| Youth forum nurtures confidence and potential |
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| Thursday, 17 April 2008 21:46 | ||||
 Pinned to the door of a youth center in Muo, near Kotor, is a large poster with a small logo, Forum MNE, asking young people to enter an art competition campaigning against fast driving. All the winning creations, be they graffiti, paintings, or posters, will be on display on May 24 in Podgorica. Inside the center, two girls, aged 15 and 17, talk about how they first joined when younger because they had so much free time. They are now teaching youngsters such topics as drug prevention and journalism. Two boys, aged 10 and 14, wander into the club, which is adorned with creative projects they have been involved in. They agree that it is a great experience to belong and say having role models there has stopped them swearing. A small slice of Saturday afternoon life, which hints at the extent of Forum MNE’s work since it was formed in 2002 - work the public will have a chance to savor at a youth festival in Podgorica on Sunday, May 25. Forum MNE, (Forum Mladi Neformalna Edukacija –a non governmental organisation which means Forum of Youth and Non-formal Education), is a community youth work program working with young people, civil society organisations and government institutions using an integrated approach in the areas of education, youth work and youth policy. It supports and encourages children and young adults to use their own knowledge, skills, values and experience to reach their full potential as valued individuals through non-formal education and intercultural learning. Forum MNE organizes the training of youth leaders and youth workers, develops youth work in Montenegro, establishes volunteer networks and initiates and supports the development of youth policies. Prominent in its many achievements is the national youth action plan it runs in cooperation with the PRONI Institute in Sweden, the Catholic Relief Services and the Montenegrin Ministry of Education and Science. The plan was adopted two years ago but Berane is the only community which has adapted it locally. Dijana Uljarević - youth club coordinator for the centers in Kotor, Herceg Novi, Tivat, Ulcinj and Bar - says negotiations with other cities are a burning issue at the moment. “I am meeting people from Kotor and Tivat municipalities to start the process of creating a local agreement which will help prioritize young people’s needs in these cities,” she said. “We, as an organisation, have our own policies (volunteers` policy, gender policy, child protection policy) and in that way we try to raise the awareness of the larger public toward human rights.” Offices and youth clubs operate in Podgorica (Konik and Stara Varos communities), Kotor (youth club in Muo) Ulcinj, and Nikšić. The organisation employs 16 local staff and has a network of about 100 students and 90 volunteers. On April 14, its director, Ajsa Hadžibegović, left for the US to take part in a three week international visitor’s program, organised by the US Embassy in Podgorica. Ajsa has joined nine other participants from Europe on the program, which focuses on civic education and youth leadership development. The program consists of visits to US institutions (Department of Education and Department of Justice), civil society organisations, universities and youth and activist groups in four different states. Before leaving, Ajsa told The Montenegro Times, “I am looking forward to this opportunity to gain experience on different methodologies and approaches. It will be valuable both for Forum MNE and me. Ajsa’s work is directed towards positive change in society, greater understanding of differences, and assurance of human rights and creative resolution of conflicts, while believing that youth are a valuable resource to achieve these aims. Ajsa, 28, has lived in Montenegro since1992. She was born in Kosovo, of Muslim origin and lived in Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina before her family moved to Montenegro. “Therefore, my experience of living in different cultural, national, religious and ethnic groups is quite rich and has marked my life in a very positive way,” she said. Her first contact with civil society organisations started during high school when, at 15, she became a member of a new and progressive scout unit in Podgorica, known as Njegoš. “I was overwhelmed with the opportunity to develop social skills and to travel and meet different cultures at a time when the reality of the region was still very much shaped with on-going or past conflicts. Scouting helped me widen a social network of contacts and improve communication skills, “ she said. “Recognising benefits I gained, I felt a strong urge to provide the same to the others. The following school year I became the youth leader and started running my own scout group of 3rd graders. Since then I have worked with many youth groups aged from 9 to 21 and in time I got more and more involved in managing local scout units.” She continued to support the national scout association and became increasingly interested in youth work and social issues. After joining the Red Cross Youth in Podgorica she managed several projects with refugee youth and the elderly. She started working for Forum MNE (at the time known as PRONI) in 2002 and soon realized there was no structural response or support for young people while they were exploring their identity, position in community and society, future perspectives and embedded prejudices. “They were rather exposed to mixed messages, great and unrealistic expectations, lack of trust in their abilities, fear from differences and a tendency to find excuses and not take responsibility for themselves, she said. She considers that a transitional society is run by values and principles that give limited consideration to the crucial need to take responsibility for past deeds, to understanding and accepting differences and innovative approaches, concentrating instead on short term economic wealth and political power. In this complex situation she is trying to find the best way to contribute to building peace and changing community attitudes. Forum MNE has just completed a year long program called “youth resilience” which included contributing to the protection of children’s rights in Konik and Bijela. The project, run in partnership with Save the Children, targeted 60 young people aged 13-18 from each community, their parents and teachers and indirectly around 300-500 more children. Topics explored included youth rights, risky behaviour, trafficking, jobs and creative and artistic approaches to learning and adolescence. Youth club exchanges were also held between Bijela, Herceg Novi and Kotor. Dijana Uljarević told the Montenegro Times, the exchanges meant a lot to the Herceg Novi group firstly because they didn’t often have the chance to travel outside the town ”It was also an occasion to meet new people, have fun and learn something new. Interactive and creative programs were devised by young volunteers from Kotor for that event and this peer to peer connection motivated children from Bijela to continue participating in the project.” she said. As well, young people made a documentary on life in a children’s home and young Roma people encouraged others to join them in break dancing at their Konick club. Other projects achieved have included one dubbed “health” where the Dobrotor sailing club, “Lahor” organised meetings about the importance of sport to improve health. Another workshop was held on sexual education. A Kotor high school produced CDs of material from high school textbooks for its archives, which will be available to all with limited sight or other learning problems, paid for by the Youth Fund Program, which was supported by grants from Forum MNE. The high school will continue to finance the project for the next school year, so there will be audio material from all grades. Another successful high school idea was the staging of a play and using the ticket sale money to repair the school’s audio system. About 20 students jointly organised a play from the text “Trojica” which describes the life of the people of Boka. Dijana said an office for drug prevention was also now located in five Kotor schools and teacher training was planned later this month as well as promotion of the work. The project is currently funded by the Kotor municipality and there are future plans for other donor support. Information centers on the Forum program and general youth help are based in Podgorica, Kotor, Nikšić and Ulcinj and there are plans to open similar centers in Herceg Novi, Berane and Tivat. Back in the Muo center, Ksenija Stanković, 15, a high school student who did a course on journalism in Tivat, now passes her knowledge to club members. She also does interviews and prepares reports. Ksenija Roganović, 17, is working as a volunteer running a program on drug prevention, including alcohol, and violent behavior issues. She started going to the Muo center when she was 11. “Young people didn’t have places to go, so they often spent time drinking alcohol, doing drugs. Here, they can get some proper education, some self-confidence. They can talk about society’s problems and try to resolve them together.”
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