The key outcome of this project was the creation of two risk management decks. One deck addresses general risks in youth projects, while the other focuses on health and physical well-being risks. If you are a youth worker, a representative of a youth organization, or part of a youth group, you can request physical copies of the decks by contacting us at general@youtheuropa.org. The digital version is available right here.
This deck focuses on the common logistical and organizational challenges faced during youth exchanges. Each card presents a scenario related to project management issues, helping youth workers anticipate and solve potential problems before they arise.
These cards help youth workers plan for disruptions, conflicts, and logistical hurdles, offering both problem-solving exercises and practical solutions. The goal is to make project management smoother and reduce risks for everyone involved.
This deck is designed to prepare youth workers for handling health-related incidents during youth exchanges. The scenarios range from minor injuries to serious health issues, allowing youth workers to think on their feet and find the best response to protect their participants.
The health risk deck emphasizes prevention and quick responses to emergencies, helping youth workers ensure the safety and well-being of all participants during the exchange. The content is focused on physical well-being. The scenarios that are related to mental health are in the Youth Project Risks deck.
Prepare the space
Find a quiet spot where your group can easily hear each other. Arrange everyone in a circle or around a table to promote open discussion.
Shuffle the deck
Mix the cards thoroughly before placing the deck face-down in the center of the group.
Draw a card
The first person picks a card from the deck and reads the scenario out loud. They will then explain how they would handle the situation and what steps they would take to prevent it.
Discuss
The group can provide feedback or share their own experiences related to the scenario. You can scan the QR code on the card to access additional tips and solutions.
Continue the process
After the discussion, the card goes into the discard pile, and the next person draws the following card. Continue until you’ve covered all the scenarios or run out of time.
Group size
The recommended group size is 2-6 people, but the deck can be used with larger groups as well. You can also use it on your own to test your knowledge of safety and risk management and see how prepared you feel for potential challenges.
Age range
The deck is suitable for people as young as 13 years old, with some guidance from youth workers. There’s no upper age limit, making it versatile for different audiences.
Session length
A typical session lasts around one hour, but you can adjust this based on your needs. For longer sessions, it’s important to take short breaks to allow participants to rest and stay focused. Remember, it’s not necessary to go through all the scenarios in one session—taking the time to fully explore each scenario is more effective.
Encourage thoughtful discussion
Make sure participants take the time to think each scenario through before responding. Rushing through the cards won’t give the group the chance to fully engage with the scenarios. Encourage everyone to listen respectfully and avoid interrupting each other, giving each participant the opportunity to share their thoughts.
Skip irrelevant scenarios
If certain cards don’t apply to your project or aren’t relevant to your group, feel free to leave them out of the deck. This ensures the focus remains on the most important risks and challenges. However, it is recommended to go through all scenarios, you can never be too careful.
Add custom scenarios
You can use the blank template cards to add custom scenarios that are specific to your organization or project. Write on the cards with a permanent marker, but keep in mind that the content can’t be changed later. Customizing the deck allows you to address unique challenges that aren’t covered by the standard cards.
Provide feedback
We welcome your feedback! Whether you liked the materials or think there’s room for improvement, let us know at general@youtheuropa.org. If you don’t have a physical deck and would like one, feel free to request it from us.
Every great project starts with a solid foundation, and our 4-day kickoff meeting was essential for setting the direction. Representatives from all partner organizations came together to discuss the project’s goals, establish ground rules, and delegate responsibilities. While initial work began online, the in-person meeting allowed for deeper discussions, face-to-face problem solving, and the creation of a cohesive project structure.
Each organization sent two representatives, ensuring continuity in case of unforeseen circumstances. This approach helped distribute responsibility and ensure that everyone was on the same page. Team-building was a major focus, with activities aimed at strengthening the bonds between partners to create a united and motivated team.
We also established the project’s management framework by setting SMART goals, building the project workflow in ClickUp, and setting up relevant communication channels in Slack. These tools were key to ensuring the project’s progress would be smooth and organized.
Results:
– SMART goals and workflows established.
– Project management tools set up on ClickUp and Slack.
– Stronger team dynamics through social and team-building activities.
This 5-day session brought together 3 representatives from each partner organization to focus on developing materials for managing health-related risks in youth exchanges. Led by Kirill Tammela, a doctor from Tallinn Hospital, the session emphasized collaboration between youth workers and medical professionals to create practical, easy-to-use tools.
