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Within the four thematic areas in which Save the Children in North West Balkans work, we have had numerous breakthroughs and achievements. We tackle the most sensitive issues and those that affect children the most, especially children from vulnerable and marginalized groups. Below are some of the achievements and issues that we address in cooperation with our Partners.

Child Protection

Fulfil children’s right to protection against abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence

• Protect against physical and humiliating punishment

• Advocacy for banning corporal punishment in the countries of the Region

• Protect against harmful child labour
• Child friendly services (drop-in centres) for children performing street work established and replicated throughout the region: A total of 5 Drop-in Centres for children involved in street work have been established in Bosnia and Herzegovina thanks to the support of Save the Children, while 3 more Drop-in Centres in Serbia are given support through a Regional Network of Drop-in Centres established by our organization with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.
• Children sexually abused and exploited
• SC was the first to initiate the discussion around on-line safety for children in BiH and Serbia and supported the governments in the establishment of systems and mechanisms for prosecuting cases of on-line abuse and exploitation;
• Innovative models of support to children victims of violence and exploitation were established and implemented by partner organizations with support of Save the Children;
• Other child protection
• National Strategy on Prevention of Violence against Children and Action Plans for its implementation in place in BiH and Serbia;
• Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse ratified by BiH, Serbia and Montenegro.
• CSAPE 2022-2024 (Edukacija u cilju prevencije seksualnog zlostavljanja djece)

Child Rights Governance

• CRC Monitoring
• Established national coalitions of CSOs for monitoring child rights situation and conducted regular reporting on the progress of child rights implementation;
• Children’s group empowered to conduct monitoring of child rights situation in their schools and respective communities and contribute in reporting on child rights situation to international treaties bodies.
• Strengthening national systems
  • Established and functional Units (Divisions) for child rights protection within the Ombudsman institutions in the Region;
  • Established and functional South East Europe Children’s Rights Ombudspersons’ Network consisting of 14 Ombudsman institutions from 12 countries from wider South-East Europe region;

Education

• Basic Education
  • Establishment of models for getting out-of-school children and drop-outs back to school;
  • Index for Inclusion (a self-assessment tool on inclusivity in all aspects of life of the school and the community)  implemented in 27 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and applied in a total of 558 educational institutions throughout BiH.
  • Initiative for righteous and quality education undertaken with major international agencies in BiH;
  • Strengthening of national systems for monitoring of quality of education in BiH through establishment of standards and measuring of outcomes of education;
• Early childhood development
  • At least 3500 of pre-school age children[1], mostly belonging to vulnerable groups[2] in B-H gained access to some form of pre-school education through Save the Children projects, thus increasing the number of children attending pre-school for 40% in comparison to the baseline data[3];
  • More than 20% of all pre-school teachers in BiH were trained  in Education for Social Justice and their awareness raised for work with children belonging to marginalized and vulnerable groups;
  • 104 pre-school units equipped and established throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with educational authorities and local communities, with focus on communities where pre-school infrastructure did not exist in the past;
  • Establishment of 2 Centres for Early Childhood Development as support to parents and the community.
• Vocational education
  • Youth from marginalized groups trained to gain skills which contribute to their income-generation opportunities and labour inclusion
• Other: Accelerated Learning Programs
  • Accelerated Learning Program developed by Save the Children for primary education of children age 15-18 (out-of-school-children and drop-outs) established and recently became part of the system in one part of BiH;

Emergency

• Preparedness prevention and risk reduction

  Save the Children focuses on building regional cooperation, advocacy for prioritization children in risk reduction and disaster preparedness, and increasing resilience and readiness of children for disasters.
  Some results encompass:

• Established and held I National Conference of the Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in BiH, putting thus BiH among one of 25 countries (50%) in Europe with established Platform for DRR.
• conducted the Disaster Risk Assessment in BiH with special emphasis on children and segregated data obtained to enable proper planning and preparing for possible emergencies;
• developed and adopted the Sub-Regional Platform for Risk Reduction in South East Europe by 7 countries in the region (i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia);
•  developed the Methodology for development of the Plan of protection and rescue of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina from natural and other disasters with special attention to children;
• developed and adopted the Guidelines for fire protection in education institutions in BiH, initiated rising awareness activities and capacity building among school aged children on special types of risks.