GROW
GOALS, RESOURCES, OPPORTUNITIES, WONDERS
Needs Analysis
What makes a great youth camp?
This page presents key insights from our international needs analysis, exploring what young people, staff, and youth leaders really expect from residential camps.
Based on voices from across Europe, the findings reveal what works, what’s missing, and what youth camps need to thrive.
Methodology
To ensure a meaningful and comprehensive understanding of the needs and expectations related to youth summer camps, the analysis followed a well-structured process, coordinated by Curba de Cultura in collaboration with all project partners. Each partner actively contributed to data collection and helped shape the direction of the research.
🔍 A three-perspective approach
The methodology was based on input from three key target groups
- Young participants, who shared how they imagine and experience the ideal youth camp;
- Youth workers, educators, and volunteers, who reflected on the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of camp implementation;
- Organizational leaders, who offered strategic insights on planning, management, and common obstacles.
This multi-level approach ensured that the results reflected a variety of perspectives.
📝 The pre-questionnaire
Before developing the main survey, a pre-questionnaire was distributed among partner organizations. This step helped identify key themes, such as:
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Number and size of camps organized
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Staff-to-participant ratios
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Strengths and challenges in management
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Areas for improvement according to staff and participants
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Specific data needs of each organization
Based on this input, three final questionnaires were created – one for each target group – and translated into five languages, resulting in a total of 15 language-specific forms.
📊 Data Analysis and Reporting
The questionnaires were distributed online by each partner to young people, youth workers, and organizational leaders in their respective countries. Thanks to their multilingual format — available in English, German, Italian, Slovenian, and Romanian — participants could respond in their native language, making the process more accessible and inclusive.
All responses were collected anonymously to encourage open and honest input. Curba de Cultura coordinated the analysis and reporting.
The responses offered a rich view of how youth camps are experienced and managed across countries, roles, and themes.
Download here!
Thanks to this collaborative and multilingual methodology, the final report provides a rich, multi-perspective overview of what makes a youth camp successful, inclusive, and responsive to the real needs of young people and those who work with them.
📄 The full report is available in all partner languages and can be downloaded on this page.
