A
report by Anton Tobe, Vice-President, FICE-International on projects
initiated by the Federation Internationale des Communautes Educatives
We are getting an ever more detailed view of the state of matters
in the youth care field in the countries previously included in
the Yugoslav Republic. Thanks to a number of highly motivated
FICE members in countries like Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia &
Montenegro and Macedonia we were able to visit remote regions
and thereby gained a good understanding of the problems that may
widely vary between one region and another.
In
some major cities in Serbia, various projects were started up
and, in a single case, already finished. In our previous report
the opening of the barbers' shop at Novi Sad was announced. As
of now, this shop has been operating for over six months, and
with a measure of success: three girls about to leave youth care
institution are apprenticing here and are being educated in the
barber trade under supervision of a professional barber. This
shop already makes a little profit and there are plans for an
extension including a solarium part. In the autumn of 2003 a new
set of girls will be starting their training.
Should
the profit keep rising we will invest this in another employment
project. The Novi Sad Social Centre has by now taken over this
project. In November, 2003 (i.e., after one year) there will be
an evaluation with all concerned parties attending. De Oude Beuk
Foundation has made an investment (a loan of E30,000).
The
Novi Sad Social Centre already mentioned hopes to open a `safe
house' presently (October/ November). This will be a short-term
stay house for children in emergency situations who will be referred
further or assigned back home or to a foster family as soon as
this becomes possible. In itself, this is a significant change
in a country where most children removed from their families remain
inmates of institutions up to their 18th birthday.
De
Oude Beuk has made a one-off contribution to the acquisition of
the inventory for this small-scale safe house to the amount of
E18,000. The regional authorities have paid for the necessary
structural alterations. During the planning phase we were extensively
consulted and had our say as well. After it opens, the safe house
must fend for itself. The furniture it was presented with was
made at a school where youngsters train to be cabinet makers;
the school was presented with machinery by a machinery and tools
dealer at Genemuiden six months ago.
Finally
we visited a rather large primary school at Novi Sad, including
1,800 pupils. Many children attending this school suffer trouble
at home. They are mainly gypsy children and refugees from Kosovo
who are backward due to lack of education. We have told Aad Vroon
to take action in the matter of the huge lack of educational tools
and the need for co-operation with a Dutch school. Possibly this
school could benefit from a European programme.
In Belgrade we have now established a useful contact with the
directors and management team of the major youth care institution
named Centre for the Welfare of Infants, Children and Adolescents.
This institution offers guidance to some 750 children at six different
children's homes. One of these homes, named Drinka Pavlovic, will
presently enter into twinning with De Eik Foundation of Oldenzaal.
We,
(i.e. the board of managers and several of our staff at De Eik)
visited this home where the staff badly need training in skills
in handling slightly mentally disabled children. At the end of
September we expect a return visit and we shall receive a delegation
at Oldenzaal where we shall make further arrangement for co-operation.
FICE-Netherlands is `remote supervisor'. At the same children's
home we supported an overhaul of eight therapy and creativity
classrooms made possible by funds from De Oude Beuk (to an amount
of E9,000). These classrooms were also important for Professor
Vidanovic's Big Brother Big Sister project, since some 60 of the
children at the institution have student buddies who let them
practise their creative skills or take them out to go downtown
to improve their social integration.
To
celebrate the end of the season, delegates from De Oude Beuk took
all the children and their buddies for a boat trip on the Danube
in June. This was a major event and even made the National Television
News broadcast. (BBBS project, E8,800).
Moreover,
we are negotiating with the Ministry at Belgrade about an adaptation
of the law that will enable further development of foster care
in Serbia & Montenegro. The Secretary has asked FICE-Netherlands
to implement the so-called Pride programme in Serbia. This has
to do with training of staff and future foster parents. As we
already mentioned in our last report, there is an Infant Home
in Belgrade that cares for some 300 babies and infants who are
staying there without any future prospects. The local people agree
with us that these babies have to be assigned to foster families
as soon as possible, in particular because the home is short of
staff to attend to these very young children adequately. This
means no stimulation of their activity, leading to a standstill
in their education.
