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Youth Champions Program
Q&A and Webinar
Eligibility
- Canadian youth cannot be a current staff-person of a Canadian SMO, or of a local partner.
- International youth can be a current staff-person of the Canadian SMO, or of a local partner.
- Youth can be a former staff-person of a Canadian SMO.
The Canadian youth can be someone who is here under a Temporary Resident visa for the duration of the Youth program.
- Yes. The program has limited time, human and financial resources to creatively support coherent and meaningful engagement from non-English or French speakers.
- We are conscious that this may exclude many participants from the Global South and are further reflecting on how we can best include them in the program in the future.
- No. The youth does not need to have a prior affiliation with an SMO to apply; however, the youth will need to find an SMO that would be willing to participate in the program, commit to the 5 hours/week and collaborate and work with the youth throughout.
- Exceptionally, in the case of Canadian youth only, we can help make the connection with an SMO after the program has begun.
- The program is meant to be a collaborative one for an SMO and youth, and not for one or the other alone.
Youth need to be between 18 to 35 years of age by March 2021 to apply.
- No.
- An SMO does not have to be a member of a provincial or regional Council for international cooperation in order to participate in any Spur Change programming.
- We do encourage SMOs to pursue membership with the provincial or regional Councils for international cooperation as it would provide them with many benefits and opportunities.
- Yes, it will need to find one that would be willing to participate in the program, commit to the 5 hours/week and collaborate and work with the them throughout.
- The program is meant to be a collaborative one for an SMO and youth, and not for one or the other alone.
- No. The SMO need not have a prior affiliation with a youth to apply.
Nomination / Application Process
- SMOs can nominate more than one youth, they can nominate more than one Canadian youth, and more than one international youth, and they can nominate an international and a Canadian youth, but that does not mean that they will be able to work with multiple youth. See below:
- SMOs will be able to work with a maximum of one national and one international youth (one SMO with two youth).
- If other SMOs apply, we will certainly favour diversity than concentration, so we would pick a two SMO scenario, over a one-SMO scenario.
Yes; however, Spur Change will cover up to two days of local travel for the Canadian youth in the province of their residence. It will not cover travel to the location of the SMO.
Selection
- The program will select a total of 16 youth per year, anticipating that 8 of those youth will be international and 8 will be Canadian, and that one Canadian and one international youth will be nominated by an SMO headquartered or working in one of the 8 provinces / regions of Canada. (The 8 provinces/regions correspond to the geographic jurisdictions of the provincial and regional Councils for international cooperation)
- If there are no applicants or candidates from one region, the program will allow flexibility to accommodate multiple youth/ SMO pairings from other regions, with preference for regional representation and diversity.
Training
These will be determined based on a) the availability of program participants which will be gauged through a questionnaire sent out to selected candidates, and b) the opportunity to leverage pre-planned training events that could be of benefit to program participants.
- Spur Change will do its utmost to accommodate the availability of as many participants as possible when scheduling webinars and meetings.
- If a program participant is unable to attend a webinar or occasionally meet any of the training program expectations they are required to communicate this ahead of time to Spur Change program staff, so that appropriate alternatives are found. For example, in the case of a missed webinar, it would be likely that they would be required to view the recording and send substantial feedback to the Spur Change program staff.
- If a program participant is regularly unable to meet training program expectations they are also required to communicate this ahead of time to Spur Change program staff to identify whether there is a possibility to work on a modified program, that would be agreed upon in writing, or whether there would need to be consideration of termination.
- Live Training: The live (webinar or in-person) training will be quite participatory and the space and content will be tailored to program participants.
- Resources: Any resources that are shared or developed in the course of the program will be shared widely.
Financial Matters
Selected candidates will be sent a letter of agreement, which will include guidelines on eligible expenses, as well as the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation’s travel policy. This will be at the onset of the program.
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