{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"\u017bAK Malta","provider_url":"https:\/\/zakmalta.org\/mt","title":"SVYO Research - \u017bAK Malta","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"rUBAnoNpUl\"><a href=\"https:\/\/zakmalta.org\/mt\/svyo-research\/\">SVYO Research<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/zakmalta.org\/mt\/svyo-research\/embed\/#?secret=rUBAnoNpUl\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;SVYO Research&#8221; &#8212; \u017bAK Malta\" data-secret=\"rUBAnoNpUl\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/zakmalta.org\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/zakmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/SVYOIntEve-scaled.jpg","thumbnail_width":2560,"thumbnail_height":1707,"description":"SVYO Research Project Final event concludes 3-year research project on youth volunteers At the end of November, \u017bg\u0127a\u017cag\u0127 Azzjoni Kattolika (\u017bAK) hosted around 60 volunteers\u00a0from Italy (Azione Cattolica Italiana), Romania (Ac\u0163iunea Catolic\u0103 din Rom\u00e2nia), Spain\u00a0(Acci\u00f3n Cat\u00f3lica General) and Malta (\u017bAK Malta) for the final part of a three-year partnership\u00a0research project entitled \u2018Supporting Volunteers in Youth Organisations (SVYO)\u2019, with the\u00a0aim of discovering the underlying issues regarding the long-term commitment of young\u00a0volunteers in these four Catholic Action organisations. The programme for these 3 days kicked off with a conference on Friday morning, where\u00a0the results of the research were presented compiling results from the quantitative\u00a0analysis together with the results from the qualitative part. As the research coordinator\u00a0Mr. Anthony Mifsud, explained: \u201cThe objectives of the research were quite wide-reaching\u00a0in the sense that we had 4 associations, which means 4 countries with a lot of questions\u00a0on what are the needs of young people are, what has been catered for and what is not\u00a0being catered for, what the youth volunteers are benefiting from the organisations and\u00a0what is making them leave the associations, and for this reason, we had to use a mixed-method approach.\u201d\u00a0 He also explained that the process started with a census of all the associations, this included 50,000 young people, followed by in-depth questionnaires to around 37 ex-members. This helped in discovering why members were leaving the organisation. Afterthis, a quantitative questionnaire was distributed to present members of the organisations. This part included around 2000 respondents. Then the last part of the research consisted of a deeper analysis by means of a qualitative part. This was characterised by around 25 focus groups held in these 4 different countries. The objective of the different workshops, which then followed during the rest of the\u00a0weekend, was to delve deeper into the results, especially those presented during the\u00a0focus groups. Among the points that came out from these results was the question of the\u00a0identity of the organisation, the aims of the organisations, whether these are clear and\u00a0whether these are being met. Another workshop focused on the strengths, the needs\u00a0and the opportunities present for the organisations. Throughout the workshop, the idea\u00a0of collaboration was emphasised by encouraging organisations to share the strengths,\u00a0give their feedback and help each other by sharing the burden of the challenges, to be\u00a0able to move forward together. The number of workshops also helped to set a way forward and establish several priorities for the organisations to work on: on a national level but also for all the 4 organisations on an international, collaborative level. Among the priorities that were established were the importance of the core of every organisation, the importance of putting God at the centre, evangelisation, more in depth formation regarding faith and the importance of action, especially social action. In fact, while workshops on Friday and Saturday helped the organisations to simply observe the picture of the organisations as it is, without any judgements or fast solutions, Sunday workshops focused on starting to\u00a0establish these priorities. Each organisation will now continue sharing and working on\u00a0these priorities, for the better of its members. this exercise was a very important one, especially in the international context of\u00a0the church &#8230;\u00a0this project came at the right moment where we were already prepared\u00a0to take a step aside and to listen As Ms. Codruta Fernea, Local Project Coordinator for Ac\u0163iunea Catolic\u0103 din Rom\u00e2nia\u00a0stated, \u201cthis exercise was a very important one, especially in the international context of\u00a0the church\u201d with the importance of the synod and the emphasis on listening. She\u00a0continued that \u201cthis project came at the right moment where we were already prepared\u00a0to take a step aside and to listen\u201d. Meanwhile Ms. Kirsty Cauchi, a member and leader in\u00a0\u017bAK and participant during the 3-day seminar said that she found it both interesting and\u00a0informative. She added that she gained more information about the organisation that she\u00a0is part of and about the members she works with. For her, it was also a beautiful\u00a0experience and opportunity to discuss with other international organisations. Finally, Ms.\u00a0Emanuela Gitto who is responsible for the youth coordination of the International Forum\u00a0of Catholic Action stated that she hopes that this process does not really finish with the\u00a0project end, but rather to \u201ckeep working together towards new opportunities to share and\u00a0propose this dialogue beyond borders\u201d. The project \u2018Supporting Volunteers in Youth Organisations\u2019 (SVYO) is co-funded by the European Union in the framework of Erasmus+ programme and has kicked off on the 1st March 2021 and will keep running till the 31st of December 2023. The study will be made available to the public at the end of the project."}