Within the project “Everyone to kindergarten” implemented by the City of Sombor, Preschool “Vera Gucunja”, Red Cross Sombor, Center for Social Work Sombor and the Association for Support of Persons with Autism “Maslacak”, the renovation and adaptation of the premises intended for preschool education of children from vulnerable groups in Backi Monostor is underway.

On that occasion, the members of the City Council for Health and Social Affairs, Dr. Dalibor Forgic, the director of the preschool institution Aleksandra Perovic, the coordinator of the City of Sombor for Roma issues Aleksandar Radulovic and Milan Prole on behalf of the Department of Education of the City Administration visited the reconstruction works.

The project “Everyone to kindergarten” deals with increasing the coverage of children aged 3 to 5.5 years with quality preschool education.

In order to improve the availability of preschool services to families from socially vulnerable groups, a program will be created for children from target groups. The group will cover 20 children annually, in the premises of the kindergarten in Backi Monostor, where the works on adaptation and reconstruction are in progress.

The project will, in addition to educational work for children, also provide counseling work for parents, as well as informing families about services and opportunities that they can use as members of socially vulnerable groups.

The total value of the project is 6,189,883.00 dinars, of which the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development set aside 5,596,683.00 dinars, and the City of Sombor 593,200.00 dinars.

The locals of Backi Monostor prove that a lot can be achieved from year to year with joint efforts. Collecting recyclable material: plastics, tires, glass and cans, the Association of Citizens “Bodrog”, the local community and citizens, in cooperation with the preschool institution “Vera Gucunja”, raised funds to provide the Monostor kindergarten with a new heating system.

On that occasion, the kindergarten in Backi Monostor was visited today by the Mayor of the City of Sombor, Antonio Ratkovic.

“First of all, I would like to thank the Association of Citizens Bodrog, the Local community, as well as the preschool institution, which together enabled the children in Backi Monostor to get heating. This is another in a series of actions of the Local community of citizens’ associations from the area of ​​Backi Monostor, because they collected funds by recycling glass, rubber, and cans, and with the donation of the preschool, they did another nice deed here in the kindergarten. This is now a tradition to do something in this kindergarten every year and I, as the mayor, am very proud that every time I come to Backi Monostor and the kindergarten I can see something new,” said Ratkovic and called on citizens and other local communities to also organize such beautiful works in their places.

On behalf of the organizers of the action of the Association of Citizens “Bodrog”, Dalibor Forgic said that this is the third implemented activity which has improved the quality and conditions in the kindergarten.

“Specifically, this action was called Pick up a can, anyone can warm up the kindergarten easily. About 600 kilograms of cans that were sent for recycling were collected, as well as about 3 tons of glass that were sent for recycling. We used the funds and donations of our fellow citizens that were collected, with the help of the preschool institution Vera Gucunja, to realize this project,” said Forgic.

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In the Municipality of Vladicin Han, the realization of the project “Strengthening the capacity of the preschool institution “Pcelica” in Vladicin Han for providing services to children and families from vulnerable social groups” is in progress.

The implementation of the project aims to improve the availability of preschool services for children from vulnerable social groups, achieving equal opportunities for learning and development of children from vulnerable social groups, providing support to families for the development of parental competencies and strengthening the capacity of institutions and organizations in Vladicin Han for providing services to children and families from vulnerable social groups.

As part of the project, short diversified programs for children who are not included in the preschool program are being implemented, where workshops are being organized for children from vulnerable groups aged 3-5.5 who do not attend kindergarten.

This activity represents the preparation and motivation of parents for their children to start the preschool program as soon as possible. It is carried out through various educational and creative activities to accustom children and their parents to participate in the preschool program and to break the prejudices that parents from marginalized groups have towards the kindergarten, especially from the Roma population which is highly represented in the total population in Vladicin Han Municipality. Children – beneficiaries of this activity are divided into three groups, each group consisting of 20 children. Two groups are implementing the program in the kindergarten facility in Vladicin Han, one of which will continue the implementation of the program in the new kindergarten facility, which is expected to open soon, and for which equipment was provided from the ECEC project budget through the Government of the Republic of Serbia, with World Bank loan funds. The third group carries out its activities in the kindergarten department in the village of Lepenica, six kilometers from Vladicin Han, a multiethnic environment with a high representation of the Roma population.

