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Canadian Rural Partnership
Rural Youth Dialogue
Community
Project Planning & Evaluation Guide
I. Introduction
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II. Project Basics
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1. Identifying the issue / project
2. Being Innovative
3. Goals
4. Developing a “SMARTS” Objective
a) Creating a “SWOT” Analysis of Your Project
5. Benefits/Community Issues Addressed
6. Challenges/Barriers
7. Mapping Your Assets and Resources
a) Personal Assets and Resources
b) Human Assets and Resources
• Your Mentor
• Partners
c) Physical and Financial Assets and Resources
8. Project Planning Tool
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III. Moving Your Project Forward: Turning Great Ideas Into Actions
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1. Planning Your Steps: Developing Tasks and Timelines
2. Involving the Community
a) The Steering Committee
b) The Advisory Committee
c) Promotion
d) Government Partnerships
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IV. Evaluation
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V. Resources
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Community Project Planning & Evaluation Guide
PDF format
Taking on a public project to address specific needs in your community can
be both an exciting and daunting experience. Now that you have decided to lead
a community project you have already begun to make a difference for your fellow
citizens. As the old adage goes: Getting started is half of the work! The next
step is to direct your energy and enthusiasm toward seeing the project through
to its conclusion.
All too often, we overlook or underutilise the resources we have at hand. This
guide is meant to give you options, to encourage you to use your imagination and
resources, and to help you create the best project you can. In this guide you will
find several different project aids. They include:
- worksheets with questions to get you thinking about possible directions your project could take and components that you may want to include;
- tools to help you analyse the goals of your project and monitor the milestones of its success; and
- project management tips that will help you plan your steps, to keep track of the work you have done, the work you have left to do, and who’s supposed to be doing what.
It is not necessary for you to answer every question or for you to use every tool
suggested. While the guide is most effective if used in its entirety, some parts may
be more useful to you than others. Please use it as you see fit to support you to
achieve your project goals.
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| Top of page |
1 » Identifying the Issue/Project
To be able to attend the 2003 National Rural Youth Conference, participants were asked
to prepare in two ways: first, submit a brief proposal identifying a community issue. From
that issue they were asked to develop a project which they would work on for the coming year.
Participants were asked to identify a mentor who would work with them on the project. We would
like you to reflect upon the process and answer the following questions:
Is the issue in your initial vision for the project still valid?
Have circumstances changed in your community since? How?
Is the scope of your project too large or does it need to be expanded?
Are there things that you learned at the 2003 National Rural Youth Conference
that can be used to better refine your project goals?
2 » Being Innovative
At the 2003 National Rural Youth Conference, some time was spent discussing
innovation. Did you know that there is a process and principles attached
to creating a context for the development of innovation?
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The first step in the innovation process is characterized as going beyond learning the best
of what is out there toward an ideal for the best that your project could be. In other words,
brainstorming! In planning terms, it is referred to as ‘vision’ or ‘your desired future.’ It
involves your imagination, your gut feelings and plenty of inspired thought. It is the stage
in the process where you think about your project (however large, however small).
Your task at this stage: Your creativity and inspiration for “the best that could be”
should be directed toward developing a vision for your project.
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The process of sharing lessons learned is the second step in the innovation process. It is about
learning what is possible and what has worked and not worked, learning what has made a positive
difference in communities in the past and learning what contributions you and others can make in
the future. This is the first touchstone of the innovator.
Your task at this stage: You should be able to answer what you would do differently and what
unexpected connections you would make.
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Inspiring others is the third step in the innovator’s process. Begin a dialogue and keep it
alive and share your vision with others.
Your task at this stage: Begin reaching out to partners
in the community to have them share their ideas and get excited about yours.
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The final step for the innovator is ACTION.
Your task at this stage: Start taking steps to make your
vision become reality!
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3 » Goals
Begin by identifying the ultimate goal of your project, or, what at the end of the day,
you are trying to accomplish or achieve with the project. Goals are a series of
statements which will describe your project’s unique function or primary interest.
