"YOUTH ACTIVISM AS CONFLICT PREVENTION" PROJECT BEGINS

23. September 2013.

Bujanovac – The Civic Initiatives from Belgrade and the Civil Resource Center from Bujanovac launched a project that will, over the next two years, link the multiethnic groups of secondary school students and teachers in Bujanovac and Presevo. Through volunteering, discussions and active participation in school parliaments, students and teachers will work together to prevent conflicts by developing stronger relations and sustainable mechanisms to strengthen the participation and cooperation of secondary schools in South Serbia, as well as the existing structures at the level of Serbia. On September 11, 2013, the Civic Initiatives and the Civil Resource Center signed memorandums of cooperation with four secondary schools in Bujanovac and Presevo. The "Skanderbeg" grammar school and the secondary technical school from Presevo, as well as the “Saint Sava” vocational school and the “Sezar Suroi” secondary school from Bujanovac got involved in the implementation of the "Youth Activism as Conflict Prevention" project.

Over the next two years, students and teachers from different ethnic groups will be involved in numerous school and non-school activities. The program will include work with teachers for the purpose of implementing the method of structured discussions, through which students are motivated to discuss and exchange views on current and controversial topics. In order to encourage greater activism and participation of students in decision-making in schools, the project will particularly focus on strengthening students' parliaments in schools in Bujanovac and Presevo, connecting and creating common student councils in the two municipalities. Throughout the project, students will be involved in a number of workshops and seminars, in which they will develop and implement voluntary activities, motivate their peers and fellow citizens to join them in solving various problems in the community. In addition to teachers and students, the plan is to include in the implementation of the project and in all the activities the students’ parents, as well as local institutions, civil society organizations and private entrepreneurs, so that the wider community could be active in conflict prevention and could work for the common good of all.

The project "Youth Activism as Conflict Prevention" is conducted by Civic Initiatives and Civil Resource Center, while it is supported by the British Embassy in Belgrade.

Source: Beta