A service, or decide whether the service fulfils the needs of young people. To get a wide understanding of the situation and to make the necessary improvements and changes based on the needs of young people, young people must be involved. 4.
Acting: On the basis of the feedback received, while operating the decided changes in youth information and counselling services, the needs and propositions for change should also be observed critically. How will the change we planned affect the whole service and what is expected from the workers? Are additional resources or maybe even new skills needed? Necessary changes can be planned and executed in a short or longer period of time. They need to be well justified and based on planning, doing, checking and acting. Change aimed for quality is a circle in which every sector is significant and needed.
How to create a quality reflection (assessment) tool in Youth information? Regardless of what youth information or counselling service you offer, in order to establish a quality based system, to create a reflection tool and improve it continuously you have to pass several steps. Step I
Field analyses
First of all you (staff and volunteers) collect all information and data, which are relevant to describe the general framework and conditions of your specific field. You can do a brainstorming session or you search for material related to the topic. You should ask yourselves • • •
• •
What is the aim, or the vision, of our youth information centre? (E.g. to make an impact on youth work within the community) What are the objectives of our work? (E.g. to support and guide young people in a professional manner through their life) Who are the stakeholders in our working field? Who is involved in a certain function related to the field of work? (Young people, staff, peers, partner institutions, companies, funding institutions, decision makers etc.) • Who delivers something to us? (Other youth information centers or networks, technical equipment from IT-companies, offices from city hall, print shops etc.) • Who receives something from us? (Press, media, social networks, decision makers etc.) • Who else is related to our work and in what manner? (Water, electricity, trash, security company etc.) What are the products of our work? (Website as a whole, all relevant data and links on the website or as printed products, like brochures, roll-ups etc) What are services we offer? (Interview, survey, face-to-face meeting, telephone call, email etc.)
It is very helpful to gather all answers on a paper; draw a map or create an organogram. Make it visible for everyone. Why is it so important? Quality in youth information and counselling is not only a matter of a deal between a young person and a youth information worker. In everyday life, we forget sometimes about partners, sub-contractors etc., who co-operate with us on an ongoing basis. These actors’ role might be more important than we assume. For instance, you want to open a youth information center in the countryside. Suddenly, you observe that the telephone and the internet line are not stabile. What are you going to do? To whom will you address your question? How can you provide the services that you are meant to?
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