Goals can be as wide and varied as your imagination. Goals can also take many forms. Here are just a few examples:
Physical goal - “My goal is to build a youth drop-in centre.”
Process goal - “My goal is to create a system of communication links between youth in the community and the town council.”
Organizational goal - “My goal is to have a system of counsellors/advisors that youth can turn to when faced with difficult personal issues.”
Try to keep your goals as clear and concise as possible. It may be the case
that your project has more than one goal, but make sure that you are not
“biting off more than you can chew.” You may want to build a
youth drop-in centre that offers peer counselling, for example. However
it may make more sense to accomplish one of these goals (for instance,
the provision of peer counselling) first, and consider the other (the
youth drop in-centre) as a future project. Often ambitious goals can be
broken down into more immediate ones.
| Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can
change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has.
- Margaret Mead, Anthropologist
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4 » Developing a ‘SMARTS’ Objective
Objectives are something you work towards to reach your goal. The objective in
the example below is a dollar figure, one that is set for each week of the project
(a campaign). As you develop your objective using the SMARTS approach, think of
how many objectives you might need to set to reach your goal.
Use the ‘SMARTS’ approach to set an objective that is:
S pecific,
M easurable,
A chievable,
R elevant/Realistic,
T rackable and;
S upported (by your partners and team members)
An example: The United Way (a charitable organization) uses a thermometer to track
the money they have received from donations. United Way representatives colour in
the thermometer as important milestones are reached on the way to achieving their objective.
The objective set is a specific dollar amount which is measurable. They base their targets
on previous achievements so that their objective is achievable and they demonstrate how the
funds they raise will benefit the community so that it is seen as relevant. They set timetables
to track their results and enlist volunteers throughout the community to ensure that the work
towards their objectives is supported.
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How are you doing?
Do your objectives meet the SMARTS criteria?
How will you mark important milestones that you have reached?
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a) Creating a SWOT Analysis of Your Project
S trengths
W eaknesses
O pportunities
T hreats
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses (internal), Opportunities, Threats
(external) and neatly summarizes the type of things you should examine as you
prepare to launch your project. Think broadly about each of these items and list
them on the workspace provided. Once you have your list, think about how you
can use the strengths and compensate for the weaknesses. Are there good methods
of capitalizing on opportunities while minimizing, mitigating or eliminating threats?
STRENGTHS
What are the strengths that you can use to advance your project?
WEAKNESSES
What weaknesses need to be addressed to ensure the success of your project?
OPPORTUNITIES
What are the unique opportunities that your project is particularly suited to take advantage of?
THREATS
What are the internal and external circumstances that could undermine your project?
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I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.
- Ella Fitzgerald, Singer
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5 » Benefits / Community Issues Addressed
Take some time to think about what issues in the community your project will address
as well as the benefits. It is likely that you will come up with a handful of benefits.
For example, if your objective is to start a community volunteer corps, the community
issues being addressed might include a concern that there is not enough support available
to vulnerable community members, or that there is a lack of community spirit. Perhaps these
community members are vulnerable because they feel as if they do not receive community
support and do not feel engaged within the community. The benefits to the community from a
community project addressing these issues might include the following:
- supporting vulnerable members of the community;
- acquisition of skills by volunteers that may aid in future endeavours (e.g. applying for jobs);
- growing your personal organizational skills;
- a cleaner and more attractive environment (depending on the nature of the volunteer work); and
- a greater sense of goodwill and community esteem.
6 » Challenges / Barriers
Challenges and barriers can affect the progress of your project. Even before your project starts,
it is important to identify them and plan how to deal with them so that you can take them on if/when they occur.
This doesn’t mean you have to have every detail of your plan worked out in advance and it doesn’t
mean that you necessarily have solutions for everything. Solutions may be found by using your common
sense, your creative/innovative mind-set, by consulting with other people to gather different
perspectives on an issue. People you approach to help with your project will want to know you
have put some thought into your plan and that you understand the nature of the challenges you
are taking on. For example, if you know that funding is going to be an obstacle to your plan,
people should know that you recognize this as a challenge that will need to be overcome. You may
indicate that you have some ideas to address the challenges, but that you will need some help, too.
