Center for monitoring and research (CEMI) organized national conference on young people, as a part of project „Smart Start“ on 26. December 2018. in Podgorica.
The aim of the project was to present research and results as well as recomendations of the realized project which was funded by Minstry of sport.
At the beginning oppening session had director of Directorate of for young people, Nenad Koprivica, who expressed gratefulness to Ministry of sport which supported this project, which was conducted by Center for monitornig nad research, among 86 other projects this year only. According to him, a lot of activities were done in cooperation with local self governments and also as a part of cooperation, they were working on sensibility of local self governance, so that we could get more time, space and resources to work on a policy of young people.
“In some towns we have good results and in some good results are missing. But, already we can see some improvement, so i think in following period that is going to be even better”, Koprivica said.
Within this project, young educators passed through adequate training sessions in summer school, which was held in place named Ivanova korita from 28. to 30. September.
Besides coeval education, participants had the chance to get to know with political systems in Montenegro and European integrations.
“In addition to peer education workshops, school attendees learned about the political system of Montenegro and European integration. In the next phase of the project the young peer educators have met other high school students in all municipalities in Montenegro, on the characteristics of the system in which they live, and positively influence their encouragement and education for more active participation in decision making, identifying a problem to its population, proposing sustainable solutions to overcome them, and all of it through non-formal education. The goal is exactly achieved by thematic lectures and workshops, peer educators in the context of students’ parliaments, “said Djukanovic Nikoleta, executive director of the Center for Monitoring and research.
CEMI within this project developed a mobile and web app (smart-start. me) dedicated to informing young people about their rights in employment relationships and existing platforms for employment, with a map of existing youth organizations in Montenegro. The project was organized exhibition of peer educators, resulting in the aforementioned Summer School for peer educators, which sent a symbolic message about the importance of improving the situation of young people in Montenegro.
Director of secondary, vocational and adult education at the Ministry of Education, Veljko Tomić, pointed to the problem of bullying and called peer educators, through informal communication, raise awareness among friends.
“As much as we have talked with the position of the Minister, Deputy etc. first came to the young people that communication is achieved between you. In our secondary vocational schools, bullying has taken hold and all additional training is required, “said Tomić.
Key innovations in education reform, as he said, the creation of good conditions for the introduction of dual education in secondary vocational schools.
“With dual education we started last 2017/2018. and the results have been great. The idea is that, through the promotion of vocational schools, breaks down the prejudices of young graduates. Typing faculty is great, but the promotion of vocational education aims to show that the best elementary school graduates enroll in secondary vocational schools and that there is a possibility of faster coming to work, “said Tomić.
Within The panel of the importance of peer education of their experience within the school for peer educators organized by CEMI transfer young people from NGOs, student parliaments and youth clubs.
Coordinator of peer educators / NGO that Prima, Jelena Jovanović, believes that formal education is very important for young people and for the local community and for the whole country. The Secretary General of the Union of high school students of Montenegro, Jovan Bojović, explained that peer education is a significant factor in bringing about positive changes in society.
Peer educator and a representative of the NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro Đorđe Borozan, said that peer education is gaining importance in a society where technology takes precedence, and changing the way of learning. “I think that this kind of education is an essential and must be constant.
Its main advantage is its openness to peer educators. It is only natural that young people have more freedom to express their views before any of their years, but before the teacher or parents, “said Borozan.