OSCE CONTINUES CLOSE COOPERATION WITH SCHOOLS IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 1,2007) – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia continues to support a peer-to-peer training programme for members of student councils from primary and secondary schools from Bratunac, Milici, Srebrenica and Vlasenica. The second round of training is taking place from 31 August to 2 September 2007.

The first round of training held from 19-22 August in Srebrenica gathered 31 students from both main and larger branch schools. The training provided basic skills and knowledge on how to form and activate a student council. Furthermore, the training offered the current pool of peer educators from throughout Bosnia the opportunity to use their skills and become acquainted with students in this area.

The topics presented through interactive workshops included the roles and responsibilities of student councils, team work and leadership, communication skills, conflict resolution, as well as the essentials on project proposals writing.

The aim of the project is to enhance understanding of student council roles and responsibilities, to provide the basic knowledge needed for development of democratic procedures within student councils. It also aims to improve communication between mono-ethnically oriented schools in the area and among youth in general.

The OSCE capacity building project encourages new peer educators to apply the gained skills through implementation of projects within the small grants scheme that will be launched this month.