Don’t be surprised if you come up against barriers you didn’t expect. You cannot be expected to know
everything at the outset. The trick is to “roll with the punches.”
Don’t become discouraged when an obstacle presents itself—begin thinking of ways
to move it, go around it, or blast right through it! Potential barriers are addressed
later by having you map tasks and anticipate difficulties. Here inter-personal barriers
are explored since they tend to be the most challenging.
Sometimes, barriers that you come up against are related to team members’
interpersonal relationships, conflicting styles of work, and differing points of view.
Be prepared to take on the following roles, as needed, to move your project forward:
- Communicator - Keep the lines of communications open. Be the person that initiates communication or facilitates better communication between team members.
- Facilitator - Educate and provide a forum for people to discuss issues around a project. Team members must have an effective way of tackling problems that is structured, yet not too rigid.
- Linker - Be the big-thinker that can link people to experts and resources such as community leaders or even physical assets, such as access to phones, faxes, or computers.
- Scapegoat - Share the responsibility or blame for a decision that may have gone bad. The team members can save face and go on to build community support for the project. In other words, if you take the blame for losing the battle, your team may still be able to go on to win the war.
- Agent of Reality - Limit pressures from people on your team who may have extreme or unrealistic goals or expectations for the project. You have a responsibility to ensure that the goals are achieved and may have to encourage team members to focus on one step at a time.
- Leader - Be the person who takes the initiative to articulate a vision, inspire and motivate your team members, and keep the project moving along with measurable successes along the way. This may also include being the team cheerleader if you experience setbacks.
7 » Mapping Your Assets and Resources
There are many types of resources that you can call upon to develop your project—some
resources you may already have and some you will need to acquire. They include
personal assets and resources, human assets and resources, and physical and financial
assets and resources.
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PERSONAL ASSETS AND RESOURCES—Your most valuable
resource is the one that is full of ideas, energy, enthusiasm, skills, and
particular experience and expertise—YOU! As emphasized in this guide, there
are many assets that you can bring to your project to ensure its success.
In your project proposal you identified a project or a community issue that you feel
is important and one in which you wanted to become involved. One reason you feel particularly
drawn to a project might be because of your personal circumstances— perhaps you are uniquely suited
to initiate a project of a certain kind. Perhaps you are suited because of skills you have acquired
or teams and organizations of which you have been part. Perhaps it is because of similar work you have
done in the past and people that you know.
Take a minute to think about it and then record the skills and assets that make you suited to embark
on this community project. Examples of skills might include public speaking, orgnizational skills, or
athletic ability. Examples of assets might include specific knowledge or expertise, contacts within
certain cultural groups, or access to resources such as a good meeting place and other physical
resources and material.
Skills You Want to Acquire/Sharpen
Another reason you might have chosen your particular community project was to expand your knowledge
or gain skills in a particular area. Perhaps you thought that the community project would enable you
to acquire, strengthen, or sharpen certain skills. Take a minute to write down those skills you would
like to acquire and those you would like to sharpen or improve.
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HUMAN ASSETS AND RESOURCES—There are a great many people who could provide you with help on
your project. As you look at putting your vision into action, the never-ending list of possibilities
can seem overwhelming. You might wish to wave a magic wand to create a staff of twenty to help you
with the task! Who are the human assets that you need on your team? What are some of the qualities
or expertise that you require?
Just as there are skills you want to obtain, you will probably also have a list of people you want to
learn from or groups and individuals that you would like to have help you. Examples of groups might
include 4-H, Girl Guides, Friendship Centres, faith-based youth groups, a Rotary Club, the local Legion,
clubs in your school, and local businesses.
