The last Field Experience saw our Master PMC – Project Management for International Cooperation students in Albania (Tirana and Elbasan) with Save The Children International Albania (SCiA).
The experience took place from the 10th to the 15th of November 2019, under the supervision of SCS Training Team, composed by PMC Master Director Alessio Di Carlo and Master Coordinator Cinzia D’Intino.
The aim of this collaboration was the development of a new project idea to increase the engagement of children (10-17 years old) as agents of change dealing with environmental issues and global warming.
As a result of our students’ work on the field, SCiA is now designing a new proposal starting from our fellows’ findings and based on the Intervention Logic identification, involving Save the Children Germany and Save the Children Italy. They are also submitting it to a donor identified by SCS’ students, also taking advantage of their research on funding opportunities.
Starting 3 weeks before the implementation of the activities on the field, SCS students analysed the context and 
stakeholders, identified participatory methodologies that could be applied, and studied all matters in depth. Particularly, they focused on researching best practices related to the topic of interest, studying documents shared by SCiA to better understand the programmes of the organization both in the context and on the topic, elaborating the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) questionnaires and other possible forms to be used during the activities on the field, shared and agreed with SCiA staff.
For the Implementation Phase on the field, students were divided into 2 groups to realize 2 Focus Group Discussions with children of different ages. They also attended a participatory workshop and meetings with local stakeholders (SCiA staff, Schools, Associations, NGOs, Authorities) to collect more information and to validate the ideas coming from the children perspective. At the end of this process, students shared with SCiA their main findings and suggestions and went on to the conclusion phase by delivering the final outputs.
Once back from the field, students worked on deliverables with the reports of each activity realized on the field and elaborated the collected information by formulating a project idea based both on Theory of Change and Logical Framework Approach.
As expressed by SCiA’s Director of Programs and Program Officer: “This experience was not only in itself an important contribution to introduce SCiA with actors with knowlegde and experience in the field of climate change and environmental issues but also served as the starting point of a series of researches by children of child led group Voice 16+ which has considerably advanced their knowledge on climate change and environmental issues. The experience served as a starting point for SCiA to explore for potential partners with experience on climate change and environmental issues and also to influence the State Agency for Protection of Child Rights (SAPCR) and the Section for the Protection and Promotion of Child Right (SPPCR) under the Ombusdman of Albania to start to address these issues by the lenses of child rights violation”.