Also, as part of the implementation of the Project, workshops for parents are being conducted. These workshops aim to empower and encourage parents and families of children of kindergarten age who are not included in the preschool system to enroll their children in the preschool program – by helping to solve dilemmas that exist in the family and between parents, pointing out benefits for children’s development and socialization and free time that parents, especially mothers, can use to find a job; assistance in exercising the right to enroll ‒ assistance in collecting documentation; assistance in breaking down prejudices and stereotypes, for inclusion in regular social life and removing obstacles that affect the response of parents to include children in preschool institutions, but also prejudice and negative attitude of other parents towards children from vulnerable groups, ie non-acceptance, as one of the factors due to which parents do not perceive kindergartens as an acceptable and safe environment for their children. This activity is also realized through three groups of 20 users, two of which are in Vladicin Han, and one in the village of Lepenica.

The results so far show the great importance of the implementation of these activities as well as the entire Project, because they have contributed to increasing interest in enrolling children in preschool programs, even in environments that traditionally rarely enroll their children in kindergartens. This is evidenced by the growing waiting list, which was not significantly affected even by the current coronavirus epidemic.

The project “Strengthening the capacity of the preschool institution “Pcelica” in Vladicin Han to provide services to children and families from vulnerable social groups” is implemented by the Municipality of Vladicin Han as part of the project: Inclusive preschool education – ECEC implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.

Support for the implementation of this Project was provided from the Grant allocated under the ECEC project through the Government of the Republic of Serbia and from the World Bank loan.

As part of mentoring supervision, on September 30, 2020, an online supervision meeting was held with 44 mentors, who were engaged in the first cycle of providing support to preschool institutions (11 PI), or will be engaged in the upcoming mentoring cycle (22). Prof. Zivka Krnjaja presented the findings of the analysis of the mentor’s report from the first cycle at the meeting, and gave guidelines for work in the new cycle.

In order to further develop the competencies of mentors, on October 14 and 21, 2020, in the hotel “Kristal” in Belgrade, two one-day trainings were realized (for two groups of mentors due to the epidemiological situation), on the topic: “Constructive communication – strengthening the capacity for mentoring “.

In the period from 10.00 to 18.00, the training of mentors was realized through the following topics and activities:

• • Decentration and understanding of needs;
• • Language of positive action;
• • Active listening techniques for overcoming communication challenges;
• • Challenging situations and potential problems and the ways of finding constructive solution;
• • Constructive feedback; alliance building.

The trainers were Dr. Jelena Vranjesevic and Dr. Lidija Miskeljin from the Department of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. Both educators and participants were highly motivated to work and exchange ideas with each other.

A press conference was held in Cacak on October 6^th, 2020, at which Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care Project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technical Development of the Republic of Serbia was presented, as well as the activity plan of the project „Support Children and Families” received funding under the grant program.

The project partners are the preschool institutions „Radost” and „Moje detinjstvo”, the Health Center Cacak, the Center for Social Work, the School for Primary and Secondary Education „November 1^st” and the Association for Assistance to Mentally Underdeveloped Persons. The goal of the project is to integrate children from socially vulnerable groups into the preschool educational system. The integration will take place through a series of activities and will last for 32 months.

The first phase refers to the motivation and mapping of families from socially vulnerable groups, while the next ones will involve the formation of groups of children who will be included in the work of preschool institutions „Radost” and „Moje detinjstvo”. The preschool institution „Radost” has already adapted the premises in the kindergarten „Bambi”, where the first group of children, 24 of them, would go, on February 1^st next year.

The projects will include events and education, and one of the most important will be the School for Parents.

Invitations to participate in the public relations training program have reached the addresses of local government representatives.

The invitations were forwarded to the representatives of local self-governments dealing with public relations or the upbringing and education of children, representatives of non-governmental organizations as well as employees in health, educational and social institutions in local self-governments, and winners of grants.

All those interested have the opportunity to apply by October 26, 2020 via the following link.

After closing the applications, participants will be informed about the next steps. Everyone will be assigned a code with the help of which they will be able to access the training program.

We remind you that after successfully attending the training program, participants in the capacity of Project Ambassador will have the opportunity to use various methods and communication channels to best promote the activities, goals and key values ​​of the Project in their local community and beyond.