The Safety first! project focuses on the professional skills and knowledge of youth workers providing physically and mentally safe environment for youth.

Youth need to feel and be safe to explore their interests and opinions. Without safety no learning, development can happen (Maslow). Youth workers need to offer physically, emotionally safe environment to develop skills, to socialise with peers and adults, discover their unique identity. Both the knowledge and the sensitivity of youth workers in recognising and dealing with sensitive situations can and have to be improved.

The project wants to support youth workers, youth educators with a framework of various elements to develop their professional competencies. Using those youth workers can make more informed preparations and decisions - thus creating a safer learning environment.

Developing recommendations and a researched and tested training will support the project to get a comprehensive base for the work. The online platform with practical tools and case examples will be available for self-directed learning and supporting the work of youth workers. Sensitising, raising awareness and giving practical tools goes hand in hand in the project.

The consortium is built on the aim to create synergies. Partners are experts and practitioners of an important segment to reach the aim.

Hungarian Association for Expressive Arts and Dance Therapy (IKTE-Hungary), the project leader, provides emotional safety knowledge and practice.

Civil Protection Falchi del Salento (Italy) provides first aid, raising awareness on safety matters knowledge and experience.

Community Development Institute Association (CDI-North Macedonia) provides broad and long experience in youth work, working with at times emotionally difficult topics, groups.

Activities of Safety first! project

Research

The project will search for existing knowledge and realities on the field of each partner’s country. Compare expectations and needs of youth and youth professionals related to the topic. Define core values and topics and the question of responsibility. Incorporate good examples, relevant questions.

Trainings for youth workers on safety

Safety first! will realise a complex training curriculum on safety in youth work. It will be based on different international training courses on mental-emotional safety and on physical safety (1-1 training), on their evaluation and local testing events.

Online platform

The online platform - in 5 languages (German, Italian, Hungarian, Macedonian, and English) - offers a space for self-directed learning on safety in youth work. It offers information, recommendations, the training curricula on safety measurements, tools, and case studies in user-friendly way. The platform will contain self-assessment of the learner and practical materials, including working with youth with special needs.

Raising awareness

The project results provide youth workers with recommendations based on research, in person trainings run by the consortium and an online platform of a holistic summary on safety and practical tools for use in youth programs. Safety first! will maintain a 3-month long awareness raising campaign on social media in 5 languages.

The results will be also disseminated in an international conference and in local events in every partner country. The results of the Safety first! project would contribute directly to the quality of youth work and as it has no previous known and acknowledged examples at EU level, it is absolutely novel and innovative.

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