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European regional workshops Report 2016
Author: Marit Gresnigt (DTV Consultants) Status: Final Date: June 2016
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Content
1. INTRODUCTION _______________________ 3
2. THE 2016 EDITION WORKSHOP __________ 5
3. IMPRESSION AND OVERVIEW WORKSHOP _ 8
4. ATTACHMENTS ______________________ 18
1.1 The Traffic Snake Game Network 3
1.2 European regional workshops 4
2.1 Workshop date 5
2.2 Goals and agenda 6
2.3 Participants 7
3.1 Day 1 8
3.2 Day 2 14
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1. Introduction
1.1 The Traffic Snake Game Network
The Traffic Snake Game (TSG) is a campaign to promote walking and cycling to school for
children (aged 4-12), their parents and teachers. It was created by Mobiel 21 and started out
as a small campaign with only a handful of schools in Flanders, Belgium. However, over the
years the number of European countries interested in playing the game has increased.
Evidence has shown that the campaign increases the use of sustainable transport modes
and reduces CO2 emissions. To date, 19 countries have signed up to play the game and take
advantage of this successful strategy which encourages parents to try alternatives to the car
for home to school trips.
The Traffic Snake Game Network (TSG Network) has been established to share the
experiences of the game with more cities and schools across Europe and beyond. This
network disseminates the campaign, extends its impact and publishes the results and
experiences that keep the award-winning1 campaign alive. The TSG Network functions as an
observatory that disseminates, supports and monitors the Traffic Snake Game worldwide.
The European Commission has favoured the network for partial funding between 2014-2017.
The project team aims to establish an effective EU-wide and long-term support network to
replicate, transfer and expand the take up of the Traffic Snake Game.
The consortium is currently represented by national focal points (NFPs) in 19 EU countries.
These NFPs are organisations that will champion the project, disseminate information about
the campaign and steer the implementation of the Traffic Snake Game in their country. The
NFPs receive support and training from a small core group of organisations: Mobiel 21
(Belgium), WYG (United Kingdom) and DTV Consultants (the Netherlands).
We refer to: www.trafficsnakegame.eu for up-to-date national and international contact
details
1 The project was awarded the Sustainable Energy Europe Award in the category ‘Promotional,
Communication and Educational Actions’. The jury praised it for setting up new mobility campaigns in which pupils play a central and active role. The high replication factor allows a snowball effect: more and more schools and children participating in the project and its aim to increase the use of sustainable transport modes.
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1.2 European regional workshops
The TSG Network European regional workshops are an essential part of the support of the
NFPs, providing them with the tools and advice to implement the Traffic Snake Game at the
national level in their own country. The workshops are about empowering the NFP’s to run a
campaign. The overall goals of the workshops are:
To provide the NFPs with the right marketing, policy and performance tools for
implementing a national campaign.
To train NFP’s in co-ordinating the implementation of the Traffic Snake Game
and be able to:
stimulate the uptake of the Traffic Snake Game;
support the uptake of the Traffic Snake Game;
assess the uptake of Traffic Snake Game;
make the National Focal Point self-supporting after the project lifespan in
order to maintain the action and build up national structures for long term
strategic change.
To provide key information to National Focal Points, including:
advice for cities on how and why to stimulate sustainable home-school
transport (policy level); and
advice for schools/teachers/parents/children on how to realise sustainable
home-school transport (performance level).
to ensure the cohesion of the National Focal Points and the sustainability of
the Network
These workshops will be delivered once a year in a EU regional approach: parallel sessions
allowing smaller group work with neighbouring countries that are more likely to have a
number of similar contextual needs.
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2. The 2016 edition workshop
2.1 Workshop date
For this third and final edition of the EU-regional workshops, it was decided to have a joined
consortium workshop with partial smaller group activities (both EU-regional and non EU-
regional groups), rather than parallel workshops in the different EU-regions, as was the case
in 2014 and 2015.
As originally planned, during the project proposal in 2013, we would have had our 3rd series
of annual EU-regional workshops in spring 2016 in Germany (N/W-region), Romania (E-
region) and Portugal(S-region). At these EU-regional workshops the core partners meet with
the other partners in the different EU regions: N-W-Europe (combined), S-Europe and E-
Europe: these are 3 parallel workshops. This idea was mainly based on 1) having smaller
workable workshops (the consortium has many partners), 2) better exchange between
partners with maybe similar or related issues to their location in Europe (e.g. Slovenia and
Austria having more in common than Slovenia and the Netherlands) and 3) trying to reduce
costs by not having the whole consortium needing to travel across Europe but to their
neighbouring countries (with the exception of the core-team as trainers that would be
everywhere).
