GUIDE National Manuals for Trainers

Resource title

Author

GUIDE Consortium

Year

2024

Summary

Across Europe, thousands of unaccompanied children arrive each year seeking safety and a better future. Guardians play a crucial role in their lives, ensuring children’s rights are protected and that they have access to education, healthcare, housing, and emotional support. But guardianship can be a complex responsibility, especially when children face additional challenges such as disability or trauma.

The GUIDE project (Supporting Guardians of Unaccompanied Children) was launched in 2024 to help guardians provide quality support to children. By bringing together partners from Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Belgium, the project has developed a set of practical tools, which share a common goal: to strengthen guardianship and improve the lives of unaccompanied children by putting their needs at the centre. Guardians need our support – they need to be heard, to be able to get the necessary skills and support from their peers, to know where to go and who to talk to.

These manuals are built on the GUIDE Training of Trainers framework and are tailored to the reality of each country. They provide step-by-step guidance for those preparing to train guardians, including methods, exercises, and case-study examples. Based on the Fundamental Rights Agency’s methodology, they focus on realising the best interests of a child.

Each manual reflects national legislation, cultural context, local challenges and case-adapted studies, making them directly applicable. Trainers will find tools to strengthen guardians’ skills in areas such as child protection, communication, and cooperation with institutions.