Representative of m!M attended the Roma Secondary Schools Education Conference held on 29th October 2019 at the EU Info Centre, Podgorica.The project “Increasing the Access and Participation of Roma Students in Secondary Education and the Transition to the Labour Market” is a regional project funded by the European Union and implemented by REF (Roma Education Fund) as a national partner of the Roma NGO. Since this is a regional project, it is also being implemented in other Western Balkan countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, the Republic of NorthMacedonia, as well as Turkey.
In cooperation with partners (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Center for Vocational Education, Institute for Education, Employment Service) NGO Young Roma will work to improve the academic achievement and employability of Roma and Egyptian students attending high school. What this project wants to achieve is:
Increased high school graduation rate for RE students
– Increased employment rate of young Roma and Egyptian high school graduates
– Increased rate of RE students who continued their education and enrolled in colleges
This will be achieved through providing financial support for students, providing mentoring, as well as providing opportunities to practice and gain work experience after high school.
The planned duration of the project is three years. Within each school year:
– 50 students will be awarded scholarships- 50 students will be assigned mentors to accompany their work
– 12 students will have the opportunity to practice in one of the selected organisations
The project budget for one school year is 31,800 euros. The amount for scholarships is 15,000 and for mentoring 9,450 euros per year.
Main activities envisaged by the project:
– Announcing a public call for students and selecting students for tuition- Meeting and signing contracts with scholarship recipients
– Announcement of a public call for the selection of mentors – professors to support students of the RE population
– Organising info-sessions in which Roma and Egyptian students will be informed about employment opportunities (in Podgorica, Niksic, one coastal and one town in the north of Montenegro)
– Organising trainings to teach students how to build the skills required to find a job
– Organising visits to employers where those who have graduated from high school will be able to practise for 6 months
– Selection of students who will practise, monitoring the implementation of practice
The project and the results achieved will be presented to stakeholders and the general public within two conferences that will be organised at the beginning and end of the project implementation.