Participants were tasked with gathering real-life cases of accidents and health incidents that had occurred during previous youth exchanges. These cases, along with the participants’ experiences, were discussed and analyzed in detail. The group then selected which cases would be included in the final materials, focusing on creating a deck of scenario cards, as well as guidelines and a pamphlet.
Throughout the week, participants brainstormed, drafted, and refined their ideas, building the first version of the health risk management materials. Despite extensive online preparation, we quickly realized that creating useful and accessible training materials was more challenging than expected. Balancing practical utility with ease of use, especially for a wider audience beyond our usual partners, proved to be a much larger workload than anticipated.
We spent significant time experimenting with the card deck format and figuring out how best to integrate it with our online platform. The solution we came up with was to include QR codes on the cards, leading to tips on how to handle and prevent each scenario. While the work session made considerable progress, it became clear that we were at the start of a longer journey, requiring ongoing online meetings to continue refining the materials.
Results:
– First draft of the health-related risk management materials.
– First key scenarios for the card deck identified and developed.
– Improved teamwork and trust among youth workers and medical professionals.
– A clearer understanding of the challenges in creating physical training materials.
Much of our exciting work doesn’t look particularly exciting…
…but some of us are balancing it out with a hike or two!
In this 5-day session, participants shifted their focus from health risks to project management risks in youth exchanges. Led by Maanus Avik, a seasoned project manager, the goal was to identify common pitfalls in youth mobility projects and create practical tools to help others navigate these challenges. Participants, all with experience in coordinating youth exchanges, contributed real-life cases of poor planning, logistical issues, and mismanagement that could lead to significant risks during projects.
However, as the work unfolded, we decided to refine our approach. Rather than developing separate guidelines and card decks, we chose to combine the two into one stronger, more impactful product. Each scenario card not only described a potential project management issue but also offered solutions, essentially becoming a mini guideline embedded in an engaging format. This shift allowed us to streamline the outputs, creating a product that was more useful and dynamic for the end user.
The session also marked a pivotal moment in the development of our physical card decks. While we had the initial content, producing the actual cards was proving to be a complex process. We worked through numerous design mockups, balancing usability and aesthetics, while contacting manufacturers to explore how best to bring the product to life. After much trial and error, we found a solid production partner, and our Estonian team even visited the factory to ensure the quality met our standards before final printing.
Results:
– Project management risk scenarios developed and incorporated into the card deck.
– Decision to combine guidelines with the card deck for a more streamlined output.
– Prototype designs for the card deck box and cards.
– Partnership established with a reliable manufacturer for the production of the card decks.
We might have picked a bit remote location for this work meetup but the views made it all worth it
The moment when our medical doctor ran out of battery after answering all our questions
More of the fabulous work that slowly but surely got us closer to the final results…
This 8-day training course was the next crucial step in our project, bringing together youth workers—many of them newcomers—who were eager to learn about risk management. This activity gave us the opportunity to field test the materials created during the two previous work sessions and see how they worked in a real training environment. The participants, mostly in their twenties and new to youth work, were introduced to various risk management strategies using the scenario-based card decks and other tools developed by the more experienced workers.
This session wasn’t just about teaching; it was an essential pilot event that provided valuable feedback for improving our materials. We quickly realized that some scenarios needed to be clearer and more understandable, while others—thanks to participant input—were expanded upon or completely new ones were created. As a result, we decided to extend the original 40-card decks to a total of 65 scenarios in each deck. In addition, we added 3 blank cards to allow future users to write their own scenarios, as each organization may face unique challenges.
The card decks were tested extensively, and we gathered crucial insights to refine the content and design. These cards, initially a prototype, became more polished through this course, and we recognized the potential for future expansions to cover more risk scenarios that hadn’t been included in the first version.
Beyond the card decks, the training course offered a social program and cultural evenings, helping the participants bond and build a network of youth workers capable of carrying out successful youth exchanges in the future. The experience also helped us better understand the needs of less experienced youth workers and how we could further improve our training materials.
Results:
– First field test of the card decks with important feedback gathered for improvements.
– Expanded the decks from 40 to 65 scenarios, with the addition of blank cards for custom scenarios.
