PROJECTS
ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF
GENDER EQUALITY AND DEMOCRATIC CULTURE IN SCHOOLS IN SERBIA
The overall objective of the project is not only to educate and support, but also to shape behavior of pupils, boys and girls, aged 13-18, on the causes and effects of peer gender based violence by using creative and innovative educational techniques. These techniques will help development of the awareness of youth on the stereotypes and mechanisms of different forms of peer gender based violence. Boys and girls will cultivate a sense of mindfulness and self-understanding which will ultimately help in shaping their reactivity towards potentially violent situations.
Project Duration: October, 01 2018 – June, 30 2019
Location: Novi Sad, Kikinda, Zrenjanin, Čačak, Niš
Specific objectives include:
– Raising awareness and the level of knowledge of boys and girls on the unequal treatment of young people based on their belonging to different social groups.
– Adoption and use of various techniques of Forum theater (theater of the oppressed) where pupils can identify and express different thoughts and emotions, as well as define local issues regarding gender based violence.
– Development of emotional literacy: encouraging empathy for victims of violence and understanding of constructive and nonconstructive expression of anger and aggression.
– Education of pupils about the ways in which gender identity intersects with a set of different identities (ethnical, religious etc.) and thus leads to multiple discrimination.
– Development of the assertive communication skills with an aim to transfer knowledge about gender equality, as well as of democratic values onto peer groups.
This project was funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the author[s] and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.
GENDER IN ACADEMIA AND FAMILY LIFE
The project aims to tackle the main problems and challenges of starting an academic and scientific career and their compatibility with family life and obligations of women. A set of specific actions focused on the vulnerability of the early careers will be addressed, aimed at proposing measures which will contribute to the increase of the participation and career advancement of female researchers. It will also be examined how family life combines and coordinates with their professional work and how different types of partnerships affect the difficulties in daily life and lead to different dysfunctional family practices.
The project aims on several specific points: 1) determining barriers and difficulties women face in this area; 2) examining the women’s needs and career paths in order to advocate for the improvement of system of higher education in Serbia; 3) examining the ways in which our respondents combine their professional lives with their marital and parental responsibilities in families, with special focus on differences between men and women in the examined topic area.
Project is concerned with:
- Increasing gender equality in Belgrade University by focusing on the early stages of women’s scientific careers;
- Promoting a gender-positive culture and fighting gender stereotypes in work sphere and family domain;
- Highlighting the role of gender dimension in influencing excellence in research and teaching;
- Focusing on the beginning of women’s scientific careers as the key moment of the project, which will enable us to fully understand gender hierarchies, but also how these institutions can better support careers of women and thus change the dominant gendered organizational model;
- Data collection for the creation of strategic and planning documents, as well as local action plans, which are essential components of gender mainstreaming. Recommendations for successful application will be developed along with a methodology that will assist policymakers as a guideline when implement gender equality principles.
The project will produce comprehensive publication with research results, including policy brief with recommendations – developing a set of guidelines to be used by academia and legislative bodies that relate to combating discrimination against women in academia and in wider society. Papers will be distributed across ministries and made available on the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit’s and the Coordinating Body for Gender Equality’s websites, which would make it easily accessible to the target groups. Also, advocacy meetings with the Deans of faculties are envisaged. We will single out two faculties which will serve as practical examples for the implementation of recommendations formulated on the basis of the research results. Initial meetings with the Deans will be held prior to the implementation of the second phase of the project – a quantitative online research. The main goal of these initial meetings will be to ensure a support for the implementation of the recommendations that will be formulated after the research. We will agree on further steps of cooperation at these meetings, and their implementation will be ensured within the project Horizon 2020 TARGET, which we will implement in cooperation with the University of Belgrade.
Cooperation with the University of Belgrade on the implementation of Horizon 2020 project “TARGET” will enable sustainability of this project even upon its completion. On this occasion, we will be involved in the implementation of the following activities:
- realization of trainings on gender equality with students and employees at the University,
- activities on preparing manuals for employees in order to help them apply the principles of gender equality in scientific work and
- assisting in drafting the Code which will be binding for the faculties at the University in order to prevent gender-based violence.
The project is implemented by Center for Ethics, Law and Applied Philosophy (CELAP) in partnership with Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade, from May to December 2017. The project is supported by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, University of Fribourg Switzerland, Performing and Responsive Social Sciences PERFORM, HELVETAS Swiss Cooperation.
OUT OF SIGHT: POVERTY, RURALITY, GENDER
The project is about including people from rural communities into the creative part of work allowing them to demonstrate their capacity of perceiving inequalities, barriers and obstacles they meet in everyday life.
CELAP continues to work on the bridging of the communication between all important actors in the system of social protection in Serbia. This time we included people from rural communities into the creative part of work allowing them to demonstrate their capacity of perceiving inequalities, barriers and obstacles they meet in everyday life. Using a camera, girls, young women and women from rural areas complemented results and ethnographic materials made by our researchers during the previous research project. Their series of photographs represent the intersection of exclusion, poverty and gender that put them in a position of isolation and social neglect.
Our intention is to present these photos and complement them with discussions on the issue of social protection and security of citizens in the WB region and the European Union.
The exhibition will first travel to Rijeka. From September to December 2016, similar events will be organized in Skopje, Tirana, Niksic, Mitrovica and Berlin.
Join us in this action!
Project “Out of Sight: Poverty, Rurality, Gender” is prepared within the framework of the Regional Research Promotion Programme in the Western Balkans (RRPP). RRPP is coordinated and operated by the Interfaculty Institute for Central and Eastern Europe (IICEE) at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). The programme is fully funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
GENDER FAMILIARIZATION IN SERBIA
Gender issues provoke intense debate in Serbia thus strongly influencing the creation of public opinion. The attitude towards these – shapes fundamental cultural values in family, school and in society in general. By focusing and raising awareness on Gender Education in elementary school, our intention is to interfere with the phenomena taking place in self-evident daily routines that remain invisible and unnoticed by teachers and students.
