Celebrating Emotional Intelligence

In our fifth year in being part of Six Seconds global POP-UP Festival in partnership with UNICEF World Children’s Day — the team at ignite Center (the activation arm of Doroob global partnerships) decided to empower youth to facilitate EQ to youth.

POP-UP Festival for Doroob Scholarship Students

The journey began with 11 young volunteers – representing Doroob scholarship gifted students ages 12-16 years-old.

Each youth receive an “Unlocking EQ Profile” to provide a deeper understanding of the topic. The young volunteers actively practiced emotional intelligence (EQ) by discussing their reports and participating in Six Seconds POP-UP Festival activities under the supervision of the Ignite team. This preparation enabled them to guide their peers through the actual POP-UP Festival in partnership with UNICEF World Children’s Day.

Our theme for 2021 POP-UP Festival was “For the Students, By the Students” where Doroob’s Scholarship gifted students in Saudi Arabia participated in this positive, engaging global event to connect, play, and enhance their emotional intelligence, and the EQ for others.

Following this, the Ignite team held virtual Family-directed POP-UP events where parents interacted with similar interactive session. The objective was to have the whole family involved and aligned. We are aiming for EQ to become a lifestyle.

Seeing mother’s joy when receiving letters of gratitude from her kids, and calmness on their facies when we explain the STOP at THE EQ traffic light and how importance it is, is beyond the explanation of words.

Pop Up Festival at Aytamouna (for Orphans)

In January 2022 we had the opportunity to participate in one of Saudis largest annual kids’ festival on its 18th edition after being on hold for two years because of the pandemic.

Aytamona (The Festival for Orphans) showcases the concept of having fun for a noble cause.

All income from the festival engagement supports orphans’ life and education needs.

The festival includes a large bazaar of food, clothes, children’s toys, and other life luxuries. It also provides spaces for physical playing and enjoying creative art and drama on stage experiences.

Ignite EQ corner was at the Growth Zone, we named it the EQ Garden.

Ten youth volunteers were trained at Ignite Centers to learn more about EQ and its importance to life success and balance. We used the UEQ report as an engaging tool to explain how we can observe EQ in our life. Discussing its vitality as one of children’s rights.

Although the competition with the other corners was furious, the flow of children to our EQ Garden was remarkable.

EQ is still an area of exploration in Saudi Arabia. Although educational set ups might seem the ideal environments for such need, however, we have learnt that families and kids are starving for fun and joyful-movement as one of the post-pandemic syndromes. The story of that young participant at the beginning of this article was not odd to us. We see a lot of these reactions from those who have never been exposed to the EQ concept and practices.

One of our outcomes from the festivals activates is noticing how the endings are always insightful and eye-opener to both, the young participants and us.