After more than 2 years after the start of the project, there was a shared request from many
of the NFPs to meet the whole group again to more actively exchange experiences also
beyond the EU-regional approach. Not only discussing and learning from neighbouring
countries or hearing via the core-trainers, but also immediate discussing, sharing and
learning from the NFP’s in countries that had not met again in real life since the kick-off
meeting. As in each EU-region there are ‘forerunners’ and ‘back-seater’ countries, this was
also considered a better group to exchange experiences at this stage, rather than the
regional similarities that worked well for 1st and 2nd series of workshops, also because the
workshop topic in this year shifted (compared to previous years) from actual training to
ongoing and future scenario’s. We discussed the pro’s and con’s with the core team and for
us the pro’s outweighed the con’s.
As such it was decided – together with our EU project officer – to have the spring workshop
with the whole consortium rather than in 3 groups (in 3 countries) in Cologne, Germany,
where we had planned one of the workshops in any case and that was most centrally
located. This workshop took place at 10-11 May 2016 and was hosted by Rupprecht Consult.
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2.2 Goals and agenda
The EU-regional workshop is an important information source and empowerment tool for the
National Focal Points. This workshop had five primary goals:
How TSG is implemented on national level and can be consolidated
How to expand TSG on a national level
How to find and embed structural partners and sponsors
How to communicate and evaluate the campaign on national level
Discuss the future and to address Project Management issues.
The agenda was as follows:
Agenda day 1:
Welcome and explanation of the workshop (M21)
Presentation on results so far and a few NFP’s share their experiences/
success stories (DTV + WYG) and NFP experiences on different subjects:
Spain (Deluxe version)
France (Partnership)
Bulgaria (Sponsoring)
Germany (getting schools on board)
Presentation on overall results (WYG)
Group picture update for communication purposes
Update on the website and webtool with Q&A: are the NFP’s missing anything
in the website? Also for usage after the project ends. (DTV)
How to involve schools and partners and how to become a sustainable network
(preparing for after the project ends). (WYG) Debates in EU-regional groups
Bilateral meetings (M21) Agenda day 2:
Project Management issues and goal of the day (M21)
Admin issues
Progress issues
World Café: How should we continue? (DTV)
Debates in groups
Presenting of the future scenario’s (M21)
Reminders for evaluation of the results. What do the NFP’s need to be
reminded of before finishing the project? (WYG)
TSG Quiz (DTV)
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2.3 Participants
In total 23 people joined the workshop. The representative from the Austrian NFP could not join last-minute due to illness. The representative from the Maltase NFP joined via webcam (and had a check-up meeting with M21 a week later in Brussels as this is a new contact person). The representative from the Italian NFP had a minor delay on day one due to travel delays. All other representatives where present and active both days.
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3. Impression and overview workshop
3.1 Day 1
To start, Raf (Mobiel 21) gave a short explanation about the goals of the workshop and
looked back at 775 days ago. In the first year around 90% of the target was reached. This
meeting is about the second year; WP management in general and regional successes.
Results and experiences so far (DTV + selected NFPs)
NFP experiences where shared in short presentations:
Presentation 1: Spain.
Most of the schools play the deluxe version.
The NFP tries to influence the schools to
make it a bigger project by working together
with third parties for example, police, public
transport, etc.
There is a strong relationship with the
national traffic bureau. They have a strong
network and relationship with the schools.
The essence of the story is that schools are
not alone, but there is a network around
schools to help them.
Photo taken during Spain’s presentation
Presentation 2: France
In the first year it was not easy to involve
schools in the project. The NFP started to
look for partners to get schools involved.
In the north of France they found a partner
that already has an existing network with
schools. The NFP can make use of the
existing network.
Photo taken during France’s presentation
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Presentation 3: Bulgaria
In the first year 40 schools played. In the second
year 20 schools played. Schools are very
enthusiastic. They want to play every day!
In Bulgaria it is hard to make contact digitally. They
had to visit every director from every school to get
in touch. They found a bank who sponsor them for
local stakeholder rewards.
Photo taken during Bulgaria’s presentation
Presentation 4: Germany
In Germany the TSG project isn’t very successful
yet. It is very hard to get in contact with schools.
There are 16 states and 16.000 primary schools.
Each state is responsible for their own education.
There are many lobby groups and local
stakeholders. They all develop their own traffic
safety program. There is a low commitment from
schools as they have many options to choose from.
The NFP is searching for a partner that has a
network with schools.