The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade manages a grant scheme “Embassy Fund” as an integral part of Norway’s overall support program to Western Balkans. Among 24 applicants who obtained the funding in 2013, CELAP and its team (Sanja Milutinovic Bojanic, Gazela Pudar, Jelena Ceriman, Verica Pavic Zentner, together with Melita Randjelovic and Nadja Duhacek) was rewarded for its project “Gender Familiarization in Serbia”.
Our intention is in developing the training program with clear curricula, which aims at introducing gender inclusive content to the elementary school. The training program should enter the process of accreditation in Institute for the advancement of education and upbringing and enable 30 teachers who will pass the training on gender awareness contents.
BUILDING AND STRENGHTENING FAMILY-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP
The project “Building and strengthening family-school partnership” is realized by the Center for Ethics, Law and Applied Philosophy together with the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. Implementation of the project is financially supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade. The project runs until the end of 2015 and aims to raise the level of gender inclusiveness in primary education in Serbia. This includes the realization of the accredited seminar “All Our Identities” for class teachers and subject teachers in elementary school, as well as teachers of elective and facultative subjects and associates. The project also includes seminar of the same title for parents.
The project “Building and strengthening family-school partnership” is realized by the Center for Ethics, Law and Applied Philosophy together with the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. Implementation of the project is financially supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.
The project runs until the end of 2015 and aims to raise the level of gender inclusiveness in primary education in Serbia. This includes the realization of the accredited seminar “All Our Identities” for class teachers and subject teachers in elementary school, as well as teachers of elective and facultative subjects and associates. The project also includes seminar of the same title for parents. The seminars are organized in cooperation with three Centers for the Professional Development of the Employees in Education (in Nis, Kikinda and Cacak) with whom a Protocol on Cooperation is signed. Besides these three cities, the seminars are also implemented in primary schools in Belgrade and organization of these seminars is carried out in direct cooperation with the management and professional services in the school.
The two-day seminar for employees in primary schools is based on the results of the research on families in Serbia that CELAP conducted during 2012/13. It is practically oriented and aims at strengthening the general pedagogical competencies of teachers necessary for the direct work with pupils on the implementation of a gender perspective in primary education. The seminar is accredited by the Institute for Advancement of Education of the Republic of Serbia for the current 2015/16 school year.
While presenting their own observations and attitudes toward the subject of the seminar, the school staff stressed the importance of informing parents about the topic as well, with the aim of modernizing educational process and strengthening cooperation of family and school in this topic area. The outcome was creation of a seminar that is now realized with parents also. So far, our training was successfully attended by more than 180 employees in primary schools and about 50 parents. They have sent us the news about the application of the content of our seminar in their work in schools, but also in everyday life.
Our intention is to offer recommendations to all the relevant actors in the educational system in Serbia, after the realization of all the planned seminars in order to improve their further work in this topic area. The recommendations will be based on the previous experience in realizing similar activities that CELAP has been successfully implementing since 2010. The publication with recommendations will be presented at the Round Table Discussion in Belgrade in early December 2015.
GENDER THAT MATTERS: POVERTY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION – SOCIAL PROTECTION STATUS IN RURAL KOSOVO* AND SERBIA
Project “Gender that Matters: Poverty and Social Inclusion – Social Protection Status in Rural Kosovo and Serbia” intends to explore the current situation in the field of social services for the people living in rural areas and possibilities for improving the social protection system in Kosovo and Serbia.
Partners: Center for Ethics, Law and Applied Philosophy and Center for Communities Development
Project “Gender that Matters: Poverty and Social Inclusion – Social Protection Status in Rural Kosovo and Serbia” intends to explore the current situation in the field of social services for the people living in rural areas and possibilities for improving the social protection system in Kosovo and Serbia.
Researchers and scholars from the Center for Communities Development (Kosovska Mitrovica) and the Center for Ethics, Law and Applied Philosophy (Belgrade) have teamed up with the task of identifying the needs of marginalized groups in rural areas in access to social services, as well as identifying the needs of government and non-governmental organizations that provide social assistance for those groups of people.
Research efforts are focused on several topics which seek to explore together the overall quality of life in rural areas, using intersectional approach to address the multiple discrimination and burdens of those who represent the main support to the development of the human capital in any society – women and girls.
The first phase of the two-year project is dedicated to the secondary analysis of data that will set the basis for the implementation of qualitative field research, which represents the second phase of the project. The third stage will be dedicated to quantification of the findings, where quantitative representative research will be performed in both Kosovo and Serbia. The research focuses on the collection of data on access to the educational system, supported employment, supported housing services, daily social services, material assistance and participation in decision-making process regarding creation of local plans for social protection services in rural areas. Research findings will lead to the formulation of recommendations for decision-makers, but also for the social protection service providers. The project is envisaged as a tool for offering comprehensive and detailed overview of the social services in the rural areas of Kosovo and Serbia, whose results will be equally important for further scientific research, as well as for policy impact. In order to improve the totality of scientific-research knowledge and influencing social policy, we are planning to promote the results of our research at international conferences, as well as, introducing to the wider public the research results through the publication of the research conclusions and policy recommendations. The research results will also be presented at press conference and two round table discussions in Belgrade and Kosovska Mitrovica. Press conference and two round table discussions are intended to attract attention not only of academic community, but also of decision makers in order to stimulate discussion on the observed and necessary changes of the social protection policy in Kosovo and Serbia.