Within the summer school for peer educators, realized by the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), 55 high schoolers got diplomas, and 30 of them will continue to lead workshops intended for their peers about advancing youth policy.

Public Policy Researcher in CeMI, Nikola Zecevic, said that the school was held at Ivanova Korita within the project Smart Start – Active Youth for Sustainable Changes, which that organization is implementing with the support of Directorate for Youth within the Ministry of Sports.

He said that within the project different activities have been realized, stating that one of the most significant ones is the Summer School for Peer Educators, held at Ivanova Korita.

”This school was attended by 55 students of the third grade of high school, from most of the Montenegrin municipalities. During this school, they attended different courses, which meant introduction to the characteristics of the political system in Montenegro, the European Union (EU), integration agenda of Montenegro in that context, different principals of bilataral and multilateral cooperation at the EU-Montenegro level”, stated Zecevic.

As he said, during the second day, the students got familiar with the concept of peer education, ”within which they mastered different techniques of peer education”.

”During the third day, participants of the school, with psychologists and the expert team of CeMI, dealt with personality development, leader profile among young people. The final goal of this summer school and this project in general is the advancement of position of youth and youth related polic”, said Zecevic.

He said that the students were going to design a poster that needs to send a symbolic message about the way to advance the position of youth and policies being practiced in Montenegro related to that population.

”With the coordination of the project coordinator, 30 peer educators will visit all municipalities in Montenegro. Peer educators will hold at least 25 thematic lectures, within student parliaments in 25 municipalities of Montenegro (25 municipalities and one city municipality), and together with their peers formulate ideas and recommendations for improving youth policy in Montenegro”, said Zecevic.

Participant of CeMI’s summer school from Berane Marta Pesic, said that she is ”delighted” that during the school they covered different topics – from politics, accession of Montenegro to the European Union, to the youth.

”We learned different workshops and games, that we will pass on to our peers. If I were to hold a workshop for my peers, I would go out of the framework – it would not be a standard lecture but we would acquire knowledge with the help of the games we learned during the school”, said Besic.

Participant of CeMI’s summer school, Luka Novovic, said that during the school they acquired knowledge about the EU and, as he stated, how to pass on that knowledge about Montenegro’s accession to the EU, to their peers.

”To my peers I will pass on the knowledge on what Montenegro needs to fulfill to get to the doorstep of the EU, what the EU requires from Montenegro. We learned many ways to get our peers to relax during workshops, so they would acquire knowledge we will pass on more easily”, stated Novovic.