Summary of the project
Children’s participation is one of the four fundamental principles from which all articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child derive. Generally, children and young people are not involved in decision-making at the local level, and most of them lack the experience of attending meetings where decisions are made regarding the public and social life of the local community. In the municipality of Zemun, there are a total of 28 schools, including 20 primary schools and 8 secondary schools. In recent years, while working with student parliaments in Zemun, several research projects revealed that student parliaments have not been established in some schools, and in many others, they serve mainly as symbolic entities.
Children and young people have expressed their desire for greater participation, emphasizing that they have initiatives but feel that their voices are not heard. They also express the need for a mechanism that would empower them to have a stronger voice, increased representation in school and local governing bodies, and the opportunity to network with other student parliaments while sharing best practices.
Through this project, the organization aims to initiate the formation of the Municipal Student Parliament within the GO Zemun territory. We believe that the conditions are favorable for this endeavor, drawing inspiration from the successful establishment of the City Student Parliament in Novi Sad, which was founded in March 2022 under the Coordination Body for the Fight against Violence in Primary and Secondary Schools in the City of Novi Sad. Our ultimate goal is to promote this established mechanism as a model of good practice and replicate it in other municipalities in the future.
Project goals
The general goal of the project is to contribute to the strengthening of participation and greater visibility of children and young people, especially primary and secondary school students, which affects their personal development, self-confidence, development of cognitive abilities and social skills, which generally improves their position in the community.
The specific goal is the formation of the Municipal Student Parliament at the Office for Youth or another relevant body of the City Municipality of Zemun.
Beneficiaries
The primary target group of the project are all students of the 7th and 8th grades of elementary schools and students of all grades of secondary schools in Zemun. They are also the beneficiaries because the project’s outcome will directly affect them. Representatives of the student parliaments of primary and secondary schools from the territory of Zemun municipality will be directly involved. Also, the wider target group are schools’ PP services as coordinating bodies of school student parliaments, representatives of LSG Zemun: social activities and the Youth Office as well as other relevant decision makers at the local level who participate in the process creation and implementation of policies concerning the participation of youth and student parliaments.
Main activities
- Initial parliaments and project team contacting the formation of student extended
- Parliamentary workshops and student meetings
- Initiation and preparations for a campaign on social networks to promote the municipal student parliament
- Implementation of campaign strategy on social networks
- Media promotion of the initiative: recording, editing and publication of video clips
- Strategic planning process for the future Municipal Student Parliament
- Presentation meeting with youth offices and local governments
- Public debate with student representatives and youth offices
- Official formation of the Municipal Student Parliament
