Results
Adolescents
Youth Innovation Lab
The Youth Innovation Lab in Montenegro, established in 2016, is working with local young people with a focus on community engagement. Since its inception, more than 500 young people have gone through the Lab’s programmes directly, with more than 2,300 direct and 28,000 indirect beneficiaries (a quarter of the total adolescent population of Montenegro). Two-thirds of all the participants have been girls. The Lab helps young people and adolescents acquire critical skills, such as problem analysis, problem solving and financial literacy, which are currently not being offered through formal education. Emphasis is also placed on mentorship, skills training, and facilitating young people so that they can make a positive impact on their own community.
UPSHIFT
UPSHIFT is not a set of tools – it is rather a methodology and approach to providing skills development and empowerment to marginalized young people. UPSHIFT prepares young people from Montenegro’s marginalized communities to identify, analyse and take entrepreneurial action against challenges in their communities. Through this Social Impact Workshop young people are exercising their role as agents of social change and are building up their leadership skills, professional readiness and resilience.
U-Report
Montenegro’s public policy agenda has not previously recognized Montenegro’s young people as a resource for investment. Although the government has made various attempts to establish tools for dialogue with young people and adolescents, these mechanisms remain underdeveloped – two-thirds of young people believe they cannot influence decision-making processes. Enter U-Report. Originally launched in Uganda, U-Report Global is a global platform designed to amplify the voices of young people in developing countries, to encourage citizen-led development and to create transformational social change. The purpose and value of U-Report is the ability to gather real-time data from adolescents and young people and to utilize it to advocate for system-level change and to foster adolescent participation in decision making. The key principles are anonymity, data protection and the ability to opt out at any time.
Socio-emotional skills (non-formal)
In 2016, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child found that the potential of adolescents around the world was being endangered, as there was little investment being made to support them. This especially rings true in Montenegro, since adolescence is still not recognized as a special developmental period in Montenegro’s youth policies. But with the help of UNICEF’s advisors and experts, Montenegro has recently adopted the Youth Strategy and Youth Law stipulating that youth policy must be planned, implemented and improved based on the real needs of young people, empirical and practical knowledge on the position of young people, research and regular monitoring and assessment of the position of young people, with the active involvement of young people in this process. Moreover, UNICEF, with the “Empowerment and Participation of Adolescents in Montenegro” programme, organized “The Power of Adolescence” conference – an opportunity for the representatives of relevant institutions, civil sector, adolescents, the University of Montenegro and the private sector to share their opinions on the best ways to help adolescents achieve their full potential.
