[Moldova] Innovative Methods of Working with Children and Young People (ChildHub Local Training)

Art offers an intense path of self-discovery and self-expression, of connection with others, and can be an extraordinarily motivating and creative force. For this reason, Terre des hommes has developed a program and art kit for young people, ‘You Create’. These kits are intended for people aged 15–25 years old who would like to make significant changes in their communities or bring an innovative approach to the challenges and solutions facing young people. The ‘You Create’ project aims to help young people explore the role of the creative and digital arts in contributing to their wellbeing. It helps them plan, implement, monitor and evaluate art-action projects during this process.

Youth workers from all over the world met in Cairo last year to test this methodology. As a result of their success, Terre des hommes decided to implement this method of working with young people in Moldova; Tdh Moldova and the Child Protection Hub for South East Europe (ChildHub) organized a training session for youth workers in Chisinău on 18–21 February.

The training was attended by 10 people and was led by Vlad Oleatovschi (Child Protection Specialist at Tdh Moldova, a youth worker, ChildHub resource person and participant in the working group from Egypt). During the workshop, participants went through the five work stages proposed by the ‘You Create’ art kit: mapping, exploration, planning, art-action, reflection and sharing. Vlad Oleatovschi explained the innovation and usefulness of this method:

The innovation of the process consists in a participatory approach based entirely on art and creativity that helps young people, in a participatory, interactive and very interesting way, to go through a five-phase project cycle. As a result, young people obtain a united team that creatively contributes to solving a problem in the community and improves their psychosocial wellbeing.

Participants were impressed by the approach; they say they felt good about it, energized and very... creative. Corina Erhan, a youth worker from Orhei, says she will benefit both professionally and personally, and she is looking forward to testing the new method with young people in her community:

The training had a two-dimensional impact on me. Personally, it was an update of the skills to work in a team, of approaching processes and things creatively, of establishing connections and of evaluating and re-evaluating my potential. As a youth worker, on the other hand, it was an opportunity to supplement my arsenal of knowledge with something new and a beautiful challenge to look for wise ways of adapting this methodology to my work with young people. Inevitably, everything that involves creativity, will always arouse the motivation and the enthusiasm of young people - precisely why the You Create methodology is an argument for transforming the ideas and initiatives of young people into products that express their voices.

The training workshop is part of a local training cycle organized by ChildHub in Moldova.