At
the end of October we have arranged a workshop in co-operation
with FICE South-Eastern Europe where all those concerned and interested
will be invited. Under the supervision of Rob van Pagée,
an employee of the Op Kleine Schaal (Small Scale Foundation) we
will see how the programme can best be tailored to meet the situation
in Serbia. OKS has already done similar programmes in Estonia,
Hungary and the Czech Republic. We have applied for a grant with
the Foreign Office, with a request to include it in the Matra
(Transformation of Society) Programme.
We
also have plans for an employment project at Belgrade, viz., an
Internet Café that will be run by youths who at the same
time gain some knowledge end experience of IT. In the coming months
we will visit several other regions like Pancevo and Bela Crka
in the east.
At
Uzice, central Serbia, we held the 4th South-Eastern Europe Dialogue.
Following Balaton, Bihac (in Bosnia) and Kotor (Montenegro) we
held this fourth meeting where delegates from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Macedonia, Montenegro and of course the hosting country, Serbia,
attended. The theme was `social and employment integration for
youths leaving their residential institutions'. During the conference
the institutions presented their projects that were testimony
to their inventive and creative designers. Again, we met the young
people staying at the care institutions who are about to make
their own way. They stayed at a `friendship camp' nearby. We are
trying to prepare them for work and to help them fend for themselves.
The youth unemployment figures in this region are horrible.
We are also working on several projects in co-operation with FICE
Switzerland, an organisation that is very active in the Balkans
region as well. The financial means for the Balkans conference
and the Youth Camp mainly come from Switzerland and the Netherlands
(from private fundraising). In 2003 we made over E 5,000 to this
project from the PCK/VKZ Foreign Countries' Budget since we feel
that it is very important. In order to guarantee its continuity
up to 2006 we are working on an application through the Matra-programme
of the Foreign Office.
At
Bihac in Bosnia-Herzegovina we have made contracts with several
entrepreneurs and a youth care institution about apprenticeships
with companies for youths, under the guarantee that 80% of these
youths will have a paid job within one year. Some apartments were
bought, using loans running to E45,000, where the apprentices
can live for the time being. In the long run we will have room
for tens of youths each year!
That
is saying a lot in a country where the outlook for the future
seems bleak. The remnants of the war are still clearly visible.
Many villages have been razed to the ground and the damage is
huge. Besides, the country is still deeply divided, resulting
in a deplorable economy. In some individual cases we have been
able to support talented youngsters by paying for their extended
education at a university or polytechnic. The Zwolle Rotary Club
donated E1,000 to this end.
In
the Tuzla region we visited a refugee camp on several occasions.
Some 1,600 refugees, most of them from Srebrenica, have been staying
here for 8 years. The conditions at the site are appalling and
the conditions are getting even worse since the local Government
has ordered part of the people living there back home. They, however,
do not even think of returning to a home where they have lost
their families and everything they had. At this moment the local
Government is shutting down electricity and water mains and is
revoking even the very meagre benefit that the people here used
to receive. Talking about Human Rights…
Projects are being developed along with the school at the Tuzla
camp. There is a primary school at Amsterdam that wants to set
up ties with this school. Besides we are trying to set up a co-ordinated
aid programme with several other care organisations. Here, too,
we have to work on an employment project for the (nearly exclusively)
women present there. The ones `lucky' enough to have a job have
to work six days a week for some E100 a month.
In
Bulgaria, ever more projects are taking shape, supervised by a
very active branch of FICE supported by professional staff. Recently
we visited the Education and Social Care ministries, along with
the local FICE Board, in order to point at the positive developments
and to try to ensure funds are made available to keep our effort
up in the future. Two Bulgarian institutions have entered into
co-operation with Dutch institutions, viz., the De Reeve with
the Russe institution and De Reggeberg with the Isperih institution.
This
concludes our synopsis of matters as they stand now. As we have
mentioned before, we are directed at youths of over 16 with a
combination of `care and business' as the key words. Besides we
take an interest in developing the care given at the institutions
where large numbers of babies and very young children are staying.
Finally we at FICE are trying to extend the youth care network
and to stimulate bilateral contacts between institutions in south-eastern
Europe and those in the Netherlands.
