How can the skills of professionals working with children be improved?

Because today we know that special skills are required to best help vulnerable children develop their self-confidence and autonomy, a new manual developed by Terre des hommes (Tdh) answers pressing questions on working with vulnerable children: which are the skills needed by professionals working with children? How can they be improved and afterwards assessed?

“This is about the attitude to adopt when approaching the child and his/her surroundings so as to ensure the quality of the project being carried out”, emphasises Michele Meuwly, resource person for psychosocial matters and author of the manual. “It is essential that the professional knows his own resources and is able to reappraise himself before becoming a good ‘guide’ for others; or equally that he knows how to listen with empathy, handle conflict in a positive way, motivate people and mobilise communities, etc.”

Based on a method of learning by doing, these modules propose activities where each participant can experiment with theoretical ideas such as resilience, perception or active listening, as well as more practical, ludic or creative activities.

This manual is directly inspired by the experience gained in more than five years with the project “Protection/Psychosocial” in several emergency contexts (in particular in Iran, Colombia, Sudan) and development contexts where Tdh works to strengthen the system of protection (amongst others, “MOVE”, supported by the UEFA, in Albania, Moldova and Romania).

You can download this manual in English and French

A version in Romanian and Albanian will be available soon.

If you would prefer the paper version, or for any other query, please contact Michele Meuwly (michele.meuwly@tdh.ch).  

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