Project Impact
CHAPTER 13
The project comprised both national and international level and primarily focused on educational institutions and grassroot sport clubs. Regarding educational sector, it achieved that the project outcome - an innovative platform SPORT VALUES CHANNEL became popular among schools and sport clubs. In order to develop multicultural dimension, the project consortium focused on development of international cooperation within involved entities. This particular aspect was very relevant to the project objectives to develop new international cooperation and reinforce already existing networks. It was also linked to increased capacity of involved organisations to operate at transnational level.
The increased cooperation between the sport clubs and schools supported also equal opportunities in sport, physically active lifestyle, social inclusion etc. The other impacts were following:
- to learn about different EU political documents on sports,
- to understand that the EU sport policy/the EU sport work plan has impact on the grassroot level,
- to introduce the new motivating methods and appliances with PE teachers and coaches
- to increase physical activity level at schools that could support improvement of learning,
- to offer more possibilities to practise sport in sport clubs and at schools,
- to familiarize different sports cultures to implement the newly learned methods and make more interesting those sports that were not practiced among other young people.
The participants from the school environment better understood that sports involvement is linked to a number of important benefits like enhanced confidence, academic involvement and success, teamwork, and social skills.
The importance of the project on the national and international level was a new point of view to activate the children's and young people's physical activity. This project produced experiences and results of integrating good practices to maintain and increase children's and young people's physical activity. The project results were disseminated according to the dissemination plan on the local, regional and national level and achieved results vastly overcame the intended goals.
Short, medium and long-term effects of the project
The project was interlinked with the national perspective of sport policies in Bulgaria and Slovakia, while taking into account the policies developed on the international levels. It focused on both non-governmental and governmental levels, striving to foster communication and mutual discussions. Of particular note was the recent attention governments across the world are giving to sustainability and green dimension.
Despite a fact that it was not necessary for small-scale partnerships to define indicators for measuring achievement, they belonged to project objectives and were integral part of project strategic aim, main objective as well as tangible and intangible goals. Indicators for measuring achievement facilitated a work on the project and were significant for project management, notably impact and sustainability. In this regard, the project consortium used them to define short, medium and long-term effects of the project.
Short-term effects of the project
From a perspective of short-term effects, the project outcomes were targeted and open to any type of public institutions or organisations active in the field of sport and physical activity willing to participate. Short-term effects were linked to project goals, which were divided into tangible and intangible ones. They contributed to reach the project main objective and strategic aim.
Project tangible goals were sequences of the SPORT VALUES CHANNEL as the project outcome. Short-term effects unfolded in its structure, in particular:
- FACES: a sequence on sport diplomacy promoting twelve ambassadors through their testimonials, where six ambassadors per country were reached.
- STORIES: a sequence on social inclusion developed through six inspirational stories highlighting social inclusion affair, where three stories per country were reached.
- CHALLENGE: a sequence on sport values with a quiz for witty one, providing twelve quiz questions, where six questions per country were reached.
- TEST YOURSELF: a sequence on physical and intellectual activity with one set of testing activity contest reached.
- FACTS: a sequence on EU policy documents on sport with twelve European policies in the field of sport, which were basis for the project.
- YOUR VOICE: a sequence on external opinion, allowing external view on relevant affairs. Based on previous experience, twelve contributions were achieved, coming from both Slovakia and Bulgaria as project consortium countries
Project intangible goals consisted of two sets. The first set of intangible goals were linked to general objectives of the call, with these short-term effects reached during a project lifetime:
- Attract and widen access for newcomers, less experienced organisations and small-scale actors to the programme. These partnerships acted as a first step for organisations into cooperation at European level.
- Support the inclusion of target groups with fewer opportunities.
- Support active European citizenship and bring the European dimension to the local level.
Foreseen short-term effects were measured through indicator for measuring achievement, which depended on external factors and were narrative, with either positive or negative statement. Reached indicators were three positive statements based on questionnaire feedback after monitoring phase.
Medium-term effects of the project
Medium-term effects of the project unfolded in line with the second set of intangible goals, which were linked to additional general objectives of the call, notably:
- Increasing quality in the work and practices of the organisations and institutions involved, opening up to new actors not naturally included within one sector.
- Building capacity of organisations to work transnationally and across sectors.
- Addressing common needs and priorities in the fields of education, training, youth and sport.
- Enabling transformation and change - at individual and organisational level, leading to improvements, in proportion to the context of each organisation.
Medium-term effects of the project were, similarly to the first set of indicators, measured through indicator for measuring achievement, which depended on external factors and were narrative, with either positive or negative statement. Reached indicators were four positive statements based on questionnaire feedback after evaluation phase. Medium-term effects of the project had an impact on involved entities and will be monitored also after the project lifetime.
Moreover, medium-term effects were linked to the project main objective, which was to create an effective tool for raising awareness and dissemination of information in three interconnected areas: sport values, social inclusion and sport diplomacy.
The reached core project outcome was the SPORT VALUES CHANNEL. It had medium-term effects and served to all the target groups defined within the project. An integral part of the SPORT VALUES CHANNEL was TEST YOURSELF sequence, which was open to a general public and accessible free of charge. Reached indicator was a new digital platform as a practical mechanism integrating relevant affairs, legal acts and documents on EU level.
Long-term effects of the project
Long-term effects of the project highlighted project strategic aim, which was to promote a recent work of the EU in sport sector. It was achieved through several channels linked to project main objective and goals. Indicator for measuring achievement was number of people involved in project activities and number of media outcomes addressing general public. Target value of a thousand people involved in project activities was vastly overwhelmed with an astonishing number of 3589 active responders who entered the project activities.
Target value of nine media outcomes addressing general public was achieved. These values served as multiplicities for the next period.
The following areas were essential for the impact and ambition of the project:
- benchmarking of the know-how between the project partners in order to promote project outcomes in the children’s and young people’s sports activities,
- developing new ideas and methods of education in and through sport,
- evaluation of the realisation of the project aims during the project lifetime,
- statement of the conclusions and further cooperation on the European level,
- information on the activities of the project, realisation of the goals and further planning.
