The rule of law, respect for human rights and democratic governance are at the heart of the EU accession process. To support reform processes in these areas, the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE) have been closely cooperating in the Western Balkans and Turkey through the Horizontal Facility for many years.
This project focuses on fostering quality education for all and helps promote democratic culture and academic integrity as the key elements of a quality education. This is because quality education provides individuals, communities and societies with the knowledge they need to prosper. It is therefore important to provide an education that is inclusive and that gives an equal opportunity to every child to achieve its potential, regardless of its economic status or nationality.
One of the aims of this project is to support the promotion and implementation of the Law on Academic Integrity. It also seeks to provide support to relevant educational institutions (Ministry of Education, Institute for Education, schools) to develop the capacities and tools so as to foster quality education for all pupils based on democratic school culture and inclusive education.
This project is expected to result in improved capacities of relevant institutions, particularly by helping them to develop tools to strengthen academic integrity in higher education. Also, it is expected to contribute to increased awareness among education professionals and wider communities of the benefits of quality inclusive education for all, as well as to greater awareness of corruption and integrity among pupils, teaching and administrative staff and the general public. Additionally, this project will help expand the network of schools that have developed and implemented a democratic school culture by increasing their number to 40.
This project also launched the “Call for proposals of civil society organisations: Supporting a democratic education environment”, with the aim of co-funding local school-based projects to promote a democratic education environment with the involvement of the local community.
More about the Horizontal Facility Programme
The first phase of the programme ran from 2016 to 2019, while the second phase covers the period from 2019 to 2022. The total value of the facility is approximately €41 million (85% funded by the EU, 15% by the CoE). In the first phase of the programme, there were six beneficiary-specific actions for Montenegro, with a total budget of €3.33 million. In the second phase, €4.7 million have been allocated for seven actions, covering all the key areas of the Horizontal Facility such as: justice reform, human rights protection, prison and police reform, fight against economic crime, fight against discrimination and inclusive education.