Evaluating Evaluation

So this is an oblicatory part of EVS. Doing Evaluation.
In WoMentor  this is even more stressed as organisations main aim is gender equality through mentoring and people here are really skilled in mentoring and evaluating than I have very intensified evaluation every month.

First Evaluation day

I fill in online Aims and Goals document ( in dropbox) and commenting to each goal or aim about my progress , changes and thoughts - I can also add if I have made new goals or aims.

Then I fill in also every month my personal EVS report that I need to fill in at the end of the project anyway.

Third document is about 8 key competences (for Youthpass). In dropbox we have a document with explanations of these key competences and also supporting questions I answer every month.

+ I also reflect to my EVS blog

Filling in these documents take usually the whole day.

Second Evaluation Day

I meet with my mentor and we discuss all the documents and I give also some additional comments. These talks end always usually with a surprising discovery for me. Sometimes it seems that she just knows exactly what questions to ask or to what direct my attention.

From the last time I could really understand how much we concentrate on the negative things that has happened I don´t mention people who support me or things I like and love. So trying to read what I have written as a stranger I could see how negative all might seem but it is actually really not.

I have a support system who helps me with overcome the obstacles. I have met people , who has helped me with small things but non the less - they have helped me.
And I love the activities I have to do and I love my program. But you cannot really read it from what I have written.

For example, I was a lot writing about my bicycle accident and the insurence etc ... and totally forgetting the fact that I actually GOT a bicycle and I was using it in a big city. Not so easy for a country girl but I really did it and getting back on the saddle this weekend. So I can be proud of myself.

And this is one thing I want to change - to try to talk in a more positive way ... quite hard for and Estonian I have to admit :)

Wiki Jugendtreff Am Grünanger

On 22nd of May I visited a local Youth Center. A youth worker there, Marina, did her EVS in Estonia and we met by accident in the YouthPass meeting at Spektral.

There was a Beach Party just for girls. Youngsters did all the decorations, food and coctails by themselves. Event was from 12:00- 18:00.

I enjoyed it quite much as I have been always an active youth worker and now being last few monts mostly in the office has been a different experience for me. I like to work and do activities with young people.
I helped them do decorations and organised few games. Mostly I was just participating in their activities and tried to talk to them and get to know them and the youth center.

Sometimes I had some problems due to the language problem but Marina helped me to translate when possiblible. This was a very nice way to see how is  youth work with young girls done and just talk to them and do things together with local community.

Definetly hope to do more activities with them

Youth in Action 1.3 Democracy project

So my third project finished. Youth in Action programm sub-action 1.3 Democracy project.

I have to say that I liked to write to the Enrepreneurship Call more than to this as questions for YiA are to wide for me and they have mostly limits for 2000 characters. So you cannot actually write a very detailed programm or justification. What is more, questions are a bit "vague" for me as not accompanied with more specific questions. For example : European Added Value.
Also, now I am getting a better sense of my working styles and learning about my strenghts and weaknesses as a projectwriter.
My observations so far :

• I need timeline - certain milestones/activities or results we want to achieve to build a concept around it. Gerlinde seems to be different. She likes to have a borad concept and then go into detail. Well , of course , that is necessary- you have a need and then in detail you go to the activities but I guess what I try to say is I have to know what will be the working method and tool (mentoring cycle, meeting) and results ( more women aware of EP elections etc). 
• At the start of the projectwriting process I tend to have hard time to focus but I am very focused and efficient near the deadline. 
• I like concept writing much better than budget writing

I can really feel that I am learning in this area and it will be a very important skill for me in the future.

In the end I think that we have a very good idea and activities and fingers grossed !

Short summary about the project:

2014- EP for Young Women is a democracy project with main focus on raising awareness and sharing information about European Parliament elections in 2014 and gender issues among young women. Lead applicant organisation is European Federation of Mentoring for Girls and Women (WoMentor). NGO Öökull (Estonia) will host an International meeting where there will be sent participants from Romania, Austria, Greece and Latvia (Partners and project activities national implementers).  Duration of the project is 18 months. Project will involve actively over 500 young people. Project activities create an open environment for discussion and dialogue between young women and policy makers. As a project result, young women participating in this project will present a list of claims to national parties and politicians about their needs and wishes for European Parliament candidates- so that the list could be considered in developing the election platforms for European Parliament 2014. Results will be also introduced at a meeting with European Youth Forum. Activities encourage young people to recognize their role as European citizens and participate in policy making discussions and go voting to express their opinion.  Variety of methods for participation is offered- workshops, focus groups, discussions in Social media, video interviews, leading activities, filling in questionnaires. 

More about AXA

As now having experience with AXA I can destify that the system it uses is really not volunteer- friendly or easy to understand. This has been the case for me.

