Peer violence is a global problem, which seriously affects young people’s health and education. This project looked to develop the capacities of civil society organisations (CSOs) and the overall community response in providing safeguard mechanisms to primary and secondary pupils in Montenegro.
During the implementation period, the project activities helped improve the legal framework on fight against peer violence, particularly through 1) preparation of a National Action Plan for fight against peer violence and local action plans in the municipalities of Berane, Kolašin and Herceg Novi, 2) improvement and distribution of the guidelines entitled “Division of responsibilities and actions for the purpose of prevention and in cases of violence and vandalism” to all primary and secondary schools in Montenegro and 3) amendments to school statutes by introducing the possibility of removing head teachers from position if he/she fails to implement the guidelines.
Also, the project helped establish a national SOS helpline for reporting peer violence, which is managed by the Ministry of Education. Moreover, it also lead to the establishment of: 1) a National Team for fight against peer violence, which is tasked with responding to and proceeding in cases of peer violence, 2) a club composed of parents, children and teachers to help prevent peer violence in at least five schools and 3) school teams for reporting on activities aimed at preventing peer violence.
Furthermore, the project also helped create the MEIS information system for recording peer violence cases in schools and develop a licensed training programme for specialists to act in cases of unacceptable behaviour with children and youth. Additionally, the Institute for Textbook Publishing and Teaching Aids supplemented the Teaching Guidelines for the fourth grade subject Nature and Society with a social experiment conducted within the project to serve as material that children should watch together with their teachers when discussing the topics of equality and tolerance.
Thanks to a sub-granting scheme, the project also resulted in increased awareness of peer violence in the country, as well as in strengthened capacities of 8 CSOs with regard to peer violence.