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Description
Today, there is more and more talk about the development of education for volunteering, ie the inclusion of children in volunteering education as well as in volunteer activities that are appropriate to their age and level of development to improve their social and emotional skills. Education for volunteering is an opportunity for students and children and young people at risk to adopt a sense of solidarity, justice, healthy and humane society, democracy, respect for diversity, interculturalism, local community, teamwork, environmental protection, use of acquired knowledge and quality leisure time. The target group are primary school students, children and young people at risk and volunteers - are involved in training that is interactive and experiential and requires a high level of their involvement and participation. This experience of interactive, participatory, creative learning, as well as the implementation of what is learned immediately "in practice" produces quality learning that affects the target group in the long run. In addition to the above, activism and involvement in volunteer activities have an empowering and preventive effect on the target population. Students but also children and young people at risk as a socially excluded group of beneficiaries, through the implementation of project activities (which include work and occupation activities), further strengthen their capacity, develop a sense of confidence, extremely important for their further development.
Also, in addition to the direct impact on the target group of young people, the implementation of project activities indirectly benefits the socially excluded group of the homeless, the city of Split, and the municipality of Muć. Regarding the level of urbanization, and socio-economic and cultural heritage, the area of the school belongs to the underdeveloped part of Split-Dalmatia County.
Summary of project results
Respecting recent scientific research and other studies on the passivity of young people and the importance of continuous efforts in training young people to become active citizens and the positive experience of the MoSt Association''s work in promoting youth activism, this project is aimed at primary school students and children and young people with behavioral problems who are also beneficiaries of the MoSt. European and national policy makers have clearly decided on the necessity of investing in youth activism and their participation, which is evident in a series of strategic documents such as "European strategies for youth - investment and empowerment", and in Croatia, the National Action Program for Youth 2014-2017. The project is also in line with the Lisbon Declaration on Youth Policies and Programs 2019 (Lisboa+21), which states the need to promote an enabling environment for young people with respect for public freedoms, including promoting opportunities for volunteering for all young people (...) and other forms of youth work and their free activities, encouraging internal democratic and participatory principles and gender equality in order to empower young people as agents of change. With this project, MoSt association wants to encourage children and young people to take on the role of active citizens in society.
In order to increase the knowledge of children and young people on active citizenship, activism, volunteerism, optimism, the problem of homelessness, a set of educational workshops (5 workshops) and the presentation of examples of good practice were conducted.
After the education, the target group was monitored and supported through support meetings where intensive preparation was done with them for the further continuation of active participation in society and volunteering with socially excluded groups (visit to the Center for the Homeless and the Social Self-Service of the MoSt Association, designing an appropriate occupational activity with the aim of developing empathy and optimism at school, through occupational activities they were introduced to the basics of programs for graphic content editing, printing techniques, a public sales auction, students participated in the preparation of products made at occupational workshops for donation to a needy group).
Media promotion of the project and project activities was carried out continuously through the media and websites of the school and the social and website pages of the MoSt association, and the final meeting of students and children and youth at risk was held.
The implementation of the activity contributed to the general goal of the project, which is to encourage children and young people to activism and volunteering through education about empathy, tolerance and through encouraging them to understand the needs of vulnerable and socially excluded groups. The direct beneficiaries are the students of the Radić Brothers Elementary School, children and youth at risk, and volunteers of the MoSt association, while the indirect beneficiaries are precisely the homeless and a sensitive group that the students of the school chose themselves.
Children and young people at risk are themselves a vulnerable group, and through project activities they were motivated to help another vulnerable and socially excluded group - the homeless. They were empowered as individuals, aware that they themselves can become active and contribute to the development of a better, socially sensitive and fair society through their volunteer engagement.
Through cooperation with the elementary school, good practices in education about civil and human rights were promoted and contributed to a higher quality, more versatile and more complete upbringing and education of children.