Start of the Project "A Second Chance" in Montenegro
(Press release, February 2007)

By signing a contract with the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) , FSR and its German partner organisation dvv international started the project “A Second Chance - Integration by Adult Literacy and Vocational Training” on February 6, 2007. The project is planned to last 18 months. The consortium of dvv and FSR is one out of five that have been selected by EAR for a grant scheme in support of civil society development in Montenegro.

The project “A Second Chance” aims at helping young adults who cannot read and write (functional illiterates) achieve a level of basic education they need for full participation in a modern society and democracy. In a second step, the 75 course participants will get a basic training in a vocation they choose. This will help them enter the labour market, improve their standard of living and contribute to provide a better educational background for their children. Courses will be held in the towns of Podgorica, Nikšic and Berane.

The project is financed for the most part by the EAR. This is part of a larger programme to support civil society development in Montenegro starting in 2007. Except from direct effects of adult literacy and vocational education, the programme aims at strengthening the partner NGO and its capacities. Dvv transfers its expertise in international project management and adult education. FSR contributes its experience from several years of supporting Roma education in Montenegro. It has a range of contacts to local civil society organisations, schools, and providers of vocational education, and –last but not least – to the local Roma. Montenegro has an estimated Roma population of 10 000 to 20 000. Up to 70 per cent of them are considered as functional illiterate. However, the “Second Chance” project is open to members of all ethnic groups which are in need of basic and vocational education.

Important partners of the project are the VET Centre (Centar za stručno obrazovanie, CSO), an authority in charge of regulating vocational education in Montenegro, and the Montenegrin Employment Agency which will contribute to the project by its expertise in labour market needs and by financing part of the teaching staff by means of the “public work” (javni rad) programme.
Teaching first will consist of four months basic education. By this, the participants will achieve skills and knowledge corresponding to four years elementary school which they had been missing as children. After completion, a two months course of vocational education is added, complying with level two of the Montenegrin system. For both modules, a certificate will be issued which fits into the regular Montenegrin education system. Thus, the participants get an opportunity to continue education in the formal system. During the project, additional elements of learning useful to everyday life are offered such as taking a driving licence or additional computer skills. This is meant to help further integration in society and the labour market.

Special emphasis is laid on motivating the participants to regularly attend courses. Dvv international has learned from similar projects in Bulgaria and Serbia in recent years and will implement this experience in Montenegro now. To each single course there will be assigned an integration assistant (assistant teacher), recruited from local communities. The assistants will help create positive public opinion in local communities, clear away obstacles and care for regular course attendance.

The project is designed to gather more experience for further civil society and government programmes aiming at social integration of education system drop outs. During the project, several new vocational standards and teaching programmes will be issued which are missing in Montenegro so far. In this way, the project will have long term effects in several fields: directly by educating a group of illiterate adults, thus promoting social integration of their families, and indirectly by developing the structural preconditions for vocational education in Montenegro.

With its population of 650 000, Montenegro is the smallest country in South Eastern Europe. After a referendum in 2006 it left the state union with Serbia and declared its independence.