The aim of the project is strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform, in supporting conflict prevention and in consolidating political participation and representation.
Also, objectives of the project are: building of consensus in the young about controversial issues in the field of politics by means of non-formal education on human rights and debates organized in high schools of South East Serbia; enlarging the level of knowledge and awareness about human rights, especially children and minority rights, as well as about gender equality in teachers and pupils by means of training and workshops organized in 10 high schools in the region; development of critical thinking and reinforcing the young for greater participation in political and public life, by organizing debates in schools and meetings with local authority representatives, political parties, NGOs and other stakeholders for the purpose of handling common problems; reinforcing the young for creating local civil society initiatives by means of training for project management and support of their initiatives; creating networks of schools and other stakeholders for the purpose of exchanging the experience and solving common problems in the region.
Target group for the project are the young, 15-19 years of age, pupils form 10 high schools in South East Serbia, as well as their teachers and other stakeholders representatives.
The project lasts 18 months and it is realized in 5 towns in South East Serbia, with the pupils and teachers from 10 schools in this region: 5 schools from Nis (grammar schools “Stevan Sremac”, “Bora Stanković”, “Svetozar Marković”, School of Chemistry and Food Technology and School of fashion and beauty) and 5 schools from the region: (Technical Schools “Prota Stevan Dimitrijević” and Agricultural School “Sumatovac” from Aleksinac, High School “Dušan Tribunac Dragoš” from Svrljig, High school “Niketa Remezijanski” from Bela Palanka and Technical school from Vlasotince).
Activities of the project are: 1. Project preparation activities (project team meetings, signing contracts with schools, selection of the teachers and pupils for the training and workshops, preparation of the material for the training, media presentation, placing web page, etc.); 2. Training for 20 teachers, on human rights and debating, lasts 4 whole days, later on the teachers transfer the knowledge to the pupils in the workshops in schools, 3. Workshops on human rights, for the pupils in schools, 120 workshops, last during 3 months and involve 200 pupils; 4. Debates in schools and tournaments last during 10 months, once a month in each school, around 40 debates. Tournaments are organized between schools, 10 times in total, with around 500 participants. 5. Meetings and conversations with the representatives of the authorities, politics and NGOs, for the purpose of the exchange of attitudes about common problems, 10 times in total; 6. Campaign will be during the organization of debates and tournaments in schools and during the meetings and conversations in towns, when the promo material about the project will be distributed to the citizens, 10850 items in total. Also, the reports on local TV stations about tournaments in schools, web page with updated information about the project activities. 7. Training on project management for 20 pupils, lasts 2 days, its result is 10 written local initiatives proposals, so called mini projects; 8. Support to mini projects of local initiatives of the young in the field of human rights, for 3 chosen project proposals, with obligatory cooperation with at least one stakeholder; 9. Final evaluative meeting with 45 participants, lasts 2 days, with the aim to evaluate the whole project and build network and sustainability of the project; 10. Evaluation and monitoring, evaluation 3 times, monitoring during the implementation of the whole project.
The project is significant for the needs of the region and target groups since it enables young people to gain knowledge and develop consciousness about human rights, especially the marginalized groups, or gender equality, by which the conflicts are prevented or handled in a constructive, democratic way, the level of violence is lower, especially in schools among the young. The project helps the young to handle dilemmas and controversial thinking about key issues for the future of the country, their region, their position and their future. With the project activities, the young are reinforced to take part in decision-making on all levels, to participate more in politics, to integrate in the social life of the community. Also, the project encourages the young to start initiatives and solve problems in their community, to strengthen civil society and establish networks on regional and national level. Such encouragement of the young is very important from the aspect of the development of the region, since the young are future decision-makers and in the years to come, the responsibility for the future development of the country is in their hands.
The project support by Delegation of the European Commision to the Republic of Serbia