List names of some people who you will need to talk to or who you would like to see partner with you
on your community project. Be sure to write down the type of project support that you think they can
provide and whether or not you will need to take the time to develop this partnership with them (in
other words, are they friends and acquaintances or total strangers?). Think about how you need to develop
the relationship and figure out what you might need to do to begin its development. Make sure these
potential partners see the benefits for their involvement. Anticipate that they will ask you why they
should help. The following grid provides some examples:
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Name
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Type of project support they can provide
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Development needed? How?
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Principal Owens
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Classroom space for meetings
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No development needed. Has provided space in the past.
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Mayor Chartier
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A source of funding? Or knowledge of where and how to get contributions?
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Yes-have Mentor call him and follow their phone call up with a letter on the project.
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Auntie’s office
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Use of computers and paper for letter writing
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Thank-you letter to post on office bulletin board
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ACME Inc.
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Monetary sponsorship |
Thank-you letter and acknowledgement of support on any public documents/ communications.
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Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great.
Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die.
- Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau
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Once you have developed your list, study the names. Are these partners going to
be able to help you with information and advice? Can they help you achieve your goals and your vision?
Are there any gaps in the list? Have you determined why they should help you?
Go over the list with your mentor. Is there anyone that they can suggest in addition to the list you
have created? Is there anyone on your list that they can introduce you to?
If your project has the aim of helping a certain group or population, or is intended for specific use
by a group of people, be sure to include these people among your partners (“pre-teens” or
“skateboarders,” for example). After all, if the project is going to be fruitful and continue
on, it will depend in part on the acceptance of those you intend to help.
Your Mentor
The act of mentoring is a collaborative, mutually beneficial partnership between a Mentor (who possesses
greater skills, knowledge or experience) and a Mentee (who is looking to enhance his or her knowledge,
skills and experience). The Mentee gains increased skills, knowledge, experience, enhanced confidence,
networking abilities, and contacts. The Mentor gains mentoring skills, personal satisfaction and, depending
on the situation, increased job satisfaction.
The act of mentorship doesn’t end there. The potential for community gains are impressive. By having
active mentoring relationships within the community, the community as a whole can gain a stronger and
more positive public image while fostering important leadership development. It can also help bridge the gap
in communication and collaboration between current and emerging leaders in the community.
Not all mentor/mentee relationships are alike. Your mentor might be a role model to you, or a model of
where you might want to be in a few years. They could simply be someone who motivates and inspires you or
who is a good counsellor for you to have for the duration of your project.
Interestingly, the process you will undertake with your mentor is similar to that of the different phases
of your project. It will have a beginning, development phase, and a maturity phase. Below are some benchmarks
to look for during the duration of your project and at the beginning, middle and end of your relationship
with your mentor.
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Start
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Middle
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End
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Relationship Process
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Have you two talked about your community project?
Are you confident in being able to take on this project with your mentor’s help?
Have you talked about your expectations and roles and responsibilities?
Have you developed a plan to work together, to meet regularly and to talk about your project?
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Have you established a regular meeting schedule?
Are you satisfied that the goals of the project are clear?
Together, have you pinpointed barriers or challenges to obtaining project goals? (Skills gaps, time shortages, etc.)
Do you find that you are both prepared for meetings?
Are you finding the level of rapport and commitment suitable?
With respect to your project, do you feel supported?
Are you making adequate use of your mentor?
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How did your mentor help you progress with the project?
Did you receive guidance on your project?
Is your relationship going to end with the conclusion of this project?
If you were starting over again is there anything you would change?
Would you like to become a mentor one day? Why?
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Partners
Partners are volunteers who can offer support and lend a hand to complete your project. Who you know,
who you get your information from, who you consult with—all play an important role in developing any project.
Taking the time to build partnerships can dramatically improve the end results. There are different types of
partners, so it is important to think big as you try to identify people that could be of use to you. Do not
restrict contacts! You will never know who could emerge as a great partner for your project.
Once you’ve formed your team and found other partners, you will need to define roles and responsibilities
and agree on how to work together and what to do when you disagree. Focus on where you are going,
share the obstacles and problems and celebrate successes. Partnerships can get results that you are
unable to get alone.