Photo taken during Germany’s presentation
Overall Results (WYG)
John (WYG) gives us a summary of what we have achieved so far. Overall we did a very
good job. 19 Countries Playing TSG with 570 schools who set up a TSG campaign. In total
84.145 Pupils Played the TSG. So far 162 TSG campaigns have involved TSG 2.0 with a
Smartboard.
There are some significant leaders in term of schools and pupils. These leaders are
Romania
Greece
Belgium
Lithuania
Slovenia
Spain
Other countries for example the Netherlands and Germany perform beneath target. This seems not be related to the campaign, because participating schools are very enthusiastic about the Traffic Snake Game, but to an overall more presence of alternatives..
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There are still some issues with missing data. All results are based on what is on the
website/tool. For some countries this is not close to reality, because in some countries
schools do not fill out the digital forms, they still use offline forms. The NFP has to collect the
information and add it to the system as long as schools use the offline forms. NFP’s are
encouraged to persuade schools to at least use the online forms, if they have computers, it’s
not that hard and such a service for schools is very
time intensive.
One can do it for up to probably 100 schools with a
serious time investment, but with more schools, this
is impossible to do. This is one of the main reasons
that the calculation and modal shift tools have been
modernised: much more efficient and with better
tracking of what happens for all stakeholders to see.
Other countries had a high starting point like United
Kingdom and the Netherlands (much usage of
bikes, walking and/or public transport). It is hard to
get a better score on modal shift in such cases.
Photo taken during John’s presentation
Website and webtool (DTV)
Willem (DTV) showed how the website and webtool was created. The first step at the start of the project was to indicate the Must haves, Should-haves, Could-haves and the Want-to-haves. This is the MoSCoW-method. Creating and maintaining the website and webtool that we have realised was more than what we originally conceived. Technology and user desires as well as project relevant ideas have developed since that original idea that started in 2013. As much as possible time was invested in getting all features of both Must have and Should have. In practical use, many reported ‘bugs’ are actually mistakes made by schools than real bugs. All NFP’s should check this first. If this occurs, try to make the online instructions more clear, so the errors can be avoided and not to be explained each time again. The additional development of the kids’ corner is used by four or five countries. A lot of content from the deluxe version can be placed in the kids’ corner. Every NFP can decide what to place there on their own part of the website. It’s a feature especially interesting for future use with schools. It is recommended to use the kids’ corner. The kids’ corners of some NFP’s are already filled quite successfully: e.g. Wallonia and Flanders. Recently on the website the overall results are shown. This is done via two pictograms: a sapling with leaves: the number of leaves turned green represent to which extend the goal is reached. In the picture all leaves are green, this means the goal has been reached. In total in this picture 11.865 saplings have been plant. The other pictogram is a weight, the number behind this represents the tons of CO2 that have been saved. In this case 464 ton of CO2.
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Real technological bugs should be solved obviously. Questions and issues can be send to Marit Gresnigt ([email protected]). She will respond not on a daily basis but response time with the technical team is estimated as possible within 1,5 week, depending on the issue at hand. We can use this workshop to come up with new ideas for the website. Ideas about the future of the website after the end of TSG-N project can also be discussed, though the extra development cannot take place within the boundaries of the EU project. Questions Q: Schools are very impatient in terms of waiting for the materials. What can we do about this? A: Every NFP can translate the automatic reply themselves, tailor-made to the situation on how and when materials are distributed in your country. You can include it or send an automatic reply with information about when to receive the information. Q: Is it possible to change a username? A: Yes you can delete it and create a new one. DTV can check this. Q: Some schools register several times. Can you simply delete them? A: Double check this with DTV. Make sure that you do not delete a previous version, as data will be lost. Q: How can we change visual data? Now it is hard to see the difference between bike, car and walking. A: It is not easy to change this. That would be a long-term development wish at this stage.
Creating a National Network (WYG)
Part four’s goal is to brainstorm in
the EU-regional groups about how
to involve schools and partners and
how to become a sustainable
network partner after the end of this
European project. The consortium
group is divided in 3 EU-regional
groups; Eastern Europe, Southern
Europe, Western/Northern Europe.
Every regional group is mediated by a core member. After the smaller session a wrap-up is given to the whole group. Here we include this wrap-up per region:
Group picture - Photo taken during EU Regional Workshop 2016
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Central/Eastern Europe (Mediated by DTV) As expected there are a lot of differences between countries. The differences are not only in the way the network is operating, but also in the way school are organised. Another complexing factor is that for example in Hungary the responsibility for schools has changed from local to national government. To be able to become a sustainable network in a country it is crucial to be in good contact with the main stakeholders. In most countries cities seems to be a good point for the contacts. Main outcome of the discussion that all countries have the feeling that forming a network has been established in one way or the other (Hungary is still struggling because of the fact that the responsibility changed to national level, and the organisation in charge now is not really interested in the TSG, as the focus is on pedagogical change and staff issues). Sustainability of the network can’t be realised by the NFP’s on their own. Main conclusion is that all NFP’s need support from partners within their country or region. These partners can support the project and the network in different ways:
In kind support: for example, a bicycles foundation joins the network and supports the activities with manpower.
