Contact person: Halim Hyseni

■ The project goal

The goal of this project is to advance the children rights in the compulsory education of Kosovo, by building local capacities and ensuring constant improvement and strengthening of the children rights.


■ Objectives

►Designing the training program for 50 trainers of human and children rights;
►Qualifying 50 local trainers in the field of human and children rights;
►Designing the training program for 1550 mentors for human and children rights in elementary and lower secondary level of education;
►Qualifying 1550 counselors for human/children rights;
►Establishing about 600 school committees for human / child rights in all elementary and lower secondary Kosovo schools;
►Offering support to the Education Faculty in drafting the curriculum for education and training of students in the field of human and children rights;
►Raising the awareness of the public opinion on the issue of human and children rights by ways of cooperation with media, through organizing round tables and conferences and via publications;
►Offering support for preparing the national strategy for protection of children rights;
►Education for democracy, peace and tolerance, in accordance with activities and principles promoted by United Nations Organization.
 

■ Current achievements

The project implementation has started in November 1st of 2003 and is financed by the Irish organization TROCAIRE. The following activities have been completed since the start of the project: the trainers training program was drafted; a two- days workshop about the trainers training program was organized; the project was presented to NGO - s, regional officials and heads of municipal education centers; an agreement was signed with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in Kosovo; 56 potential trainers were selected amongst education workers, doctors, and lawyers, who successfully completed two six-day seminars.

Certification criteria were outlined in order to select trainers. The Dean of the Education Faculty was contacted so that cooperation is established in drafting the curriculum for children rights.
 

■ The following results have been achieved during the implementation of the project:

►The 13-days training program for training the trainers has been designed.
 

►13 workshops have been organized for trainers in human / children rights .
 

►49 trainers in human and children rights have been certified, 46 of whom are ethnic Albanians, one is Bosnian, 2 are Turkish ( according to their background, three of them age Law graduates, one of whom has the Master degree; two are doctors; 44 are teachers, three of whom are university teachers).
 

►1200 teachers have been identified throughout all Kosovo elementary schools, and they participated in five-days training sessions.
 

►Until April 2006, 1228 teachers have been certified as mentors for children rights.
 

►This was done in accordance with the five-days training program designed from the KEC managerial staff.
 

►18 round tables, TV debates and public talks have been organized, with the intention of raising the public awareness on this issue.
 

►The Manual for Children Rights has been prepared. It has been published in Albanian, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian.
 

►In cooperation with UNICEF, ILO, and IPEC regarding the certified trainers for human /children rights during 2005, the four-days workshop was organized on these topics: Let us support children rights through education, arts and media SCREAM and Preventing dangerous children labor.
 

►In cooperation with UNICEF, ILO and IPEC one-day training sessions for 30 groups were organized (601 participants) for mentor teachers in the field of children rights. These training sessions lasted 30 days and covered the following topics: Preventing dangerous children labor and Let us support children rights through education, arts and media.
 

►It has already been arranged to train mentors for children rights in 50 groups with over 1200 teachers, who will be participating in six-days seminars and will be qualified as mentors in the field of children rights protection, in preventing dangerous children labor, as well as in supporting children rights through education, arts and media.
 

►Important documents have been drafted for mentors of children rights protection: guidelines for the establishment of School Councils for the protection of children rights, as well as the training program for trainers and mentors for children rights (these documents have been produced in Albanian, Serbian-Bosnian and Turkish).
 

►Over 500 School Committees for child rights protection have been established.
 

►The curriculum for the subject "Children rights and teacher's moral values" has been drafted.
 

►A short study and evaluation on the topic ' Domestic violence on elementary school children' was completed.
 

►During 2004, the daily media have been monitored for 11 months. This monitoring study is focused on the presentation of human and children rights in the media.
 

►During 2005 and 2006 preparation activities have been going on towards drafting the national strategy of children rights. Within the framework of these activities, the following documents have been produced: Draft for strategy preparation (written in Albanian, Serbian-Bosnian, Turkish and English); why the national strategy of children rights should be prepared; as well as some research projects in evaluating the condition of children rights.
 

►The quality of children rights in primary and lower secondary education in Kosovo has improved ( there is more freedom of speech; there is significantly less physical violence; teaching has become more attractive; children at schools are participating in decision-making processes; children have become more aware of their own rights, etc).

This systematic approach has made it possible for us not only to fulfill most of our objectives but also to put into practice over 80% of the project. Consequently, by the end of the project we expect to have reached strong foundation for promoting children rights through education.


■ Aim

This project aims to make Kosovo a good model of children rights protection in Balkans region. This is not a simple competition; it is a strong aspiration to create a friendly and warm environment for Kosovo children, where all children, whatever their ethnical, religious, gender, social background is, have a chance to grow up as happy and loved human beings, developing their outmost physical, emotional, social and intellectual potentials.

For more information about Child Rights Education project, go to www.childrights-ks.org