Develop my project - Persévérance scolaire des jeunes autochtones

It will take you around 25 minutes to complete the seven steps. At any time, you can save your information to continue developing your project later.
Want to develop a project that encourages aboriginal youth to stay in school? You’ve come to the right place!

This section presents a seven-step process that will help you develop your ideas and better plan your project while ensuring your community’s needs are taken into account.
Seven steps:
1. Identify the need for your project
2. Define the specific objectives
3. Identify the target audience
4. Describe your project
5. Determine the anticipated results
6. Identify your project partners
7. Plan your actions
At the end of the process, you will receive a summary including the items/points you entered at each step as well as advice and additional information.

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Feel free to talk with people in your community to better understand its needs.

If multiple needs are identified, prioritize them to make an informed decision.
Step 1: Identify the need for your project

Identifying and understanding your community’s school retention needs is key to the success of your project. In Step 1, please reflect on these needs to identify the one you’d like to address by developing a project.
What is the need for your project?*
EXAMPLE
The community’s high school students have little interest in school and have high absenteeism rates. It’s important to offer activities that foster their academic engagement and motivation.

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Define measurable objectives, i.e., whose achievement can be assessed.

See the section on aboriginal student retention to identify elements that can foster retention (e.g., sense of belonging, self-esteem, motivation).
Step 2: Define the specific objectives

The specific objectives of your project are based on the need identified in Step 1 and highlight what you want to achieve. Defining clear objectives will help you better plan your project and assess the associated impacts.
What are the specific objectives of your project?*
EXAMPLE
Our project aims to:
1. Develop young people’s sense of belonging to school and community
2. Improve young people’s perception of their skills
3. Develop young people’s interest in various school activities

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Describe the criteria for identifying young people who could participate in the project.

Feel free to consult school staff to better identify the young people who meet the criteria.
Step 3: Identify the target audience

In this step, please answer the following question: Who are the young people targeted for participation in your project? Identifying the characteristics of your target audience (e.g., age, educational background, special needs) will help you plan and adapt activities.
Who is your target audience?*
EXAMPLE
Aboriginal students in Cycle One at XYZ High School who have vulnerability factors that put them at risk of school failure or dropout (e.g., high absenteeism rate, little effort made in class, behavioural problems, low self-esteem).

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Use action verbs to describe your project.

Take the community’s knowledge and traditions into account to develop your project (e.g., consult elders to better understand the community’s history and culture).
Step 4: Describe your project

In Step 4, you will describe how you plan to achieve your project’s specific objectives. A detailed description of your project will help you better identify the actions to take, timeframe, people in charge, and resources required.
What does your project involve?*
EXAMPLE
Our project consists of organizing a play that deals with the aboriginal community’s history and culture. The youth targeted for participation in the project will be encouraged to take responsibility, work together, and carry out all steps in the project (e.g., plan, read up on the community’s history and consult elders, choose the theme or legend that will be the subject of the play, write the play, assign the roles based on individual strengths and preferences, design the décor and costumes, rehearse, create a pamphlet to promote the event, coordinate the event, perform the play, and reflect on the experience).

The project will be carried out from October 2015 to June 2016.

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Think about how to assess the impacts of your project. For example, it may be useful to distribute to participants at the start and end of the project a questionnaire on aspects you want to assess . This will help measure changes that may be attributable to the project.
Step 5: Determine the anticipated results

The anticipated results of your project are closely tied to the specific objectives. In this step, please answer the following question: What do you hope to observe at the end of the project (impacts, changes) for each objective?
What are the anticipated results of your project?*
EXAMPLE
Specific objective 1:
- Young people have a better understanding of their community’s knowledge and traditions
- Young people enjoyed quality relationships with their peers and the project managers
- Young people have a greater sense of belonging to school and community

Specific objective 2:
- Young people had the opportunity to develop at least one skill (acting, writing, project management, etc.) during the project
- Young people improved their perception of their skills in different areas

Specific objective 3:
- Young people understand the link between their achievements on the project and certain school subjects
- Participants show increased interest in school

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Feel free to ask members of your community (e.g., elders, parents, band council) to play a role in your project. This may spark interest in your project, instill a sense of pride in young people, and foster solidarity in the community.
Step 6: Identify your project partners

To carry out your project, you must form a work team. In this step, please list the people who you would like to get involved.

Who should you work with to carry out your project?*

School	Family	Community	Other

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Use action verbs.

Among those in charge, try to include school, family, and community members.
Step 7: Plan your actions

In this step, please determine the main actions to be taken for your project and identify, for each action, the start and end dates, people in charge, and required resources.
What actions do you plan to take? Indicate the start and end dates.*
EXAMPLE
Actions: Design décor and costumes
Start: January 2016
End: May 2016
People in charge: An art teacher, two keen young people, a community elder
Resources Financial, material, etc.: Material ($1,000): school and band council
Actions Start End People in charge Resources Financial, material, etc.

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Congratulations!

The steps you just completed can help you plan your project in a more detailed manner and seek funding, if applicable. Remember that every project has room for improvement and that you may need to make adjustments along the way.
The steps were completed successfully.

You are now ready to discuss your project and recruit people to help you carry it out.
Practical tips for the next steps:
- Feel free to adjust aspects of your project to address the needs expressed by your community as effectively as possible.
- When planning and implementing your project, remember to take the community’s knowledge and traditions into account.
- Get the young people and partners in your project involved as early as possible.
- Feel free to ask for help in meeting the challenges encountered while carrying out your project.
- Be a model of perseverance for participants: Stay the course and stick with your project!
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Step 1 of 9

Want to develop a project that encourages aboriginal youth to stay in school? You’ve come to the right place!

Step 1: Identify the need for your project

Step 2: Define the specific objectives

Step 3: Identify the target audience

Step 4: Describe your project

Step 5: Determine the anticipated results

Step 6: Identify your project partners

Step 7: Plan your actions

The steps were completed successfully.