purpose and mission of the agency;

• making work productive and the worker achieving; and

• attending to the social impacts of the work and to the social responsibilities of the agency (1979: 36).

Earlier pieces have emphasized clarity of purpose and mission, the importance of selecting the right worker, and of creating an appropriate framework for their activities. David Coates provides some practical guidelines for the management of youth workers and informal educators.

Developing youth workers and informal educators: Developing youth workers and informal educators is the focus for Christiane Schlichting. She is particularly concerned with situations where youth workers and informal educators are also involved in professional training (as is the case with the Youth or Adult? Initiative). She highlights the following key dimensions. That:

• the first year of the initiative is the most important. It is necessary to give the student-worker as much support as possible both from inside and outside of the organization.

• an effective systems of communication and inter-project relationships should be set up.

• the youth work or informal education trainees receive adequate support for the study and practical work.

• the manager examines their own training needs closely and responds as necessary.

• effective communication structures with funders are set up and maintained, so that they are aware of current developments even if they are problematic and that their expertise is being used.

Handling the impact on the organization: Youth work and informal education projects tend to have a number of unanticipated effects on the host organization - and in this piece Gavin Stewart looks at what happened in his own organization - how a crisis occurred, and was handled so that a new start could be made.

More than just the funder?: In the concluding piece, Chris Dunning draws together a number of threads and places them in the context of monitoring and evaluation of informal education and youth work. He looks at how the role of the funder changes over the life of a youth work or informal education project - and the distinctive qualities of the approach adopted by the Foundation.

References

Drucker, P. (1979) Management, London: Pan.