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Description
The Capable Children mentoring program supports young people to acquire education and skills for a successful life. The aim of this project is to strengthen the mentor-protégé relationship. They will have the space to spend more time together in an informal environment and in a creative process in preparing their own projects and presentations. The first activity of the project - a weekend concentration in nature will last from Friday to Sunday and will include a program focused on creativity, education and leisure activities associated with staying in nature. The program will be led partly by external lecturers (on the topic of participation and climate change) and partly by the heads of community centers and mentors from the Capable Children program. Within the program, two workshops will be led by external lecturers from partner organizations. The second activity of the project – creating own projects in the communities. After the initial introduction and introduction to the theme at the weekend, the young people, in cooperation with community center leaders, mentors and others, will prepare their own projects on the environment in their communities. They will have 5 months and their own budget for the implementation. It will also involve members of their communities in the implementation and presentation of the project to the local government. The topic they will address will come from them as a result of their own perception of needs in the community. The aim of this activity is to draw young people''s attention to the fact that they are a full part of the community, have some responsibility for it and their age does not prevent them from participating in positive change and being a benefit where they live. The Capable Children Mentoring Program (and thus also in this project) includes children and young people who regularly attend ETP community centers (KC), participate in educational and leisure activities and work hard to improve their school results.
Summary of project results
The project supported children and young people from marginalized Roma communities in 4 places: Košice - Luník IX, Rankovce, Veľká Ida and Stará Ľubovňa - Podsadek. The goal was to acquire education and skills for a successful life, which these children are often deprived of. The project started in the spring with education about climate change - lecturers from the Baterkáreň community center prepared worksheets with audio commentary for the children. The lecturers helped the children come up with their own mini project, which they presented at the end of the project. Ideas for projects in the communities arose continuously. Work on projects intensified in the spring in proportion to how attendance activities were gradually renewed and started.
Children and young people regularly consulted online about projects with lecturers from the Baterkáreň cultural center and with local partners and the local government. The implementation took place in June, and at the same time, the children were diligently preparing for the final presentations. The original plan of the final event in Košice was simplified to an online webinar due to pandemic measures. Despite various limitations and complications, it was possible to prepare and implement 4 separate projects, and as a reward for their efforts, children and young people went on a one-day trip.
One of the children''s and young people''s projects was, for example, a recreation zone in Stara Ľubovna - called From seed to plant. They made two flowerbeds from pallets. In one of them there are flowers, in the other there are herbs, raspberries, onions, chives, mint, honeydew. There are also benches for sitting by the flower beds. As a reward, these children went on a trip to the Treetop Walk. Children from Veľká Ida prepared the project "Children''s playground in Veľká Ida". Together with the leader Lucia, the children ordered trees, benches, a trash can and an insect hotel. The children will take care of the playground and water the plants with water from the stream. They went on a trip to the Sosna Ecocentre. A group of young people from Luník IX decided to transform the neglected space behind the block of flats on Hrebendová ul. to a functional recreation area and children''s playground to provide an additional place for children to play on the estate and to prevent the accumulation of litter in this ''iconic'' location.