Global Network Online Forum - Mar 2025

Dear all, 

Thank you so much to all those who were able to attend March’s Global Network Online Forum. We had a really good turn-out and it was brilliant to engage together on the topic of adolescent life-skills training. 

We were pleased to hear from Mukund Singh, network coordinator of Viva Children at Risk Network, Patna, India. Mukund shared her experience of developing and running the Flourish programme, which began in Patna in 2018. It was great to learn about the model that has been used to roll out Flourish, focusing not only on running the life skills training sessions themselves, but also on preparing child care and youth workers to be able to follow up with the young people and make sure that they receive ongoing support. A brilliant quote that Mukund shared from one teenage girl was: 

“This programme has the power that can make a shy girl a Karate black belt champion” (Rashmi, 18 years) 

Paul shared briefly about how Flourish has been adapted for use in Africa, and we then heard from Hannah Woods, Lead Youth Worker for the Doorsteps network in the UK. Hannah shared with us the importance of understanding the changes that happen to the brain during adolescence. This is a time when young people are more likely to take risks, explore issues of identity, and place more value in social relationships. Understanding these developments and changes can help us to understand, empathise with and connect meaningfully with young people.  

Hannah shared a helpful video and recommended a book on this topic: “Blame my Brain” by Nicola Morgan. 

We then had time in breakout rooms, which I hope was a good time of connection, relationship building and learning from each other. 

We were sorry that because of unstable internet, we were not able to hear from Chimwemwe and Jane from SCAR network, which has been rolling out the Flourish programme in Zambia. We hope to be able to hear from them at the next forum. 

Thank you to all those who completed the feedback survey at the end of the meeting. For anyone who would still like to do so, the link is here: https://forms.office.com/e/bj40XqBbRR  

Some people have already expressed an interest in finding out more about the Flourish programme. If this is something you are also interested in, please do get in touch to let us know. 

Click here to access the recording of this month’s forum – passcode: 5Usl9.Fm 

Thank you so much for your participation in these forums. We look forward to seeing you next month on Wednesday 9th April.