Emotional Intelligence matters

Nowadays, youth workers in NGOs face continuous challenges in their everyday work. Working with youngsters, kids and families who face difficulties, or live in vulnerable situations, who don’t know how to cope with it, they are reflecting this negativity towards the youth workers, who are actually trying to support them. After a series of events the youth workers also end up in frustration, stress and burnout, communication issues, violence, lack of empathy, etc.
Having conducted research along our network, we have found the most urgent needs that fellow youth workers would like to learn and practice, regarding copying with emotions at work. Those are summarized in the following:
- Learn how to cope with and direct the emotion of others when they are facing difficult situations that lead them to uncontained behaviors
- Learn how to cope with own emotions when a series of unfortunate events lead them out of emotional control
- Create or get a “thesaurus” of practices, tools, techniques, methods etc. where they can lay back to when they come along such situations

In Heimat Foundation we believe that the core of the issue lies within the emotional range of both youth workers and their “patients”/ participants. Not being aware of the impact that their emotional state can have upon them and the people around them they keep on pilling up on negative emotions and bursting out when the situation supports it. Knowing from personal experience we believe that EQ matters is the solution. Emotional Intelligence is a tool that professionals can use to improve copying with such emotions in their work, as well as to support others act similarly.

Main Parts

The project consists of 6 main parts:
1.- TC December 2020, The Netherlands
Where youth workers from each organization are going to learn what EQ is as well as practical methods on how to adapt this to their work, collect different tools, become part of an active EQ network and develop their own online community of experts on the topic.
2. Apply in the reality – January - Abril 2021
Where the youth workers are going to adapt their learnings to their realities (at work) and see the results of it.
3. APV – May 2021, The Netherlands
Where one participant per country/sending organization from the TC and one (future participant of the YE) youngsters are going to take part in order to build-up the program of the YE.
4. Preparation – May - July
Where the leaders and the participants of the APV are going to find and prepare the participants of the YE.
5. Youth Exchange – August 2021, The Netherlands Where the youngsters together with their youth workers are going to take part, learn, grow, develop their own ideas on EQ. The leaders and the participants are going to be the facilitators of their own learning.
6. Dissemination/Follow UP - September - December 2021
Promotion of the project, adaptation of the methods, promotion of the website, booklet, videos, etc.

The organizations/institutions interested in this project are asked to submit their interest by filling the following form: https://forms.gle/bPG3CWEeQRgbFMHGA