Partnership of a ngo: an example is municipality of Utrecht in the Netherlands: they asked for a campaign on primary schools to get more children cycling and walking to school. The city pays for the additional costs of launching the campaign and accompanying the schools.
Partnership via sponsoring: a lot of companies have a Social Return policy. The TSG is a perfect campaign to fit in this policy. Financial support can help the network to flourish. A nice example is that a bank in Bulgaria sponsored fluo-jackets for all kids involved in the campaign.
Southern Europe (Mediated by M21) This group followed during the discussion a country by country approach:
Slovenia They follow Mobiel21’s approach and hope to receive national
funding. They participate in a tender at this moment in time.
Greece They work together with another company that doesn´t have a budget.
They hope to receive money from the ministry of education.
Spain After the end of this European project they have to reconsider and clarify
who will be(come) the NFP, but there is a strong will to continue.
Italy There is a program from national government for cities > 100.000
inhabitants, what might be an opportunity for TSG, but with many other
competing campaigns.
Portugal They focus on working with municipalities who have contacts with
schools.
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Within this group is was also clear that a NFP needs partners. A NFP for co-ordination is
important, but to strengthen the network with partners is also a crucial part of a successful
network in a country. Municipalities are good contact points for schools. They a good partner
in your national network and can give valuable in kind support. Partnership via sponsoring
would also in the South be a valuable way of strengthening the networks.
Western/Northern Europe (Mediated by WYG)
The discussion in this group started with what would be the aspects of an ideal network on a country level. Interesting outcomes of this discussion are:
The way to expand your national network can be done via different ways.
Important tips are to try to involve existing networks. Teaming up with these
networks can realise a fast expansion of your network: for example team up
with a network of teachers , teachers association or parents association.
Try to involve schools that played already. These are good examples for others.
It is strong when they communicate active about their successes with the TSG
via e.g. their website, a publication in a magazine of schools/teachers, publish
photo’s to encourage other schools to play.
In some countries a network of Traffic Parents exists. These networks usually
are looking for campaign to implement at schools.
Partners for sponsoring are also interesting: e.g. to buy nice give-aways for the
children.
To raise attention of partners it is a vital importance to be able to show
evidence. The outcomes of the TSG are in all countries available: Use them!
Social Responsibility is a good reason for companies to get involved in the
TSG. This could be the main reason for them to get involved in funding the
project.
If you would like to gain interest from companies it is crucial:
o To link to their interest (social return, target group, education, children)
o To show what in it for them: what do they get in return.
o To have a good idea of the budget you would like to have and why this
amount
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3.2 Day 2
Project management issues
Day two starts with a presentation about administrative issues and progress issues by M21
(see slides). All countries can see what they have to deliver and when. Problems are
discussed and solutions are provided. Other issues can be offered to M21 also at later stage.
The second part of day two looks beyond the scope of this EU- project; what about the future
after finishing this project, but while we still want to remain a network?
World café: how could or should we continue?
The group is randomly and cross-EU-regions split in 4 subgroups to brainstorm about
different topics. Each subgroup had a subject. People could add words, sentences, slogans
to it. While discussing, opinions were formed. After 20 minutes every group went to the next
table and the table leader shortly explained what was discussed. The next group added on to
this discussion. The four topics were covered:
1) Sponsoring (WYG as mediator)
2) Website and web tool as a backbone of TSG
(DTV consultants as mediator)
3) Webinars, workshops, exchange of experience
and a yearly conference. (M21 as mediator)
4) Gold, silver and bronze membership (M21 as
mediator)
After discussion and rotation rounds, a wrap-up was
given by the mediators for the entire group.
Photos taken during the wrap-up
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1) Sponsoring. One of the boundary conditions of the TSG is that schools don’t have to
pay for the campaign. This implies that somebody else will have to take care of the
costs. From the experiences so far it is clear that some kind of a sponsor is needed.
Flanders has a tradition with a bank company that covers most of the costs. In the
Netherlands the costs for implementing the campaign are paid by regional or local
authorities. The budget is mostly related to traffic safety or sustainability. In the
workshop we have brainstormed on this topic. A partner in the project that is also
sponsoring the project is an ideal situation.
