Description
The project aims at establishing a new peer programme "Two Heads Are Better Than One" for socially excluded children and youth, aged 15-18, from Usti nad Labem, who are threatened by social failure or placement in residential care. The main aim of the project is to develop effective “pillar of care” for the clients based on individual peer support followed by care of social worker, parents and cooperating organizations. The project will help clients to gain certain social competences, stabilize their critical situation and mainly to avoid further social exclusion. The pilot project is designed for 15 clients. The new service in Usti nad Labem will be set up on the basis of successful Prague peer programme of Lata organization.
Summary of project results
The Ústí nad Labem Region has the highest unemployment, lowest education level and 7 excluded localities, where youth lives in incomplete, socially disadvantaged and non-stimulating families. The project “Ve dvou se to lépe táhne” (it goes better in two) offered an individual alternative in form of young mentor (volunteer), personal guardian through complicated and complex life situation. The project enabled a year of intensive popularizing the possibility of obtaining the necessary mentors for young people, and informed experts and the general public through high number of meetings, presentations, social networking. One year of project implementation allowed to experiment and to find the suitable form for local conditions for Ústí nad Labem, we learned what shall we do differently and better also thanks the assistance methodologists from Prague’s NGO Lata. For the first time we began to work and offer this service to young people aged 15 - 18 years, who had some problematic event or time. There are no such services like this in Ústí nad Labem. We manage to get young people in role of volunteer for individual relationship with client. We successfully attracted the attention of professionals in our region with this service Ve dvou se to lépe táhne (it goes better in two): curators OSPOD workers, children´s home employees, school teachers. We have created a team to assist the young volunteers, who continuously educated themselves during the project.
Summary of bilateral results