Within the formal educational system, there is still a lack of attention to a number of issues which are of great importance for the formation of young people and for creating an impetus for their engagement in the decision making processes and development of democracy. Young people are the carriers of ideas for the new era – they will soon grow to become key social actors, and some of them will become decision-makers and those who will shape the public policies. It is important that they endorse and practice values that are at the foundations of the modern society, and to actively promote these principles, which have not always found strong support in our society.
Therefore, Young Leadership School is focusing on high school pupils who are already highly involved in social activism or have the wish to be involved, but also on those who express certain forms of deviant behaviour. Its purpose is to provide both groups with a new, valuable experience, to help them recognise and respect diversity and to develop their own intellectual capacities and skills, as well as culture of knowledge and respect for human rights.
Youth Leadership School has the aim to contribute to the improvement of the status of the young people, their participation in the society and their knowledge about the human rights and freedoms through:
- enhancing the level of knowledge and information of high school students from Podgorica in the field of democracy, tolerance, individual rights and freedoms, identities in their various forms and contents, the notion of authority, authoritative and democratic personality, attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes in the society, human and minority rights, gender equality, recognising violence, non-violent conflict management and resolution, public relations, advocacy, etc.
- establishing communication amongst supporters of various religious, cultural and ethnic groups, including the football fans as well;
- developing young people’s attitudes to values, which will have positive consequences for the raising of level of general culture in Podgorica, thus enabling these young people to contribute to constructive development of the environment in which they live.
Intensive and interactive work of the School’s trainers with the past five generations, which gave the participants extensive opportunities to express their own ideas, opinions and sentiments, resulted in a positive and friendly atmosphere in the group and created a constructive approach to understanding of the programme’s topics and to development of relationships and exchange of experiences and knowledge among the participants.
During the previous fifth generations, the School was successfully completed by 90 high school students from municipality of Podgorica, and 10 young programme associates from the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) worked with them, accompanied with visiting lecturers.
Within the first fourth generations, the Young Leadership School has been supported by the municipality of Podgorica, whereas the fifth generation was conducted by the volunteer engagement and support of the CCE.