– Improved the clarity and content of the scenarios, with potential for future expansions.
– New youth workers trained and prepared to manage youth exchange projects, better equipped to handle risk and difficult situations.
When our first draft of materials were finished, we kickstarted the youth workers training with many demonstrations from real emergency room doctors
More demonstrations, this time about how to help someone who is choking but is much larger than you
Among other things, we also learned what a proper medkit holds and went through exercises to practice first aid
The final meeting marked the closing chapter of our project, bringing together the most involved participants—two from each partner organization—to evaluate our progress and make final adjustments to the materials. After months of development, this meeting was a crucial moment for reflecting on the project’s outcomes and setting the stage for future dissemination efforts.
As we gathered to assess the results, it became clear that our card decks had evolved significantly since the first drafts. We were pleased with the positive feedback we had received and used this meeting to finalize the last details. However, production delays meant that we had been receiving the finished decks in small batches. Despite this challenge, we decided to increase our initial production from 100 decks (50 of each type) to 500, making the project more cost-effective and ensuring a wider reach to youth groups and organizations across Europe.
In addition to polishing the materials, the meeting provided the space to strategize on how best to distribute the card decks to youth workers, organizations, and groups interested in carrying out Erasmus+ youth exchanges. The larger production allowed us to expand our dissemination plans, ensuring more people would benefit from the risk management tools we had developed.
The meeting wasn’t all work—this was also an opportunity to celebrate the hard work and collaboration that had brought us this far. We took time to reflect on the bonds we had built, the challenges we overcame, and the success of the project in equipping youth workers with the tools to manage risks in international exchanges.
Results:
– Final adjustments made to the card decks and materials.
– Increased production from 100 to 500 decks for broader dissemination.
– Plans created for distributing the decks to youth groups and organizations.
– Reflection and celebration of the collaboration and teamwork throughout the project.
The final design of the youth project management risks deck. This tool was developed to help youth workers navigate common challenges in organizing international exchanges, providing real-world scenarios and practical solutions.
The health risks management deck, designed to prepare youth workers for handling health-related challenges during international youth exchanges. Each card offers practical scenarios and solutions for better preparedness.
Each card presents a scenario for youth workers to solve. The scenario is paired with a scannable QR code, where youth workers can view potential solution- and prevention tips for the given situation
Another glimpse at the card designs used in the decks
This project significantly enhanced the ability of youth workers to identify and manage risks in international youth exchanges. The training materials, including the card decks, provided practical tools that could be applied in real scenarios, helping youth workers feel more prepared and confident when organizing and participating in future exchanges.
By testing the materials during the training course, we received invaluable feedback that helped us refine both the content and design of the card decks. This hands-on experience showed us the strengths of the decks, while also highlighting areas for improvement, ensuring that the final product was polished and effective.
What began as a plan to produce 40-card decks grew into two comprehensive 65-card decks, each addressing key risk management areas. The addition of blank cards for customization and the integration of QR codes for online resources gave the decks greater flexibility, ensuring they can be tailored to the needs of each organization.
The project fostered stronger bonds between partner organizations, as we worked together to overcome challenges, share knowledge, and create meaningful resources. The collaborative process not only improved the project outcomes but also strengthened the partnerships, setting a foundation for future collaborations.
Throughout the project, we learned that adaptability is crucial when managing international activities. From design changes to unforeseen production delays, our ability to pivot and find new solutions helped keep the project on track. Being open to adjustments and thinking creatively when obstacles arose made all the difference.
Testing the materials in real-world settings was invaluable. Without the feedback from the field-testing sessions, we wouldn’t have been able to refine the card decks as effectively. It showed us the importance of continuously improving based on user input, ensuring that the final product would truly meet the needs of youth workers.
We realized that effective collaboration across organizations was the foundation of the project’s success. Each partner brought unique insights to the table, and it was the collective problem-solving and shared commitment that allowed us to create high-quality materials. Regular communication and collaboration ensured everyone stayed aligned and motivated.
One of the biggest lessons was how essential clear communication is, not just in the content of the materials, but also in how we worked together. Whether discussing design mockups, production logistics, or feedback from training sessions, precise and open communication kept the project moving forward smoothly and helped us avoid misunderstandings.
*Hover over the numbers for more information. Data as of May 2024.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission Erasmus+ programme. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
