The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Center for the Affirmation of the RE Population (CAREP) from Nikšić decided to gather brave young people from the Roma-Egyptian and majority population and give them the opportunity to be loud enough in exercising their rights, all with the goal of a better future.
They provided them with education, socializing, new experiences, and it is up to the young people to apply what they have learned and show that they were not chosen for no reason to be participants in the "Young, brave, loud" project, which was implemented by the aforementioned NGO.
As part of the project, the implementation of which began in August last year and ends in August this year, they planned and successfully implemented 13 activities.
"The goal of the project is for young people from the Roma, Egyptian and majority communities to increase their participation in public life. 130 young people were involved in the project, half of them young women from the Roma and majority population," said Jelena Jovanović, project coordinator.
She reminded that as part of the project, they implemented training on the topic of democracy, a two-month English language course, a scout camp, and that it was planned to establish an independent scout company led by young CAREP activists. Three girls got the opportunity to do internships, they implemented environmental actions, provided free swimming school for 15 of them who come from socially disadvantaged families... Until the end of the project, they had to implement one more environmental action and distribute school supplies that they provided for 15 elementary school students from RE community.
"In all our activities, we try to include young people from the majority and minority communities in order to contribute to the reduction of social distance. We see that project participants become friends, that they socialize outside of project activities," said Jovanović.
These friendships, according to Ferdi Beriša, were the best foundation of all realized activities and the greatest value of the project.
"These friendships are especially precious to me because we shared experiences together and learned from each other. One of the most important activities is training on democracy. During this training, I had the opportunity to become better acquainted with my rights as a citizen, but also to understand the importance of youth participation in democratic processes. This training provided me with valuable knowledge that I will be able to apply in the future," Beriša said.
He is glad, as he pointed out, that he had the opportunity to get to know the world of scouting and learn more about the rich history of Montenegro, as well as to improve his knowledge of the English language.
As part of the project, they supported the youth initiative to open a reading club in the "Nikšić" Youth Club.
"I believe that young people and our city need a reading club like this because we need to motivate young people to read as much as possible, to spend their free time in a quality way and to sail into the world of books, where every new book can be a new journey for them", said Dragana Ćalasan, administrator of the "Nikšić" Youth Club,
The project "Young, brave, loud" is supported by the Regional Program of Local Democracy in the Western Balkans 2 - ReLOaD2, financed by the European Union (EU), and implemented by UNDP in partnership with local governments.
The executive director of CAREP, Nardi Ahmetović, made sure that the project was successfully implemented and that it contributed as much as possible to the inclusion of young people, who, together with the creative and dedicated team of the aforementioned NGO, created the opportunity for project participants to gain rich experience and knowledge. He thanked UNDP and the CAREP team for creating opportunities for their education, development and better future during the joint mission, which is aimed at the inclusion of young people, especially young people from the Roma and Egyptian communities. The NGO "Mozaik", the Youth Club "Nikšić", the Municipality of Nikšić and the Secretariat for Culture, Sports, Youth and Social Affairs helped them in this.
And that inclusion and better familiarization with the Roma-Egyptian tradition and culture cannot be achieved without Roma music, will be shown by the participants of the guitar and singing course, who, together with the local band "Sančo Pansa", will perform the most beautiful Roma songs in the "Propagnda" bar tonight.
Bonus video:
