Summary of organization’s strategic orientation:
The Belgrade Open School (BOS) is a non-profit, educational organization of civil society founded in 1993. BOS empowers and networks change-makers, improves public policies and brings together public, business and civil sectors in order to build a resilient society, based on knowledge, partnership and accountability. Values of Belgrade Open School are openness, innovation, accountability, knowledge and quality. On the grounds of these values, the competencies related to all employees of BOS were created:
- We initiate and accept changes and bring new ideas
- We achieve our goals responsibly
- We actively listen and communicate openly
- We acquire and share knowledge
- We set high standards in our work
Summary of the supported project:
The project “Together in education: Support for female students from rural areas” is focused on the development of support mechanisms for the prevention of dropping out of the education system among female students from rural areas. The project seeks to empower civil society organizations (CSOs) to support the education system in order to create stronger, more sustainable and more dynamic CSOs, which will be able to contribute to the creation of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development in Serbia.
Project goal(s):
General objective:
Empowering civil society organizations (CSOs) to participate in sustainable support for the prevention of dropping out of the education system among female students from rural areas.
Specific objectives:
- Expand knowledge about the challenges related to drop-out in education system among female students from rural areas
- Develop and implement CSO support models for schools in work with female students from rural areas
- Create and test in practice recommendations for the improvement of measures prevention of dropping out of the education system
Beneficiaries:
- CSOs operating at the local level in the region of Vojvodina, Western and Southern Serbia, which deal with providing support to young people. The project aims to develop a Program for CSOs that will be created in accordance with new and current data based on practical experiences in school communities from Vojvodina, Western and Southern Serbia, obtained through the Analysis of challenges related to drop-out in education system among female students from rural areas. Through participation in the Program, involved CSOs will have the opportunity to develop new knowledge, skills and tools, as well as to prepare activities through cooperation with schools that will directly respond to the needs of female students from rural areas who are at risk of leaving the education system.
- School communities from the territory of Vojvodina, Western and Southern Serbia, i.e. principals, teachers and professional assistants of primary and secondary schools who face the problem of leaving the education system among female students. In cooperation with more than 300 schools in the previous period, the need of school communities for additional support from local CSOs for programs for students related to issues of human rights, gender equality, and prevention of risky behavior was recognized. School communities are faced with challenges related to insufficient flexibility of school content and insufficient human resources (teachers and professional associates) who could organize additional activities for a larger number of students. Also, the challenge among school communities in rural areas related to the abandonment of the education system was recognized especially among students of Roma nationality, students who are at risk of poverty, and students whose parents live and work abroad. In addition, a special problem is recognized among female students who leave the education system, who are faced with traditional gender norms and expectations, lack of female role models in the community, gender-based violence, lack of family support for education, and in some cases early marriages.
- Ministry of Education, Local Self-Government Units, i.e. sectors dealing with education support. Through the development of the Analysis and later the Policy Brief, the aforementioned stakeholders will be informed about the situation on the ground in the local communities included in the Project. The local self-government units included in the project will have insight into the real risks that primary and secondary schools face when it comes to female students from rural areas in the education system, and based on that, they will be able to develop measures to reduce this risk in cooperation with primary and secondary schools, within their jurisdiction.
Main activities:
- Mapping the reasons for leaving the education system (Development of Analysis of challenges related to leaving the education system among female students from rural areas;
- Capacity building program for cooperation between CSOs and school communities;
- Piloting CSO support to schools in the prevention of dropping out of the education system among female students;
- Development of measures for sustainable cooperation between CSOs and schools in the context of drop-out prevention;
Related news:
Together in education: Support for female students from rural areas’
