Project Hope is a method proposed by Anthony Scioli, Ph.D., as a method of instilling fundamental hope in adolescents through a psychotherapeutic approach. Hope in its fullest sense encompasses the four greatest needs of a human being.
These include an attachment (trust, openness, and connection), survival (self-regulation and feelings of liberation), mastery (empowerment, ambition, and ideals), and spirituality (faith and higher support for attachment, survival, and mastery). The workshop topics were sequenced to reflect the natural growth of hope. Attachments are the first seeds of hope. After the attachment is established, survival skills are developed and once these two pillars are in place, mastery is required. After mastery, there is a need for spiritual hope.
The Peace Building team at Never Again Rwanda began Project Hope by visiting various schools, where fifteen participants were selected from five different schools in Gasabo District; two students (male and female) and a teacher represented each school, to participate in the Pilot Program, which took place over a series of three consecutive weekends. These participants underwent training to become “Hope Providers.” The main goal of the project is to instill fundamental hope, as a resource for youth to actively engage in the world and cope with the vicissitudes of human life.
Participants lauded Hope project as a great initiative that has allowed them to think critically, be more open-minded and has given them a platform to share their newly acquired knowledge and skills with others in their communities.