Supporters - from friends and relatives to the local business community—who can offer help in the form of
funds or physical resources and who benefit from contributing to the community through your project.
There are partnerships with your team members, who spend time and energy on the planning and the activities
of your project. And there are partnerships with those who may not be directly involved in the project
but can offer moral and creative support. These could include people you met at the 2003 National
Rural Youth Conference and whom you kept in touch with afterwards.
Partnerships require commitment, work and an open mind. In return, they can enable innovative thinking and
opportunities that help a group or community grow stronger.
Building partnerships is so crucial to the execution of your project that if you don’t already have a workable
list of people with whom you can partner, you might want to make this a priority task now. Take a moment to
fill out the partners worksheet. You may want to ask your mentor for help with this exercise.
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In the last resort, however, it is we who must do our own promptings, who must make our own choices,
and define our own paths. We cannot depend on the ripeness of time, for the time is never ripe.
- Author, Hans George Classen
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Your List of Partners
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Name
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Type of project support they can provide
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Development needed? How?
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PHYSICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSETS AND RESOURCES—Depending on the nature of your project, you may need
to put some thought into the physical and financial resources you have or will need for your project.
You may only need a physical space to meet, but you may need start-up or on-going funding to make your
project viable. Map the physical and financial resources you will need.
Physical Assets and Resources
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Asset / Resource Required
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Purpose of Asset / Resource
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On-hand? If not, how will it be acquired?
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Financial Assets and Resources
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Asset / Resource Required
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Asset / Resource Required
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On-hand? If not, how will it be acquired?
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How are you doing?
- Think about your project and about how you can benefit from working
with other people/organizations. What ideas can you discuss, what
resources can help you, what skills and experience can inform you?
- Who are some of the groups/individuals who are working on related issues?
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8 » Mapping Project Planning Tool
Take a few minutes to review your vision for your project. Take what you have learned
in the Project Basics section to put it all together. Is your original proposal still appropriate or
do you need to perhaps re-think your project in terms of what you have learned developing the SMARTS
objective or creating a SWOT analysis? As you review your vision begin to think and imagine the actions
or activities you will need to take.
Project Name:
Background and Purpose of the Project
[Include information on your background, your community, and what is behind
the community issue that you want to address.]
Proposed Project
[Identify the main goal you have set for your community project.
In other words, what do you want to make happen?]
Objectives
[Identify clear, well-defined, measurable objectives of your project both qualitative and quantitatively. What
evidence would you use (need) to show that the project meets your community’s needs? In other words, how will
you measure how well you did?]
Proposed Activities
[Identify key activities that you will undertake as part of your project.
In other words, how are you going to make it happen? See Moving
Your Project Forward section.]
Challenges/Barriers
[Identify specific barriers you may need to overcome as you work on your project.]
Personal Assets and Goals
[Identify the skills, personal qualities, knowledge and experience you have that will help you reach your goals.]
[Identify the skills, personal qualities, knowledge and experience you want to acquire through this project.]
Other Resources
[Name at least three people/organizations in your community who have the potential
to help you with this project and what you want them to do/provide. Consider why
they would be interested in helping out and what physical and financial resources
they may be able to provide.]
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1 » Planning Your Steps: Developing Tasks and Timelines
Depending on the nature of your project, you may not have many time pressures that affect your project’s timeline.
In other cases, you may have a hard and fast deadline approaching that requires you to quickly pull together your
team to get everything done in time. In either case, it is important that you establish a set of sequential tasks
that build on each other towards achieving your project’s goal(s).
The key to establishing effective timelines is taking a realistic and comprehensive approach to the project
you are undertaking. You cannot be expected to foresee everything that needs to be done, but you should have
a good idea of the major items that will have to be accomplished to achieve your goals. Keep in mind, too, that
people on your team may also have good ideas for activities that could be undertaken, so your timeline should
not be finalized until after your first meeting.
