2016/2017 Narrative Report

In 2016, the NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro worked on strengthening the capacity of the organization and developing partnerships with domestic and international organizations. We also worked on increasing the mobility of the Montenegrin youth, as well as promoting volunteerism, education, and information.

JANUARY 2016

• Eleven new interns joined our team through the “Program of Professional Training of University Graduates.”
• We successfully realized a seminar on January 23-24 as part of the project “Ensure Your Future” (“OSIgurajbudućnost”).

FEBRUARY 2016

• Members of the organization held a meeting on February 13, 2016, which involved the General Assembly.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro members attended the seminar “Possibilities for IT Startup Networking for Montenegrin Youth” which was held on February 17 in the premises of Chamber of Economy Montenegro. The seminar was organized by the NGO The Women’s Room in collaboration with the Chamber of Economy, Ministry of Science and Bild Studio.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro members participated in a workshop regarding Erasmus+ projects and youth work, which took place in Vršac from February 21-28, 2016.The workshop was organized as part of the project „Quality of European Youth Work: It’s About YOU(th)!“ The project is intended for participants to exchange knowledge and experiences about the quality of European youth work.

MARCH 2016

• The workshop was organized as part of the project „Quality of European Youth Work: It’s About YOU(th)!“ The project is intended for participants to exchange knowledge and experiences about the quality of European youth work.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro and the student organization ADAMAS organized the School of Rhetoric and Public Speaking. The school started on March 21 and lasted until the end of June 2016.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro representatives attended the study visit of the Albanian NGO New Vision on March 27, 2016 in Ulcinj.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro members and volunteers participated in the blood donation campaign which was organized to mark the organization’s fifth birthday. This is a traditional birthday activity of the M!M team, and in 2016 a dozen members and volunteers donated blood.

APRIL 2016 

• On April 3, we held a meeting with volunteers at which we talked about the Volunteer Service Reform. Volunteers were split into three teams.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro marked the International Health Day (April 7) with a volunteer activity in the Njegoš park. Through this activity we wanted to remind citizens of the importance of regular medical checkups and body and health care. A member of M!M, who is also a medical technician, was in charge of checking the blood pressure and blood sugar levels of participants.
• The NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro cooperated with the NGO Memos from Germany in organizing a partner meeting in Petrovac, as part of the international project “Recollecting the Future”. Representatives of organizations from Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, and Germany were present at the event.

MAY 2016

• On International Activism Day, the M!M team participated in the program “Dnevnica” which is broadcast on TV Vijesti. Members of the M!M teamed up with the celebrated Montenegrin actor MomčiloOtašević to collect donations at the Book Fair held from May 9 to May 15 in Delta.
• Presentations were organized in northern cities of Montenegro – Kolašin, Mojkovac, Berane, and Bijelo Polje, as well as in Nikšić and Podgorica. High school students had the chance to learn about our organization and the Summer School of Sports and Healthy Living which Mladiinfo Montenegro organizes in Prčanj.
• An M!M member attended the first consultative meeting in the Montenegro offices of TASCO and the Center for Development of NGOs (CRNVO) – Resource Center for NGOs. The meetings were held to discuss the Evaluation Report of the needs of civil society organizations.

JUNE 2016

• Around twenty youth organization representatives, including M!M members, participated in the Forum of Youth Policies which was held in the hotel Ramada, Podgorica on June 15. During the forum, participants worked in groups on six recognized areas in drafting strategies for the youth, with the goal of creating the draft of an action plan for 2017 to 2019.
• The NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro members participated in the instructor training which was organized as part of the project “Quality of European Youth Work: It’s About You(th)!” which was held from June 8 to June 15 in Sajan, Serbia.
• Part of the M!M team joined the student organization EESTEC in the humanitarian activity in fundraising for Iva Bijelić. The activity took place in the morning of June 17 in rooms of different faculties of University of Montenegro. The M!M team and an EESTEC member informed students and professors of the Law Faculty about the humanitarian activity.
• Six individuals with disabilities received English training in our organization. At the end of the training they received a certificate for a successful completion of the course.
• An M!M volunteer participated in the seminar “Tools for Social Development” which took place from June 19-25 in Vrnjačka Banja. The goal of the second “Tools for Social Development” seminar was to train young people from various countries, as well as help them develop skills through drama and theater techniques as a means of social inclusion of the underprivileged youth.

JULY 2016

• The TASCO office in Montenegro in collaboration with the Center for Development of NGOs (CRNVO) organized the second Fair of NGOs in Bijelo Polje on July 2. Forty representatives of NGOs gathered at the fair, including the M!M team.
• President of the Parliament DarkoPajović signed the Cooperation Agreement with 57 NGOs, among which is our NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro. The goals of the agreement are raising the effectiveness of NGO work and the levels of parliament openness toward their demands, which encourages strengthening of the institutional dialogue between the Parliament and NGOs.
• The NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro organized the Summer School of Sports and Healthy Living “Active and Healthy This Summer” from July 30 to August 5, 2016 in Prčanj. Young people from Slovakia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Hungary, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro participated and had fun, while also learning about healthy lifestyles and different sports.

