WeGROW: EQ learning for YOUTH

Background WeGrow aimed to support youth professionals (youth workers, youth trainers, youth leaders, and mentors of young volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps) to ensure the social inclusion of all young people. The ever-changing nature of the European society demands a high-level of social skills; a prerequisite for inclusion. This is true for all countries, regardless of stage of economic development, and it affects both the people working with the youth and their target group; the youth. With our project we managed to address the need of youth professionals for continuous professional development with a focus on competences to support the development of the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and the social skills of young people with low school performance, early school leavers, and/ or NEETs. Additionally, we created non-formal tools and methods that are attractive to the aforementioned young people who are often feeling uncomfortable in formal settings. The development of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) through Youth Work is proposed as a means to ensure for all young people equal opportunities to demonstrate good school performance, to stay in school, and to get and maintain a job. Objectives The project aimed to promote the development of the Emotional Intelligent of young people with low school performance, early school leavers, and/ or NEET through Youth Work. To achieve this aim, the partners worked on the competence development of youth professionals (youth workers, youth trainers, mentors of ESC volunteers). The objectives of the project were to: (1) Increase the skills of Youth Workers and update their methodologies so as to better support young people with fewer opportunities to improve their Emotional Intelligence including social skills, adaptability, stress management and general attitude. (2) Help young people with low school performance, early school leavers, and/ or NEET to develop basic and transversal cognitive, and especially emotional and social skills, using innovative approaches. These skills are becoming increasingly important for education performance and employability. (3) Provide youth organisations with a structured coaching programme that enhances self- awareness and self- management of personal emotions. (4) Raise the impact of Youth Work by creating an open European e-platform for best practices and creation of awareness on EQ at European level through innovative content. Implementation Despite the pandemic and the replacement of one f2f TPM with an online one, the rest of the project activities were implemented with success. More specifically: One international training event took place with a blend of methods: (1) self-driven online learning (2) non-formal education participatory methods. 3 transnational project meetings. A Website and presence in all major social networks was created and will be maintained for 5 years after project end. A combination of dissemination method supported the visibility of the project, the partners, and Erasmus+. The methods include classic and social media, digital promotion and face-to-face activities such as the multiplier events, and the final conference. Achievements The partners developed and piloted innovative tools and 3 intellectual outputs: IO1- WeGROW methodological guide and toolkit in Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills for Youth Workers. This is a toolkit that contains the initial activities that allow Youth Workers to get to know the young people better and learn about their individual circumstances through different activities, games, personal interviews, etc. IO2- WeGROW: EQ Curriculum – Detailed programme and training materials for Youth Workers with 5 innovative training modules, plus an Emotional intelligence certification for Youth Workers. IO3- The WrGROW e-learning platform supports new approaches to helping academically disadvantaged youth. The output offers the wider community access to follow the updates, share best practices, and get all the knowledge developed. This will ensure to continue the collaboration of the project even now that the project has ended. Through the development of Emotional Intelligence, youth workers can support young people with low school performance, early school leavers, and/ or NEETs to enhance their school performance, reduce possibilities for early school leaving and gain employment.