Annual Report
2016
Annual Report 2016 Introduction About Recrear Quick Facts and Stats What we accomplished in 2016 Lessons Learnt Our finances in 2016 2017 and beyond
Introduction 2016 has been a dynamic and creative year for our organization! Through our work, we are increasingly aware that within young people there is wisdom. We believe civil society has a crucial responsibility – and indeed a great opportunity – to create spaces to share stories and experiences that promote alternative ways of being. It is our commitment to build an organization that strikes the right balance between being creative, community oriented, and innovative, while being a structurally sound. Celebrating our 6th year, we are entering a new organizational phase: we are expanding our networks, growing the organization and becoming more explicit about our added value. In 2016 we have launched our first Participatory Action Research (PAR) course, organized the 5th edition of RecrearMagnify in Medellin, Colombia, and launched the Recrear Research Lab, a repository of youth-inspired creative research techniques. Behind the scenes, a more focused direction has facilitated the payment of stipends to some of the hard working people who put their time and energy into the organization. We end the year with both promising numbers and committed people. In the 2016 Annual Report we proudly share our accomplishments, and reflections on some of our lessons learned. Thanks for your continued support! Jonas, Kirsten, and Gioel
Message from the Board The Recrear Board is deeply enthused by the progress and self-reflection demonstrated by the executive team this past year. It has not been plain sailing for Recrear in 2016 changes within the board, lacking direction and a need for cohesiveness across all internal teams affected progress, but there have been some fantastic achievements. Be it hosting RecrearMagnify 2016 in Medellin, Colombia or establishing the Research Lab these, activities solidify our faith in the executive team to bring about change more than ever. Under the board’s direction, acknowledging and addressing challenges has become a key mantra within the organization. Where previously issues and challenges would be left unresolved, we now see more vigor and accountability from key internal and external stakeholders. We now see a growing, renewed passion being shared by members, the board and staff to give a voice to youth in community development. We hope to see the Recrear team build on the successes and challenges of 2016 and continue to reach for the stars in 2017.
- Akash
Message from the Membership 2016 has been about tapping into the boundless talent of our members. Recrear Magnify 2016 gave us a collection of new members: a filmmaker, anthropologist, life coach, indigenous rights defender, and volunteers from a variety of NGOs. Together we made some pretty impressive things happen. Some put together the launch video for the research lab. Some of them said “yes!” to supporting Recrear in 2017, and others have been committed to planning the next Magnify in Spain. They’re busy setting up alliances, structuring the financial strategy and overall creating the best experience for the next group of PAR learners. Recrear members have also worked side by side in Recrear’s research project in Colombia: “Plata, Cultura y Cambio”. Through this project they have been able to learn about Medellin’s social organizations through the eyes of our local co-researchers. In doing so, PAR opened their minds to new possibilities of doing research. As the project wraps up, they are excited about how to implement PAR’s methodology in other organizations they interact with in the future.
We’ve also had members working behind the scenes to make our website shinier than ever while others have been lending their skills to put together stunning publications. Some of our members have also been impeccable writers, putting together poetry collections, stories from the field, and thoughtful blog pieces. Our community has also been active online and eager to connect with other members and practitioners in different parts of the world. The fierce team behind Recrear’s research lab is a big part of how we reach out to like-minded universities and organizations to inspire their work with fun, creative and thought-provoking techniques. Thanks to their work with the Research Lab and our newly consolidated short courses on PAR, next year we hope to reach more organizations in different parts of the world. More importantly this means engaging more of our members directly in the heart of Recrear’s work as potential co-facilitators and training assistants. So voila! The possibilities are limitless, the world is open for you and wants to hear and see you in action. Gaby
About Recrear Recrear is a Canadian charity composed of a network of young professionals from around the world. We design and implement participatory youth led research, this allows us to create active youth engagement in community development. Our program uses creative techniques to understand the experiences and perspectives of young people in communities. Based on the results of our research, we support development partners, local institutions and community organizations to design original, youth-friendly programs.
Vision
Recrear works to ensure that young people are actively involved in the transformation of their communities.
Mission
Recrear envisions an intercultural world where young people are connected to their local and global communities by proactively participating with partners to create inspired dialogue and innovative projects.
