Category Archives: Toolkit 2 – Building Effective Youth Organisations

We run a study club for university students. Like so many African students, they live in horrible conditions for 4 years, scrabbling for access to books and seats in lecture theatres so that they can have a shot at a good job. So many have none of the connections they would need to actually get […]

Coaching is an opportunity for the youth workers – those volunteering or working in our youth projects and girls’ clubs – to be heard and supported.  Coaching is a partnership Coaching should be thought-provoking and creative, inspiring youth workers to maximise their personal and professional potential. This should be led by the youth worker. This […]

When I first started working with young women at the youth club, I really wanted to make a difference. I saw so much need, and I felt I had so much to give. I saw the gaps in support at home, and tried to fill that space. I tried to be mother, sister, friend… But […]

Identifying problems before they cannot be addressed helps us build sustainable African youth organisations, girls’ clubs and youth work. Some strategies that may help prevent burnout,and vicarious and secondary trauma include: Actively managing and reducing a youth worker’s responsibilities. Talking to team members or a supervisor on a regular basis could be a mentoring or […]

African youth workers don’t need to be able to distinguish between compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and secondary trauma – our job isn’t to diagnose but to support and empower. We just need to be aware of the risks and identify the warning signs in ourselves, our teammates or the youth workers we supervise. Common signs […]

Trauma fractures comprehension as a pebble shatters a windshield. The wound at the site of impact spreads across the field of vision, obscuring reality and challenging belief. Jane Leavy African youth workers may experience Secondary Traumatic Stress, Vicarious Trauma or Compassion Fatigue. These are clinical terms for the stresses and trauma you may face as […]

The brain is wider than the sky. Emily Dickinson In the countries we come from – Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria – many of us will have experienced traumas at home, at school, in our neighbourhoods or at work – many of these are also outlined in our safeguarding resource. We cannot overestimate the number […]

I don’t have the power to take away suffering. I have the power to bring joy. Allie Olson Youth work in Africa is challenging, and women like us who work to support young women may find themselves experiencing secondary trauma and other stresses.  When we listen to young women or learn about the challenges they […]

If we are going to empower young African women and build a stronger civil society we need to be first honest with ourselves as youth workers. We want to give girls the chance to create positive change so we have to understand the things inside of us that are resisting this. Many of us, deep […]

I saw that we were a little bit scared of the young people. Young women today are often very disrespectful if you compare them to how we were raised. We were terrified even of older girls at school! But then we realised over time that this is what we need. We need to give young […]