A course on “Strengthening the effectiveness of social dialogue projects in Europe” took place in Haltern am See / Germany, from 14 to 16 January 2026, organised by KAB Germany (Katholische Arbeitnehmer-Bewegung Deutschlands e.V. (Catholic Workers' Movement of Germany)) in cooperation with JOC Europe (Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne (Young Christian Workers) Europe) and EZA, and funded by the European Union.
Christoph Holbein-Munske (KAB) and Caro Moch (JOC) were responsible for the didactic framework, while technical input was provided by the speaker, Susanne von Jan (smep-consult).
20 representatives from workers’ organisations in Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany participated in the course.
The most important aspect was the change in perspective from pure action planning to consistent impact orientation (IO). It is not enough to simply document the seminars when carrying out the European educational work; we must also demonstrate what real changes were achieved among the participants and in their organisations. The course was particularly important now to ensure the sustainable methodological quality of projects in social dialogue and to increase transparency with respect to stakeholders.
Topics
The didactic concept designed by Christoph Holbein-Munske and Caro Moch guided the participants through three main phases of the project work, for which Susanne von Jan provided the technical input:
Impact objective formulation: How are objectives defined so that they describe not only activities (outputs) but also real changes (outcomes)?
Impact-oriented program development: How can we design educational initiatives that will ensure that the desired impact objectives can be achieved?
Evaluation: Selection of the appropriate data collection methods and the development of specific tools (questionnaires, tests/quizzes, qualitative surveys, etc.) to ensure a measurable and visible realisation of the objectives.
Results of the seminar
The intensive practical phases formed a key element of the seminar. The participants worked constantly on the actual projects they had brought with them to the seminar. This produced some concrete results:
Clear focus on the objective: Many projects gained a much clearer focus with the new perspective.
Context-appropriate design: The participants developed specific approaches to implementation that were precisely tailored to their respective target group and local conditions.
Consistent logic: A common thread of impact orientation was discerned from the first didactic method to the final evaluation survey.
Consequences for daily work
The results of the course were directly incorporated into the project work of the participating organisations. The participants now have the skills to understand impact orientation as a quality characteristic of their daily work, rather than merely working through rigid standards.
The key findings for practical application were:
Objectives first: Every proposal starts with a precise definition of the desired effect.
Method selection follows the effect: Didactics are not an end in themselves, but a tool for achieving the objective.
Learning organisation: Evaluation is understood not as control, but as an impetus for the development of one's own work.
6. Additional information
The seminar demonstrated that impact orientation need not remain an abstract theoretical concept. Participants were able to make substantial progress on their projects with the strong support from Christoph Holbein-Munske and Caro Moch, and the professional input from Susanne von Jan. They left the seminar with a sharper focus on their objectives and a toolkit of methods to ensure that their efforts would be more efficient and innovative.