UNICEF and the EU celebrate Parenting Month together with parents, children and programme partners

PODGORICA, 15 June 2022 – On the occasion of Parenting Month, in cooperation with the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, UNICEF organized a presentation of programmes that support parents in performing their important life roles.

“Caring Families” and the Bebbo app – two programmes intended for parents of the youngest children – were presented at Europe House.

The “Caring Families” programme has been implemented in Montenegro for four years now, and more than 700 parents have participated in it, giving the programme an average grade of 4.74 out of a maximum of 5. The programme evaluation results indicate that it has contributed to a 70% reduction in harsh and violent parenting and significant reductions in behavioural problems in children (31%) and parental depression (45%).

The “Caring Families” programme, implemented with the support of UNICEF and the EU in Montenegro, has been developed and pre-tested in many countries thanks to cooperation between the WHO, UNICEF, the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, as well as Oxford University and Bangor University in the UK. Apart from Montenegro, this programme is being implemented in Europe in the Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Moldova and Romania. The programme was presented to parents by its author, professor of clinical psychology Judy Hutchings, while Darija Petović Bambur, a psychotherapist and one of the group leaders, spoke about its implementation in Montenegro. The programme is intended for the parents of children aged 2 to 9 years and is being implemented in kindergartens, NGOs and primary healthcare centres across the country.

The Bebbo app was presented by UNICEF Montenegro’s Early Childhood Development officer Ida Ferdinandi, who was joined by Maja Miranović, a mother who has been using the app for a long time. The app provides parents of children under the age of six with reliable information on various topics, such as health, nutrition, breastfeeding, safety, early learning and positive parenting. The entire content of the application was developed in collaboration with the Institute of Public Health and can be downloaded for free from Google Play or the App Store.

"Dear parents, we invite you to take advantage of quality and proven programmes that have helped thousands of mothers and fathers in Montenegro and the region in the first and often most critical years of a child’s life and parenting experience,” UNICEF’s ECD officer, Ida Ferdinandi, said.

The “Caring Families” programme and the Bebbo app have been implemented in Montenegro with the support of UNICEF and the financial support of the European Union.