Youth organization Sombor Education Centre organized the National Training for trainers and educators on human rights “EduClash: Be Human, Know Your Rights” in July and August, which was financially and institutionally supported by the Youth department of the Council of Europe.
National training was led by two trainers, Branislav Trudić, trainer of Sombor Education Centre, and Vojislav Tomić, trainer of the Council of Europe. The training was attended by 25 educators from the formal and non-formal educational sector, teachers, youth workers, activists, etc. National training aimed to familiarize the participants about human rights, their use in an educational context, manuals and materials that are available for educators, as well as methods that educators in formal and non-formal context can be used to make human rights education closer to their students.
The training was supplemented by some guests, so the course of the first module (11-15.07.2016.) was visited by Anca-Ruxandra Pandea, Educational Adviser to the Youth department of the Council of Europe, who introduced the participants with the structure of the Council of Europe, its bodies, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights. She also talked about the movement ‘No Hate Speech’, which was launched by the Council of Europe and is implemented in Serbia as well. The second module, 12-15.08.2016, was full of guests. Djuro Blanuša, from the Ministry of Youth and Sports Youth Sector, informed the participants about the projects implemented by the Ministry with the Council of Europe, commented on the current state of youth policy in Serbia and approached the participants of the ways in which this Department may provide them support in their future work. In addition to Djuro, the second training module also visited Petar Žmak, Civic Initiatives, who took the opportunity to present participants advocacy activities that this organization implemented in recent years towards the establishment and implementation of quality civic education in primary and secondary education in Serbia. Besides civic education, Peter commented on networking opportunities and informed the participants about the opportunities networking provides. The last day of training, Snežana Vuković,PhD, High Advisor for Social Inclusion of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, who also performs the function of the National Coordinator EDC/HRE of the Council of Europe, was included in the training course. She introduced the participants with the Charter of the Council of Europe on Education on Democratic Citizenship / Human Rights Education, its implementation in Serbia, as well as additional guides and manuals Living democracy that are available on line to the educators on Serbian Language. After a seven-day training, the participants were, deservedly, awarded with certificates of the Council of Europe for participating in a national training course.
How the training would not be completed and that the participants were not tried out their new / old roles the training was followed by the workshops they organized and implemented in their local communities. The workshops dealt with various topics in the field of human rights, domestic violence, children’s rights, environmental protection, vulnerable groups, hate speech, identity, peace, and the like. Children and youth from local communities were able to take part and participate in these workshops.
A very important aspect of the national training is the networking of educators, creating a network of resources at the national level, and the strengthening and development of the concept of human rights education in both non-formal and formal educational context. The network of educators who by participating in the national training acquired the necessary knowledge and skills have a chance to strengthen the existing concept of education for democratic citizenship and human rights in Serbia by multiplying their knowledge and disseminate the information in their future work.
