The fundamental building block of communities is compassion. It spreads kindness, understanding, tolerance, warmth, and connection among people. Compassion, both toward self and toward others, is an emotional response, believed to be an essential aspect of well-being. 

In collaboration with partner organizations, Connect International will take part in a “Circle of Compassion” and provide youth workers and other professionals with the opportunity to share experiences and practices, offering support and valuable information in youth work, particularly in counseling young people in distress. 

The project has a long-term focus on enhancing the skills of youth workers on one hand, and promoting the social inclusion of young people on the other. By emphasizing compassion in youth work, we are moving towards the development and implementation of new solutions to meet the needs of youth.

Through the planned project activities, the project will promote compassionate approaches among individuals and organizations involved in the project. The entire project offers an opportunity for the development and strengthening of a more compassionate society, as youth workers are often the ones co-creating change with young people in local communities, while also introducing innovations and building bridges between different stakeholders.

The main project activities are:

– An international conference on compassion, aimed at expanding the scientific definition of compassion.

– A research on the impact of compassion on work and life.

– Digitization of the workbook “Leadership Based on Compassion.”

– Development of an educational module and pilot implementation at the national level.

We are committed to promoting the well-being of young people and ready to experiment with new approaches that better meet their needs. We believe that by achieving our goals, we will have a positive impact on the quality, innovation, and recognition of youth work. When youth workers approach their work with compassion, there is a greater likelihood that we are attentive to the needs and interests of young people and that we develop programs and activities that are engaging, meaningful, and effective for them.

The project is led by Mladi zmaji (Youth Dragons), in collaboration with project partners Connect International, from Belgium and Libero, from Serbia. The project is co-funded by the European Union and will take place from November 2023 to January 2025.