The following worksheet was designed to assist you in developing your project’s timeline. In your project
proposal, you identified the main goals of your project. Related to those goals are activities that you will
undertake to achieve them. Take some time to think of the smallest steps or tasks that comprise those activities.
For example, if your goal is to raise money for a youth drop-in centre and one of your activities is a fundraising
raffle, some of your tasks would include acquiring prizes, printing tickets, and selling tickets.
There may be more than one activity for a goal, and there may be many tasks associated with an activity.
This worksheet is meant to help you outline how your project will unfold.
Goal:
Activity #1:
Task -
Task -
Task -
Activity #2:
Task -
Task -
Task -
Activity #3:
Task -
Task -
Task -
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Once you have established each of the tasks, you will need to answer the
following questions for each:
- Who will this task be assigned to?
- How long will it take them to complete this task?
- Is there anything that needs to be done before this task can be started?
You can use the following table to map out your responses for each of these questions, but keep the following issues in mind:
- Who the task is assigned to may affect the time frame in which it can be completed. If it is assigned to someone going on vacation for two weeks, you had better take that into consideration. (This includes you, too! Don’t give yourself a lot of tasks around exam time, for example.)
- If a task is assigned to a group of people, make sure there is a point person who will co-ordinate their efforts as needed.
- Be realistic about the amount of time it will take to complete a task and understand that some tasks may take much longer than you originally anticipated.
- Take common scheduling items into consideration, such as religious holidays or community festivals when people may be busy doing other things.
- Remember that some tasks cannot be started until others are completed. Make sure that you identify what needs to be in place before someone can begin his or her task.
Once you have attached time frames to each task, you can take a calendar and begin putting the timeline’s
tasks together like a puzzle. Begin by identifying which are the most critical and priority tasks that
need to be undertaken first. Then determine which tasks rely on other being first completed and ensure
that they follow those tasks. Once most of the major tasks are laid out, determine if there are periods
of time where there is a lull in activity into which you can squeeze some of your smaller tasks. There
might also be times when there is simply too much going on and you may have to shuffle tasks accordingly.
Be prepared to revise your timeline as your project proceeds as you may find yourself behind or ahead
of schedule. Additionally, as the project proceeds you will get a better sense of how long certain
tasks will take—let this guide your timeline revisions.
A final piece of project management advice: It is critically important that you
keep in contact with those to whom tasks have been assigned—a problem that affects
one part of the timeline may inadvertently affect the entire project’s timeline.
Task
- Assigned to
- Estimated Time to Complete
- Anything needed beforehand? What?
2 » Involving The Community
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THE STEERING COMMITTEE
A Steering Committee looks at the project as a whole and helps you manage it from inception
to completion. These types of committees require a higher level of commitment from their members.
Taking on this kind of project management role will usually require more time and members may
also be asked to complete tasks in between meetings of the committee. However, it is a good way
to bring more ideas to the table and line up some added help that may make your personal
workload more manageable.
In addition, inviting people to sit on a committee is a good way to make long standing contacts.
This will also help to gain more ownership from the community for your project and thus increase
its likelihood of success. Depending on your relationship to the people you want to ask to sit on
the committee, you may want to more formally request support for your project. The best tool for this
is a simple letter or e-mail.
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Insert Name of Project
| TO: |
Prospective Committee Member (Name) |
| FROM: |
You |
| RE: |
Call for steering/advisory committee members (regarding:
name issue)
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Please consider this (letter/email) as an invitation to become a part of an
a committee. This invitation is extended to you based on your (previous involvement
with ____ knowledge of ____ skills with respect to _____ ). You have also been
identified as having expertise that will be invaluable to this new initiative.
The opportunity consists of having direct input into a (insert issue needing
help on or state the objects of your project).
List some questions you need help with.
The Committee will consist of (# of) members. All materials needed will be
provided through email or mail. The estimated time commitment over a period
of (# of weeks or months or days) will by (approximate # of hours you need
them for). Please assess your ability to commit for the (insert duration).