Quick Facts An overview! This year, we worked with more than 100 young people We trained 35 people in Participatory Action Research • We delivered a Participatory Action Research Course to 15
students.
• We hosted a two-week conference with 15 young leaders from 10
countries
The launch of our Research Lab in October 2016 reached 206,532 people on social media. • We have currently shared 10 techniques and throughout 2017, we will be sharing 2 techniques each month. We presented our work in 5
Our Community Building:
international conferences:
• UNESCO Global Mil Week, Brasil • Conference on Moral Education, Harvard University, USA • Civicus Week of Civil society, Bogotá, Colombia • ‘Questioning Development’, Cornell University, USA • OpenCon Conference on Open Access, Open Education and Open Data, Washington, USA Recrear stuff published on 4 different media platforms: • A piece on the state of civil society for youth and another on the value of ‘buenvivir’ for OpenDemocracy • An article on theater as a powerful reflection tool for Restless Development • A creative piece on the organic revolution in Medellín, Colombia for social enterprise Siembra Viva. RecrearMagnify 2016, was made possible through the collaboration of 19 partnerships - 10 with private companies, 6 with NGOs and 3 public sector partnerships.
97 members We have increased the membership by 17 people 10 of our members volunteered with us We presented our work in more than 20 workshops and events We have worked with 14 young co-researchers This year, we have 500 new facebook likes We reached 820 followers on Twitter 5,665 twitter profile visits in 2016 210 mentions on twitter 30 new followers on LinkedIn We have a total of
Our Financial goals/targets reached: • We generated
$29,000 CAD in annual income, achieving a profit of $3,300 which is actively
being reinvested in the organization
3 Directors quarterly plus 3 staff members on a project basis We introduced 2 new income generating activities in form of consulting and participatory action resear-
• Paid stipends to •
ch training courses • Received
1 grant to do a research project on gender and sexuality
• Invested in Grant Station software to improve grant efforts in 2017
What we accomplished in 2016
Youth-led Participatory Action Research (PAR) Training
Case 2: Universidad EAFIT
We designed and piloted a five-day short course on Youth-led PAR.
Universidad EAFIT is the largest private university in Medellin with more than 10,000 students. Our collaboration started in February, when we hosted our first PAR short-course and they sponsored 10 students to participate. This subsidy is what allowed us to offer more discounted rates to youth leaders working in the less affluent neighborhoods of Medellin. Given the success of the course, we were able to partner up again with EAFIT during the 2016 Magnify conference.
The training introduces participants to the concept of PAR for youth engagement. Participants learn the principles of PAR and the A-Z of running a PAR process. The training focuses especially on how to use a range of creative techniques to make research fun and engaging. The training is designed for 20 to 30 hours and the course structure can be adapted to fit the specific needs of our partners and participants. We piloted the course in February 2016, at EAFIT University (Medellin, Colombia) for a group of 15 young people. The course is targeted to international organizations, universities and international high schools interested in introducing PAR into their work/networks. The success of the training course has allowed for us to confirm further new international training courses for the year 2017.
Recrear Magnify RecrearMagnify is a two week intercultural blast and a course on youth-led PAR. In 2016, Magnify was hosted in Medellin, Colombia. In our two-week jam together, we explored Medellin’s quirky social movement - observing how graffiti, wooden games and gourmet cooking all contribute to breaking the cycle of violence faced by youth in the city. We also learned a lot about social resistance, ethics, violence prevention, and what it means to do PAR. The conference hosted a group of 15 Recrear members. Ten countries were represented - curious leaders from all walks of life.
RecrearMagnify, was made possible through the collaboration of 19 partnerships - 10 with private companies, 6 with NGOSs and 3 public sector partnerships. Here are some examples of the partnerships we established:
Case 1: Metro of Medellin Metro Medellin is a privately run entity subsidised by the municipality of Medellín and also the pride of the city. Our partnership with them for RecrearMagnify 2016 was an example of more out of the box thinking in terms of financial sustainability and partnerships. They made it possible for us to reach every end of the city via metro, cable car and tram services. More importantly, they took an active role in our conference; sharing their social impact story with our participants. They served as a great example of public-private partnerships working in synergy with civil society to engage communities.