As I got agreement from my doctor that they will send the bills themselves to the insurance than this was not acceptable. Demand is that I HAVE TO pay them myself , and then send all the originals to France and cannot be even sure if they will exept my claim or not. What is more, it is actually really difficult to understand what kind of documents they need. They are very nice in answering emails but it still takes few days and calling there is quite expencive ... and so the days go ...

So at the moment , I have stopped my theraphy until I get a "green light " from France.

I have copied the email- exchange so maybe you find some useful information here:

The insurance will cover doctor’s consultations provided they are medically necessary, however, you must pay your bills first and then request reimbursement afterwards by sending all of your original documents to us by post as we do not pay directly to the doctors. Perhaps this is what the doctor was told and there was a misunderstanding?


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 I was first to the emergency and they did copyies of incurence papers and everything was fine and they have not contacted us with a problem. 

But after my situation got worse and I had a serious problem with walking I went to a specialist and he discribed me a support for my leg and physiotherapy as he said that I need to strenghten the muscels around my knees or I might not be able to walk without support in the future. 

I do not have that kind of money to pay for the theraphy here in Austria. Does this also means that I cannot ask for any reimbursments for the leg support or the medicine ?

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Your consultations will be covered provided they were medically necessary and not ‘alternative medicine’ consultations. On the EVS policy you are covered for 5 sessions of physiotherapy provided you have a medical prescription. If you require more than 5 sessions you must contact us before you continue the treatment with a medical report explaining why you need such treatment, a treatment proposal indicating the number of required sessions and a cost estimate of the treatment. You can scan these documents and send them to us by email and then our medical team will decide how you will be covered.

Medical appliances such as supports etc are not covered by the EVS policy, except in the event of an accident that occurred during your project.

If you cannot pay these bills yourself, is there any possibility that your organisation or a family can advance the money on your behalf? We cannot confirm which of your treatments will be covered until we receive the official documents concerning your case.

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You wrote that "  Medical appliances such as supports etc are not covered by the EVS policy, except in the event of an accident that occurred during your project. " Do I understand then correctly that having a bicycle accident during my project is the expeption you speak about and I should just provide a proof ( for example visit to the hospital after the accident) and receipy from doctor for the medicine and statement that I need these supports ?

Can these documents be in German ?

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Yes, usually if you need these supports due to your accident they will be covered according to the limits of your contract and the documents you mentioned are exactly the documents we will need. There is no problem that these documents are in German. Please ensure that you send the original documents and all prescriptions, medical reports, test results etc along with your claim form and bank details.

We will keep you informed about the processing of your reimbursement request through your participant page on www.msh-intl.com/global. Please click on ‘my reimbursement statements’ to see your reimbursements. If you see ‘0’ in ‘total amount‘, then documents or information may be missing or incorrect, so you must click on the magnifying glass or red envelope to read the message.

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I hope I am doing everything right with the claims and documents. I will send you all the copies I have so please let me know if there is something missing. 

To conclude attached documents :

I had a bicycle accident on 5th of May. I stayed at home then until 7th of May when I went to work ( this was longest distance I had to walk after the accident ) and half way to work I could not properly walk any more and very slowly finally reached my workplace. 

My workplace mentor then took me to the hospital - as I could not walk, we had to take the taxi ( attached invoices )

Proof of visit also attached. There I got röngen and consulation that I have to see a specialist. 

My first visit to the specialist was on 23rd of May ( re-visits on 25th and 29th) - proof and activities and costs attached. 

Doctor reffered me to have a 10 time theraphy for my knee- proof attached (in german). 

My question now is that will the incurence cover these costs and can I do my theraphy- will the incurence pay for that ? ( 10 times). Also, my glasses where broken in the accident. Will insurence reimburse new ones ?

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Firstly in order to claim for reimbursement you must pay all of your bills first and send the original documents to us by post. Please note that transport costs, unless in certain circumstances by ambulance, are not covered by your plan.

5 sessions of physiotherapy are covered by your EVS plan provided the treatment takes place during your period of insurance. For more than 5 sessions you will need to send us a pre-agreement request before you undergo the treatment. This is a cost estimate for the 10 sessions that you need along with the medical prescription from your doctor. Our medical team will then decide whether or not this will be covered. This can be scanned and sent by email.

Vision care expenses are covered up to a total limit of €300 provided they are medically necessary. Either one pair of glasses and one visit to the optometrist or contact lenses and one visit to the optometrist are covered by your plan provided you are still insured at the time of service and provided the eye test result shows it is medically necessary.

You must have a medical prescription indicating the dioptres of your eyes and our medical team will assess your claim based on the medical necessity of the result of your eye test.

If you wish to have your eye test first and then send us the result we can tell you before you make your purchase whether or not they will be covered. This result can be sent by email if you have the facility to scan.

So this is where I am with it so far ...