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Your Name Here
Your Project title here
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| b) |
THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Another good way of gaining partners on your project is to use the concept of the advisory
committee to help you tackle a specific problem you are facing. This tool is especially useful
to involve people who would be of great assistance to you but whom you do not know very well.
The advisory committee approach is different from the list of partners
because you can use this for either single issues, or make use of an advisory
group throughout the project. An advisory committee is meant to be a smaller
working group--no more than six people.
Below is a diagram of a boardroom table. This is meant to be used as
an illustrative tool to help you determine who you could call upon when
a particularly tough issue arises. It can also be used to help you think
of people best suited to discuss an issue and form a meeting group.
Identify the issue that you think the advisory committee needs to
address and then brainstorm about possible participants and the role that
they can play. If, for example, you want to expand a local food bank, a
possible issue might be finding a larger space.
People you might want to invite to your committee could include the current food bank operator,
the mayor or reeve, the owner of the space of the current food bank, local clergy, leaders of
local charitable organizations, and so on. There is space provided for a committee of six, but
your committee may be larger or smaller at your discretion.
So what do you do with people once you have secured their assistance? There are a variety of
possibilities you can do to help to build your team and start getting work done.
Tips for Managing the Project Team
- reinforce your expectations for your project;
- review and refine your timelines, roles and goals;
- show gratitude and thank those who are helping to achieve project goals;
- set milestones for achieving goals;
- celebrate and communicate project achievements;
- involve people in the planning of the project;
- share excellent ideas—ones that contribute to your vision and which could save you time in execution and planning;
- discuss problems that could hold you up and challenges that need to be overcome;
- clarification of what is needed to accomplish the goals of your project;
- derive insight from past experiences of other projects in the community—both the successful and not-so successful;
- provide feedback and appreciation for the results already achieved.
Once you and your team have started working on the project, don’t forget to take
time to review your progress, show appreciation for the work already done, and continue the
dialogue within your team and in the larger community. There are many ways this can be done
including an Information Forum or a Public Event.
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| c) |
PROMOTION
By using a consistent approach to keep track of your project milestones and by
sharing it with others, you will send the message to others that their hard work is
helping the project move forward. Here are a few ideas to promote your project.
Public Event
Organize a public event or announcement at a site that holds special significance
for your project. These types of events can take many forms:
- a formal launch for your project;
- a launch of an event related to a particular aspect of your project;
- a press conference / media event inviting local dignitaries in the community;
- a milestone event announcing the achievement of a certain goal;
- a fundraising event;
- a sod-turning (marking the beginning of a construction project) or a ribbon cutting (marking the opening of a venue);
- a social event (such as a dance or fair);
- a sporting event;
- a demonstration event (as in a skateboarding demo);
- an open house where the public can learn about your project;
- a celebration;
- involve local dignitaries as a way to bring visibility to your forum;
- a march or parade to raise awareness; or a petition.
Information Forum
Hold a meeting for one or two hours at a convenient location and at a convenient time. If
you can provide food or organise a potluck at the same time, all the better! Send out an agenda
providing time for introductions (if necessary), an overview of the project, and time for
everyone to contribute. Ask people prior to the meeting to come prepared to tell you about
the most successful project they have been a part of and what made it successful. Ask them
what they think their role is on the team. Be an effective timekeeper so that the meeting doesn’t drag on.
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| d) |
PARTNERSHIPS WITH GOVERNMENT AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS
For your project you may want to involve a variety of partners from the federal,
provincial/territorial, local and First Nations governments, including community
organizations, local businesses, Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDC’s),
universities and colleges etc. Here are a few tips to including these partners—including elected
officials—in the life of your project.
- Invite a representative of the department, agency or other institution
to meet or visit your work site. For example, governmental staff and CFDC’s
are usually required to get out into the community and listen to citizens about what
needs exist in communities and where they could be of service. Elected
representatives usually have an office in communities they serve or someone that
keeps office hours. Set up a meeting. Share stories with them. Provide them with the
background information of your community and the evolution of your project.
