Project Description
A series of workshops was held in the primary school in the municipality of Mogila in December 2024 as part of the project “Promotion of a Safe School Environment”. Three workshops were held over a period of three weeks. The workshops were conducted by the youth workers of YMCA Bitola, Jove and Natasha under the mentorship of Viktor Iliev. These workshops are part of the project “Promotion of a Safe School Environment” which is a larger project of the Coalition of Youth Organizations SEGA and is implemented in partnership with the Macedonian Center for Civic Education, the First Children’s Embassy in the World MEGJASI and SMART AP – the Laboratory for Social Innovations as well as with support from the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation. This large project of the Coalition of Youth Organizations SEGA is being implemented in the period from September 2023 to August 2026.
The workshops in the municipality of Mogila were attended by the presidents of all school classes from the VI to the IX grade, their deputies and the children’s ombudsman at the school. Since the municipality of Mogila has a predominantly Macedonian population, all children were of Macedonian nationality and aged 12 to 15.
What was the goal of the project?
The goal of these workshops was first to better familiarize students with the concepts of communication and communication skills, and then with the concept of research. After that, in the second workshop there were exercises aimed at a deeper understanding of everything that research encompasses, along with examples of conducting research such as surveys, questionnaires, interviews, etc. Finally, in the third workshop, students were introduced to what it means to start a school initiative, including the elements of a project initiative (what a project means, what are the phases of the project cycle, etc.). With this, the students gained basic knowledge of these topics, which knowledge will be useful to them in the next phase of this project, which will take place in the second half of the 2024/2025 school year.
Description of the project activities
All workshops took place in the premises of the primary school in the municipality of Mogila and lasted from 3 to 4 hours, including a break and refreshments for the students. For them, it was a fun and interesting way to learn something new and, especially for younger ages, something not very familiar so far. After getting acquainted with the theoretical part of the project, the group of students also had a practical task. It consisted of conducting a survey that they conducted in all other classes in the school. The survey was intended to collect information from all students about their opinion on what could be arranged in the school, and what would contribute to making it safer than it is now. The survey was shared with us as trainers and reviewed together. The most common answers
were determined and presented to the school’s professional services, after which the students received appropriate feedback on what could realistically be carried out as a school action.
Description of the initiative
In the second semester, the initiative will be implemented, which represents the opening of a safe corner for students. This corner is planned to be in the school hallway itself, which will consist of 5-6 lazy bags and several tables where students will be able to talk to a psychologist and professional service about the problems in their everyday lives. On the wall itself, they will have the opportunity to draw motivational messages, and in a box left for praise and complaints, they will be able to anonymously report their remarks about the school, school staff, their problems, etc.
This initiative will raise the level of safety among the students themselves, the professional service and school staff, and this will create a better school environment for these and future generations of students.
