On Friday, September 16th, the Second National Workshop was held in Serbia as part of the REVIS project – Response to peer violence among children in schools and neighboring environments. The workshop was attended by representatives of the schools involved in this project – teachers, pedagogues and psychologists, and most importantly – children from primary and secondary schools, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. The goal of this workshop was to design and present individual activities that will take place in schools during the fall and that have peer violence as their topic.
During the previous school year, during a series of workshops, children had the opportunity to learn and discuss negative social and gender norms that can lead to violence among them. With the support of their psychologists and teachers, who are specially trained on these topics, the students also tried to devise reactions and interventions in situations where they witness peer violence. At the workshop, the children presented their ideas, that is, the activities they want to implement within the schools, which aim to promote camaraderie, diversity, equality between boys and girls, and non-discrimination. All the children confirmed once again that participating in this project means a lot to them and that the problem of peer violence is very present in their schools, especially digital violence.
As allies, children primarily see peer groups and older sisters and brothers, but they also emphasize the relationship of trust they have built during this project – among themselves and with teachers and psychologists. The Center for Youth Integration is a local partner organization in Serbia within the REVIS project, which is also implemented in Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union (2014-2020)