The outcome of the brainstorm gave insight in the fact that finding a sponsor
is not easy. This also has to do with the current economic situation in Europe,
the fact that most partners aren’t fund raisers (a job on its own) and the lack of
marketing knowledge with most partners. A first step is a good letter with a
clear message on what TSG has to offer in your country and what a
company/city gets in return!
On the other hand the campaign is quite an interesting possibility for
companies and NGO’s to reach the target group of children and their parents.
Type of organisations that could be interested sponsors are: banks, insurance
companies, healthcare and energy providers.
Interesting is that the campaign can be sponsored in total but gives also
possibilities to sponsor via give-aways and fluo-items that gain attention in
traffic and for the target group.
In the discussion the following ideas have been mentioned:
Find institutional sponsors: national administration
Find a new EU-project
Link with other EU funded projects
2) WWW-Backbone: The website is seen as key in the future. In the aspired situation
the website should have four layers.
The first one is the tool for schools to use. This layer could be better used. It
would be nice if schools exchange more experiences here in the future. E.g.
about the Deluxe version or about their personal thoughts on the campaign.
The second layer will be used by TSGN to function as a network by sharing
ideas and share experiences with each other and help each other. For the
EU-network the website is a real backbone. It would be great if this could be
enriched with forum functionalities.
The third layer goes beyond the TSG but is related to future projects with
related goals where the network can share experiences.
The fourth layer is about acquisition. To inform schools about successes and
experiences of schools that played the TSG already.
3) Webinar/Workshop/Conference. The partners of the TSG network are all convinced
that the network needs to have moments to contact each other to be a real network
also in the future. First of all to keep the materials up to date. Next it would be good to
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have an international e-newsletter that can be distributed in the network. Part of this
newsletter could be translated by the NFP and distributed in the own country.
Webinars are welcomed. The network would like to stay in touch and discuss
on different items. Exchange of information, learning from each other and
taking next steps are regular items to discuss via a webinar. Cities and other
stakeholders can also be invited to webinars, especially if the subject of the
webinar is content related.
Workshop: on both European and country level workshops would be a great
way to keep the network alive. The workshops could for certain topics also be
open for cities! Possible topics:
Why change behaviour?
Autonomy of children
Use of space
Feeling of safety in traffic – fear?
A Conference is a nice option. Especially when you can not only get the
network together but also give the opportunity for cities and schools to be
present. A (two)yearly conference could keep the network and its ideas up to
date. Have a TSG-award!
4) Gold, Silver and Bronze. This topic is looking at the possibilities to become a
member of the network on different levels. Current TSG Network members have a
legacy as being part of the consortium. However, new members could join, members
could change and both TSG as TSGNetwork will have to develop and evolve. Help on
content, on design, on webinars,… will need budget and or person hours to come
from somewhere.
Per level the costs are higher, and of course the membership consists of more
elements. The idea is both to keep as many on board as possible, but also keeping
into account real costs and what one as an NFP would need minimally, optimally or
as full-service. Costs of hosting and data transfer per pupil also need to be taken into
account
In this discussion the following elements were discussed:
A need for all levels is the Website -> excess to data, updates and a helpdesk
EU-level is important: interaction should be with all members
Development of network: awards, virtual meetings between schools, country
maps
The difference between the levels has to be further developed
A first draft was presented, this will be adopted with the info from the workshop and
further addressed and refined in the last stage of the project.
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Evaluation
WYG gave a presentation about online data. To give insight in the environmental benefits of
the project we need accurate data. There are some concerns about the input of data.
Schools that play for the second time have to make sure they do not fill out the data in first
year’s account. All NFP’s should stress
this at schools.
Sometimes schools enter all data on 1
class. This leads to blank cases. When
WYG estimates blank cases this leads to
inaccurate data
TSG Quiz
As usual, we end the two day workshop
with a nice TSG Quiz.
Photo taken during the Quiz
Overall reflection
Almost all representatives of the 18 consortium countries attended the EU Regional
Workshop. There was a very positive flow during the workshop. The NFP’s really appreciated
the fact that workshop became a combined session instead of a 3rd regional parallel one.
The amount of experience grew exponentially. Experience in terms of the campaign, but also
experience with TSG 2.0. There is a strong focus on how to stay and function as a network.
This is also where we will focus on the upcoming months.
Photos taken after the Regional Workshop
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4. Attachments In annex to this document, the following attachments are included
Agenda
Presentations used during the workshops
The sole responsibility for the content of this document lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the
information contained herein.