Invite them to share useful information with you.
- Use letters, brochures or some other form of creative communication
in order to raise awareness of the project. Similar to the invitation, share
stories and background information about your project. Refer to your project,
encourage your partners to become involved or share advice with regard to your project.
- Become a partner. Given your interest in your community project you have
no doubt gained knowledge on elements of need in your community. Offer to talk
to appropriate officials on the nature of the project and the need you seek to fill
in your community. Get yourself involved in panels or meetings taking place on similar
themes as your project. Your work on your project makes you an expert in your field—offer
to share your advice.
- Call for help. At the most base level it is the job of government and other
foundations to provide service to citizens. Ask about grant money, programs or other
resources. If you are asking the appropriate person you will usually get an enthusiastic
response! They may also be aware of other non-government funding sources. It may take a bit
of search time, but find out resources available to you and use them!
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The next section focuses on evaluation. Evaluation is not something that
happens only at the end of your project. In fact it may be quite informative
to examine the questions long before you have the experience and/or information
to respond to them. Evaluation takes a continuous learning approach to
the task of evaluating.
It is hoped that the information that you provide the Rural Secretariat
at each of the three phases of evaluation will be shared with others.
We want to learn from your comments so that we can provide better tools
to help you achieve your goals and share with others the ‘best practices’
of your project.
Phase 1 Evaluation Questions
Phase 2 Evaluation Questions - Questions to
Ask as Your Project Progresses
Phase 3 Evaluation Questions - Questions to
Ask Upon the Completion of Your Project
| You see things; and you say, “Why?” But I dream things that never
were; and I say “Why not?”
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), “Back to Methuselah”
(1921), part 1, act 1.
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Below is a short list of resources that you can call upon for more ideas
and tools to assist you as your project progresses. For even more information
and resources, don’t forget to visit the rural website at www.rural.gc.ca.
General Resources
http://www.training-youth.net/site/publications/tkits/tkit3/Tkit3.htm
http://www.youthsource.ab.ca/teacher_resources/project_
management.html
http://www.salto-youth.net/static/downloads/toolbox_downloads.php/
21/Checkpoint%20Exercise.doc
A game to deal with cooperation and partnership, and be aware of prejudices in a project:
http://www.salto-youth.net/find-a-tool/115.html?
&date;_from=2003-03-01&date;_to=2004-08-18&search;=cooperation&
pagerCurrentOffset=2
Project Management
Project management handbook:
http://www.salto-youth.net/static/downloads/toolbox_downloads.php/
42/Project%20management%20handbook.doc
Mentorship
Canadian Youth Business Foundation
140-123 Edward Street, Toronto, ON M5G 1E2
Tel: (800) 464-2923 ext. 2101 Fax: (416) 408-3234
E-mail: info@cybf.ca
Web: www.cybf.ca
Mentors Peer Resources
1052 Davie Street, Victoria, BC V8S 4E3
Tel: (250) 595-3503 Fax: (250) 595-3504
E-mail: info@mentors.ca
Web: www.mentors.ca/mentorprograms.html
Funding Sources
Microcredit Pathfinder
http://www.rural.gc.ca/cris/microcredit/index_e.phtml
Directory of Canadian financial providers
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insof-sdf.nsf/
vwGeneratedInterE/Home
| It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw, not
because she is Canada but because she’s something sublime
that you were born into, some great rugged power that you are a part
of.
- Canadian painter Emily Carr
|
2003 National Rural Youth Conference (NRYC)
List of Regional Contacts
GENERAL
Rural Secretariat
1341 Baseline Road, 6th floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C5
Tel.: 1 888 781-2222
E-Mail: rs@agr.gc.ca
NATIONAL
Anne Gabriel, Conference Coordinator
1341 Baseline Road, 6th floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C5
Tel.: (613) 759-7260
Fax: (613) 759-7105
E-Mail: gabriela@agr.gc.ca
Regional Advisors
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Date Modified: 2004-08-24
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