Focus Group
Project “YOUth Ambassadors of Non-Formal Learning”
Country: Montenegro
Organization: ADP-ZID
Facilitator: Milena Scepanovic
Date and location: August 27, 2020
The members of the focus group were young high school stuednts and university students which are part of youth services throughout Montenegro. During the presentation of the youth program, we presented the project YA in three cities (Niksic, Danilovgrad, Savnik( , where I spoke about the focus group and about ten of them applied to be part of the focus group.
List of questions for Focus Group
- Do you think for NFE is important age, gender, nationality?
Most participants agreed that age, gender, and nationality are not important to the NFE, but it is very important that all people especially youth have the same treatment and use the opportunities provided by the NFE.
- What does NFE mean to you? Can you define?
Most NFE participants defined it, as a form of learning, non-formal that provides them with much more opportunities than through formal education. Non-formal education is one of the key ones when it comes to developing a young person, as well as where to continue their journey when they reach high school, said one of the participants. The question that was asked as part of this question was whether they know what all modes of education exist. They were familiar with the formal and non-formal, while not everyone had heard of informal learning.
- Have you ever been a participant in an NFE program? If yes – in which one?
When we are talking about participation in the NFE program, I must point out that not everyone was a participant. We even had a couple of focus group participants who pointed out that they are part of a focus group to hear more about non-formal education itself and in what ways everyone could get involved. Most of the participants were part of one-day activities, while two girls pointed out that they were part of the Erasmus exchange in Lithuania and that the exchange brought them a new experience, a new trip, as well as meeting a large number of peers who are important to them today.
- Do you know something about Youth Law / Strategy / Action Plan, as well as other documents related to youth?
They have heard that there is a Strategy, but not a Youth Law or Action Plan. They are also familiar with research done earlier about youth.
- Have you ever participated in the youth decision-making process? If yes, in which one?
One of the participant participated in the development of a youth strategy in front of an NGO and shared with the group that this was one of the most beautiful experiences he had because he met a large number of people involved in decision making in one place and a large number young people.
- Do you think that more support from the Government is needed to improve the status of young people and in the NFE sphere? If yes, what are the benefits of this, and what are the disadvantages?
More support from the Government is very much needed to improve the status of young people. I emphasize that the Ministry of Sports and Youth is doing great things for young people and that they receive full support through a large number of projects that they have both through activities such as a European youth card, and through many others.
- Does NFE activities help you for your personal development. If yes, how? If not, why?
NFE activities definitely helped most of the participants, as they said at the beginning, to find themselves and to upgrade their free time in the most beautiful and positive way possible. What one of the participants pointed out was that through volunteering she had a desire to organize her own activities with the help of friends, neighbors or family.
- For you, why is it important to be involved in activities through non-formal education?
Being a part of NFE activities is important as it has been pointed out many times because of the personal development of each person, because of the social need as well as because of the development of emotional intelligence and the development of critical thinking. A large number of young people who have been part of NFE activities have a better chance of getting a job, a scholarship, as well as everything else that is important for a young person to progress.