Call for Researcher

The National Federation of Past Pupils and Friends of Don Bosco – Malta (VO 1250) are engaging:

a Researcher

to assist in the Erasmus+ EU Funded Programme Sea and Coast. The project will take place between October 2021 and November 2022.

Many a times, the crippling experience of stress, anxiety, loss and grief in young people is overlooked. There are various events in a young person’s life which contribute to these strong feelings such as:

• death of a relative or significant person in one’s life,

• the loss of a relationship,

• change of your childhood home

• Illness – loss of health or a physical ability

• migration especially when forced

• loss of employment, financial security, or education.

The recent pandemic has also been a source of instability and insecurity for young people and affected them physically, mentally, and socially. Everyone reacts in their own way. Our organisations work with young people between the ages of 16 to 30 years, and one of the identified needs is to support our youth workers to develop a professional response to help young people to cope with stress, anxiety, loss and grief through finding innovative and creative ways of supporting young people in this process.

This project seeks to invest in the capacity building of youth workers by developing and sharing effective methods in reaching out to young people through outdoor activities near the sea and its coast; the lake and its shore. Activities in the natural environment can be a valuable human resource asset. Our organisations work with young people in nonformal educational environments and some of our activities are organised outdoors. We think that there is great potential in exploring more the sea and its coast and the lakes and their shores. Sharing our experiences, training and developing resources will help us to respond and be more effective in our work with young people.

The objectives of the project are:

  • To develop and publish a handbook/toolkit of nonformal activities that youth workers can use in their work with young people;
  • To develop a training programme for youth workers;
  • To train up to 4 youth workers from every partner in the project on how to incorporate the nonformal activities in their work;
  • To increase the capacity and competence of these youth workers and partner organizations in supporting young people;
  • To disseminate and share a handbook/toolkit among youth workers and youth organizations.

Researcher

The role of the Researcher is to develop and produce a handbook with theoretical support for the project objectives, and a Toolkit that will be used by the youth workers. The work involves helping and guiding the partners in this project to collaborate in producing the Toolkit and the training programme. In this respect, the Researcher:

(a) prepares background information on the value of outdoor, nonformal programmes;

(b) prepares background information about young people who experience anxiety as a result of grief and loss;

(c) conducts intensive research on the knowledge, values and skills of a youth worker in outdoor, nonformal settings;

(d) collates feedback and experiences on employing nonformal, outdoor methods from the different partners in the project;

(e) prepares and compiles the handbook/toolkit for youth workers to help them develop a programme of activities.

An academic background in social sciences and experience in youth work will be considered as an asset.

Applicants are requested to submit a detailed Curriculum Vitae, a covering letter stating the reasons for applying for the particular position in this project and include two referees.

Applications are to be sent to the email address: info@friendsofdonbosco.com by not later than 22nd October 2021 till noon.