AUGUST 2016

• The NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro partnered with the Youth Council of Berane to mark the International Youth Day on August 12. A mini olympiad was held under the slogan “If not me, who? If not now, when?” in the city center. Young people had the chance to play a couple of interesting games such as badminton, twist, and ludo.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro members participated in the third seminar “Tools for Social Development” held on August 21-21 in Vrnjačka Banja. The seminar was organized by People to People Serbia, and aside from Montenegro, participants came from ten different European countries: Greece, Portugal, France, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, and Slovenia.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro representatives participated in the training “From Idea to Europe” which was held on August 26-30 in Greece. The training was hosted by the Biznisnova Association, who are our project partners.

OCTOBER 2016

• The Center for Civic Education (CGO), as part of the project “Think Locally – Act Locally! – Fight against corruption on a local level,” signed the contracts with civil society organizations on October 10. The organizations were funded through the first call, as part of the call for project support of all organizations in Montenegro in 2016.
• The Mladiinfo Montenegro representative attended a meeting with the EU delegation on October 7, 2016. The meeting was headed by Ulrike Lunacek, member of the European Parliament. The topic of the meeting was the Montenegrin youth, legislation, as well as past work of the NGO in this area.
• The prominent Montenegrin actor MomčiloOtašević visited Mladiinfo Montenegro on October 13, and opened the School of Public Speaking. The aim of this school is for participants to acquire experience which will be useful in situations that involve public speaking or performance.
• A member of Mladiinfo Montenegro participated in the study visit “Building Paths for EVS” held in Amsterdam on October 17-22. During the four-day visit, participants from Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo learned about the EVH volunteer system in the Netherlands.
• M!M representatives participated in the seminar “Recollecting the Future“ which took place in Sarajevo from October 22-28. This project was organized by Memos from Berlin with partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Montenegro with the goal of encouraging young people to think about Yugoslavia in order to jointly remember the values that existed back then and could potentially be applied in our society now.
• Representatives of M!M participated in the training “Project Management Academy” which was held in Durres, Albania on October 23-31. At the Project Management Academy (PMA) were gathered fourteen NGOs from Erasmus+ program countries and countries from the western Balkans with the main goal to develop the total capacity of youth organizations for an efficient project management.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro participated in the lecture and discussion on the topic “Indirect EU fund management for NGOs – IPA II perspectives and opportunities (2014-2020).”The event was organized by the Office for Collaboration with NGOs in the PR Center as part of the project “Technical support for the development of institutionalized cooperation mechanisms between the Montenegrin government and NGOs.”

NOVEMBER 2016

• Mladiinfo Montenegro attended the conference “Representative and Participative Democracy in Montenegro,” organized by the Center for Civic Education and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation.The goal of the conference was to encourage a direct dialogue between two very influential structures in Montenegro – political party representatives and NGOs, in order to address certain questions which are part of the Montenegrin public discourse, but are not addressed enough, and are therefore prone to manipulations.
• A Mladiinfo Montenegro member participated in the training “Migrations Enriching Society” which was held in Prijepolje on November 1-9. During the visit, participants from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia learned about the issues related to migration through different workshops and presentations.
• A Mladiinfo Montenegro volunteer participated in the project “Enter Unity – EU4U” held in Limassol, Cyprus on November 8-15.The project was organized by the DOREA Educational Institute, and our member’s participation was supported by AREC.

DECEMBER 2016

• Mladiinfo Montenegro representatives participated in the Project Management Academy training from December 2-10 in Podgradec, Albania. Our volunteers had the opportunity to learn more about different European Union projects, as well as how to create and implement them.
• Mladiinfo Montenegro marked the International Volunteer Day on December 5, 2016 with a mini concert which was held in the Podgorica city center, at the Independence Square. By marking this day, M!M wanted to stress that the youth need to work on improving their situation, and remind the youth that they are carriers of change of our society and a very important social category.
• Volunteers of our organization attended the panel discussion “Queer and Other Identities in Modern Practice Theory and Cultural Practice.” The panel discussion was held at the Ministry of Culture in Cetinje. Our team discussed the Queer identity and the position of LGBT individuals in Montenegro with the rest of participants from renowned Montenegrin universities, institutions, as well as members of the civil sector.
• A member of Mladiinfo Montenegro attended a conference organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the International Labour Organization (MOR) on December 19. The conference was organized in order to present the document “Recommendations to improve youth employment in Montenegro: White Paper”.
• M!M organized a two-day training at the hotel Trim in Nikšić, on December 24-25. The topic of the training was monitoring health care institutions. The training was part of the project Corruption Penicillin, which is realized by the NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro, and supported through the program “Think Locally – Act Locally! – Fight against corruption on a local level,” which is realized by the Center for Civic Education, in collaboration with the NGO Bonum from Podgorica, NGO Incubator from Kotor, and NGO Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) from Podgorica, financed by the European Union.