The Covid-19 outbreak affected all the society and especially hard it hit the youth work sector. A vast majority of young people taking part in EU mobility programmes (i.e. Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps) at the start of 2020 have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Europe has swiftly become the coronavirus pandemic epicenter, resulting in rapid unexpected mobility changes. Participants' mobilities have been shortened, cancelled or postponed due to universities and organisations across the continent shutting down and shifting to online learning platforms. This has affected the international student community and other programme participants, causing confusion and displacement as to what is the next phase upon returning to their home country. The youth workers and heads of NGOs had to deal with all this issues, helping the participants of long-term project to deal with this situation, to postpone the international and local project for uncertain time and simply try to safe their organizations and activities, adjust the work they do to new realities. Due to unstable economic situation many of youth workers lost their main income source and faced the unplayability. All this might lead to stress, loosing of motivation to continue work they do the phenomenon of professional exhaustion known as "burn out". The CMS “Let it GO” was aimed to empower and motivate youth workers to “stay in truck”, and even improve the quality of your youth work and enhance professional performance and competences. The CMS was focused on some of the main tenets of Emotional Intelligence, i.e. that of self-awareness and self-management. These lie on the foundation of self-observation, which we had the opportunity to apply in real time, so as to learn how to extract knowledge that helps us become more aware of ourselves and more capable of managing our emotions, so that they serve us and not sabotage us in our roles. Moreover, during the CMS, participants from different countries, met, shared the experience how they dial with lockdown situation, support and motivated each other. The CMS “Let it GO” had two main aims: 1. to identify challenges youth workers and educators face in daily life and to support them in developing the ability for early recognition of signs of heightened stress and burn out. Building their capacity to identify and prevent burn out, as well as to remedy it, will enhance their emotional resilience, as well as their motivation to perform better within their role; 2. to create space for developing new and strengthening existing strategic partnerships for projects, through youth work and create a space for setting up future projects and initiatives between the participants. Specific objectives were: - to identify and acknowledge challenges we face when working with youth - to thoroughly learn and experience the value of self-reflection - to learn how to empathize with others but also with themselves - to improve their Emotional Intelligence through improving their self-awareness and emotional self-management - to apply practical tools for recognizing and managing stress, as well as for recognizing, preventing and managing burn out, which can be used for life - to enjoy a space for peer learning and support: exchanging relevant experiences and good practices - to prioritize self-care and emotional wellness and apply these in holistic, creative ways - to understand and appreciate the value of failures and mistakes, rather than be ‘burdened’ by them; to be able to convey this to their youth groups, as positive role models - to recognize the educational value of non-formal learning activities in empowering others - to create space for developing new and strengthening existing strategic partnerships for projects through youth and voluntary work - bring together youth workers in order to create new quality projects ideas within the new Erasmus+ program in the youth field - foster networking among participants and creating space for youth workers to reflect on their own practices - to serve as a place for setting up future projects and initiatives between the participants. These objectives were linked to Erasmus+ objectives as project: - provided youth workers with skills which are valuable for enhancing work of NGOs and youth organizations around Europe - enhanced participants' foreign languages competences - promoted youth workers mobility in Europe, active citizenship, raises awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries among participants - fostersed quality improvements in youth work, in particular through enhanced cooperation between organisations in the youth field and/or other stakeholders.
The Covid-19 outbreak affected all the society and especially hard it hit the youth work sector. A vast majority of young people taking part in EU mobility programmes (i.e. Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps) at the start of 2020 have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Europe has swiftly become the coronavirus pandemic epicenter, resulting in rapid unexpected mobility changes. Participants' mobilities have been shortened, cancelled or postponed due to universities and organisations across the continent shutting down and shifting to online learning platforms. This has affected the international student community and other programme participants, causing confusion and displacement as to what is the next phase upon returning to their home country. The youth workers and heads of NGOs had to deal with all this issues, helping the participants of long term project to deal with this situation, to postpone the international and local project for uncertain time and simply try to safe their organizations and activities, adjust the work they do to new realities. Due to unstable economic situation many of youth workers lost their main income source and faced the unplayability. All this might led to stress, loosing of motivation to continue work they do the phenomenon of professional exhaustion known as "burn out". The CMS “Let it GO” aimed to empower and motivate youth workers to “stay in track”, and even improve the quality of your youth work and enhance professional performance and competences. The CMS will focus on some of the main tenets of Emotional Intelligence (i.e. that of self-awareness and self-management). These lie on the foundation of self-observation, which we will have the opportunity to apply in real time, so as to learn how to extract knowledge that helps us become more aware of ourselves and more capable of managing our emotions, so that they serve us and not sabotage us in our roles. Moreover, during the CMS, participants from different countries, will meet, share the experience how they dial with lock-down situation, support and motivate each other. Specific objectives: • to identify and acknowledge challenges we face when working with youth • to thoroughly learn and experience the value of self-reflection • to learn how to empathize with others but also with themselves • to improve their Emotional Intelligence through improving their self-awareness and emotional self-management • to apply practical tools for recognizing and managing stress, as well as for recognizing, preventing and managing burn out, which can be used for life • to enjoy a space for peer learning and support; exchanging relevant experiences and good practices • to prioritize self-care and emotional wellness and apply these in holistic, creative ways • to understand and appreciate the value of failures and mistakes, rather than be ‘burdened’ by them; to be able to convey this to their youth groups, as positive role models • to recognize the educational value of non-formal learning activities in empowering others • to create space for developing new and strengthening existing strategic partnerships for projects through youth and voluntary work • bring together youth workers in order to create new quality projects ideas within the new Erasmus+ programme in the youth field • foster networking among participants and creating space for youth workers to reflect on their own practices • to serve as a place for setting up future projects and initiatives between the participants. These objectives link to Erasmus+ objectives as project: - provides youth workers with skills which are valuable for enhancing work of NGOs and youth organizations around Europe; - enhances participants' foreign languages competences; - promotes youth mobility in Europe, active citizenship, raises awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries among participants; - fosters quality improvements in youth work, in particular through enhanced cooperation between organisations in the youth field and/or other stakeholders. As a result of the project, we expect that the participants will improve their knowledge in the topic Emotional Intelligence. In the same way, they will improve their capacity of collaboration, establishing previous agreements for new projects. The different nationalities of participants and trainers team give to “Let it Go” project its international dimension which is linked to KA1 objectives: - to raise participants' awareness and understanding of other cultures and countries, offering them the opportunity to build networks of international contacts, to actively participate in society and to develop a sense of European citizenship and identity; - to increase the capacities, attractiveness and international dimension of organisations active in the education, training and youth fields so that they are able to offer activities and programmes that better respond to the needs of individuals, within and outside Europe.