Communication about AFS Site Visits
From AFSWiki
We want to inform you of a new practice that will commence during the NH10 program cycle - conducting internal site visits. The site visits are designed to improve the overall quality of our programs and allow staff to gain a very local perspective of hosting realities. The AFS site visits will present an opportunity to achieve additional goals. Those conducting the site visits will be able to provide compliance and quality-related trainings and resources to the volunteers in the areas that they visit. Also, by working closely together "on the ground", staff and volunteers will be able to promote and maintain the partnership model that makes AFS unique. Additionally, having staff and volunteers visiting areas across the country will encourage information-sharing and the exchange of best practices.
The site visits will be conducted by trained AFS staff. The Quality and Compliance staff, in consultation with the Compliance Advisory Group, is currently designing the protocol for these visits and intend to train additional staff and volunteers once the processes are finalized so that a larger group of AFS constituents will be empowered to implement this quality assurance tool.
Why is AFS-USA conducting site visits?
In December 2009, the Department of State put forth proposed regulations that would require site visits by sponsor staff. That proposal has since been altered. However, site visits are a requirement of the 2010-2011 FLEX, YES and CB grants. AFS-USA sees the value in these site visits and has responded to the Department of State that we will begin conducting site visits to core program students this year as well.
Staff from the Youth Programs Division of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the Department of State will also be conducting site visits to Sponsored Programs students (YES, FLEX and CB). To learn more about this, please follow this link: Communication about Local Visits Conducted by ECA Youth Programs Division. IMPORTANT: The site visits conducted by the Youth Programs Division staff are independent from the AFS led site visits.
What will a site visit look like?
The local volunteers, students, and host families will be informed in advance of the purpose of the site visit and of a site visitor's arrival. The site visitor and volunteers will discuss ahead of time if there are compliance training needs that the site visitor can address while visiting. When the visit occurs, the site visitor will meet with a pre-determined number of students and host families in their homes, will meet with the volunteers in the area, and will meet with school administrators if possible. Each student and host family should expect to spend a combined 45 minutes to 1 hour with the site visitor. The site visitor will debrief the visit with the volunteers and staff involved to share feedback and insights within two weeks of the site visit.
When will the site visits take place?
The three Quality and Compliance Coordinators and Sponsored Programs staff will begin making site visits this fall. After additional staff and volunteers are trained, site visits will begin to occur in conjunction with other events. For example, a Sponsored Programs Specialist taking a field trip to one of the clusters will also incorporate site visits into the trip.
We hope that this answers some of your initial questions regarding site visits, and we will continue to provide updates as the site visit plan is further developed and rolled out.
To learn about the Selection Criteria of a Site Visit, please see: Selection Criteria