Case 3: Corporación Casa Mia Corporación Casa Mia is a youth organization in Medellin’s Comuna 6. The organization provides safe spaces for young victims of the armed conflict, and helps them re-enter society. This year we have established a close knowledge exchange and collaboration with the organization. Casa Mia took part in ‘Plata, Cultura, y Cambio’, Recrear’s research project exploring the relationship between financial sustainability and organizational culture. We wrote an article published in OpenDemocracy on their work. During RecrearMagnify, Casa Mia hosted our participants for a day-long immersion into their world. They blocked off the street and brought out wooden games for the community and our participants to interact. This was a powerful learning experience.
Recrear Research Lab The Research Lab is a repository of youth inspired action research techniques. The Lab is a space to compile and systematize knowledge and experiences on youth-specific PAR. It provides youth organizations with a practical step-by-step guide on using PAR tools with young people. We envision it as a toolkit to complement our courses. Going forward, we intend to engage diverse like-minded practitioners, groups and institutions to co-create knowledge and a network of supporters. The Lab was launched on October 19th through a Thunderclap Campaign that reached more than 200,000 people. The Lab currently features 10 techniques, and we will be publishing 2 techniques each month for the rest of 2017.
Other Research Projects Bathroom Research
Plata, Cultura y Cambio
We experimented with a small pilot project to explore how young people at the University of Toronto engage with Gender and Sexuality. The project brings together 4 gender associations based at the University and will culminate in a week long action research event across bathrooms on campus.
Plata, Cultura y Cambio is a collaborative project that Recrear is managing in Medellin, Recrear. The project brings together 9 youth organizations to explore how different funding mechanisms impact the culture and vision of the world of civil society organization. The research is articulated through a series of eight day-long meetings. The event culminated on November 19th with a public event hosted at the cultural centre Casa 3 Patios.
The project is supported by the Pollination Grant.
The project is part of Gioel’s, PhD project at the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex.
Lessons Learnt First: Value your people. For the last five years, Recrear has worked exclusively with volunteers. We want to change that. We are committed to valuing the people that interact with our work and contribute to their personal and professional growth. To do so, we need to make sure to remunerate their work, and invest in them. For this reason, we started budgeting our programs with the idea that we will be paying a stipend to our key staff as well as stipends on a contract basis to those that are doing regular work with us. This being said, our work will not be possible without our interns and volunteers. We are committed to investing in our volunteers by: • providing training opportunities • designing clear job descriptions and deliverables • creating job descriptions in line with their life projects and ambitions • providing opportunities for coaching and being invested in their personal growth.
Second: Stay focused. Our organization has been all over the place. We say this in the best way possible! We have experimented with different working styles, programs, and financial sustainability models. Now, we are ready to focus. We want to go all out with engaging different partners through our courses, annual conference and by sharing knowledge through our Research Lab. While we value experimentation, we realized that by experimenting we lose a lot of energy. For this reason, we want to be more consistent with our programming for the next three years.
Our Finances
2017 and beyond
Income statement from January 1st to December 31st, 2016
Revenues and gains CAD Donations: 24,130.00 Consulting: 6,224.67 Training Courses: 2,321.74 Grants: 10,799.12 Magnify: 9,585.00
Moving forward, we are committed to focusing our energy on our key programs. We will encourage constant experimentation and innovation by building strong partnerships and contributing to international debates on youth, community development, and the promotion of participatory action research models. 2017 will be the year for us to consolidate our networks to generate consistent income. We are working to improve and strengthen our programs to ensure a tighter community that can realize its potential.
Total revenue and gains: 28,954.66
This year has been an important one for consolidating our research methodology and testing it as a short course. With so many great connections made over the years, in 2017 we will go back to those networks and build new ones around our PAR short course. In the meantime, we’ll continue nourishing ourselves with our soul food: RecrearMagnify. In 2017 we will be taking the year off from the program to build partnerships which will help us relaunch RecrearMagnify in 2018.
Expenses and losses:
Meanwhile we intend to keep the momentum going around #OpenResearch by encouraging organizations and practitioners to play with the research techniques we publish, and submit their own to our Research Lab. We believe that collaboration is a fundamental part of building the world we want. So we intend to keep that flame going.
Administrative: 696.34 Stipends: 12,300.74 Magnify: 7,600.12 Reimbursements: 5,092.07 Total expenses and losses:
25,689.27
Net income: 3,265.39
Up up and away!
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