Association “Corporation of united citizens’ actions – DUGA” Bosnia and Herzegovina

Association “Duga” sets in motion, directs and monitors the development of democratic society through: promotion of children’s right to education in an environment focusing on a child, advancement of expert competencies of teaching, health, and social protection professionals, as well as civil society representatives.

The association practices the following activities: I Activities aimed at improvement of educational status of children with barriers to learning II Training of teaching professionals in the area of inclusive education III Participation in on-going reforms regarding pre-school and primary school education

Prevention: Psychological counselling, Special Pedagogue work, Stress and Anxiety Prevention Program. I Activities aimed at improvement of educational status of children with barriers to learning

Support: Psychological counseling Creative Family Workshops Hipotherapy Development of individual educational programs in schools Advisory for parents, carers and teaching professionals

Treatment: Special Pedagogue treatment Speech therapy Psychological therapy

II Educational programs for pre-school carers, teaching professionals, school menagments, health and social protection workers, and local governement representatives regarding inclusive education.

III Participation in on-going reforms regarding pre-school and primary school education Advocacy aimed at fulfillment of children’s right to quality education

Characteristics of children benefitting from Association’s activities Number of beneficiaries in year 2007: 184 children (75 new beneficiaries) 62 parents 30 primary schools

Implemented projects

Psychosocial support to adolescents of Canton Sarajevo MDM - Duga Beneficiaries: adolescents parents On average 400 beneficiaries a year Individual counseling and treatment provided by GP, child psychiatrist, child psychologist and special pedagogue Group work facilitated by psycho-pedagogues/psychologist/psychiatrist/social worker and associates (photographer, journalist and radio presenter)

Institutional Capacity Buiding of Parent’s Associations of Children With Special Needs in BH year Beneficiaries: 4 parents’ associations in Maglaj, Pale, Goražde and Tuzla. Project activities: Workshops for associations’ project development Provision of grants for structure development and organisational support Evaluation meetings Development of Special Olympics programs

Psychosocial Support to Children and Adolescents of Canton Sarajevo Duga Beneficiaries: children and youth parents On average 300 beneficiaries a year Individual counseling and treatment provided by GP, child psychiatrist, child psychologist, special pedagogue and speech therapist Group work facilitated by psycho-pedagogues/psychologist/psychiatrist/social worker and associates (photographer, journalist and radio presenter)

Support to children with special needs in mainstream schools in Canton Sarajevo 2005 – to present Duga Beneficiaries: children parents/carers educators/teachers

Schooling Adjusted to Children with Special Needs in mainstream primary schools in BH September 2000 – June 2002 Project was implemented in 16 primary schools: 51 classroom 51 teacher 16 pedagogues When enrolled to II class:

Pupils with special needs had the following difficulties: Learning difficulties Delayed psychomotor development Underdeveloped and impaired speech Mental retardation Emotional and social immaturity Educational neglect Underdeveloped visual and auditory reception Autistic spectrum disorder Visual impairment Epilepsy Chronic diseases 1772 pupils were enrolled to I grade. 195 (11%) of these pupils had some special educational needs.

Elaboration of Modules and Education of Primary School Teachers in Inclusive Education May – August 2005 I Development of the Initial Program of Education The program consists of 4 modules, and has an aim of professional upgrade of expert competencies of teachers working with children with special needs. Special Pedagogues, Pedagogues and a trainer participated in the elaboration. II Education of teachers from 13 primary schools of Canton Sarajevo and 10 primary schools of Srpska Republic Beneficiaries: 23 primary school teachers from Canton Sarajevo 22 primary school teachers from Srpska Republic The participants received attendance confirmation at finalisation of the training

Protection of children’s right to education and non-discriminatory approach to children with special needs Locations: Fojnica, Bugojno, Cazin, Široki Brijeg, Šamac and Višegrad Participants: 147 primary school teachers 83 parents 72 local community representatives Main project activities:

I Three-day initial program of education for primary school teachers in inclusive education Proposed education consisted of 4 modules: Introduction to Inclusive Education Functional Approach to Curriculum Planning and Pupil Assessment Behavioural and Social Skills – Disturbing and Challenging Behaviour within the Context of Inclusive Approach to Education Instructional Strategies – Developing an Individual Education Plan, Effective Instructional Strategies for the Classroom

II One-day workshop for parents in inclusive education III One-day workshop for Jednodnevna radionica za predstavnike local community representatives in inclusive education Participants – representatives of: health institutions, social protection centers, pre-school institutions, primary schools and NGOs.

Citizen governance of public primary schools in favour of children rights protection year 2007 project aim: Encouragement of active participation of public primary school bodies in implementation of the Law on Primary and Secondary Education in Canton Sarajevo, thus ensuring the protection of children right to adequate education. beneficiaries from 8 primary schools in Canton Sarajevo: school bodies workshops (school boards, teacher/parents/pupils councils: 512 participants round tables: 170 participants

One-day and two-day seminars for primary school teachers Dec and Jan location: Sarajevo and Zenica Themes: opservation, initial assessment, development of individual adjusted curriculum, follow-up, evaluation.

Inclusive education year Project aim is to contribute to the improvement of teaching practices in inclusive education in BiH. Project objective is to support education authorities in fulfilment of their obligations in relation to inclusive education. Main project activities: training of trainers for 26 local trainers in initial inclusive education program in order to increase possibility for professional upgrade of teaching professionals (Sarajevo, Mostar, Tuzla, Banja Luka i Zenica). development of advanced inclusive education program in order to continuously raise the competencies of teaching professionals.

Research

Children with Special Needs in Bosnia and Hercegovina Mapping, Attitudes assessment regarding inclusive education: teaching professionals, pre-school educators, pedagogues and parents on the random sample of 30% of pre-school and primary school institutions in BH

DIFFICULTY: 1.Intellectual impairments 2.Disturbances in speech and language 3.Hearing impairments 4.Vision impairments 5.Chronic diseases and bodily impairments 6.Combined difficulties 7.Behaviour problems 8.Neglected children 9.Abused children 10.Self-harm and suicidal tendencies 11.Children with PTSD 12.Returnees 13.Children from minority groups 14.Children from incomplete families 15.Talented 16.Gifted

Atitude assessment of school staff showed that: 10% of participants gave their full support to inclusive education 78% of questioned persons had positive attitudes when basic prerequisites were fulfilled 12% of participants did not support inclusive education positive attitudes were present in 86% of parents negative attitudes were present in 6% of participants neutral answers were provided by 8% of parents Atitude assessment of parents showed that:

Inclusive Education Feasibility Assessment in Birač Area Dec 2004 – April 2005 Aim: collection and interpretation of the main data about children and youth with special needs – their number, nature and extent of their special needs, educational status, the need and possibility for change, as well as direction of such change. Assessment of organisational and technical capacities of relevant organisations and institutions was performed.

Cooperation of NGOs and mainstream primary schools regarding inclusive education Cooperation of Association “Duga” and primary schools Kovačići and 9 May The paper was presented at XIII International Congress of Comparative Pedagogy, Sarajevo 2007.god.

Publishing

Translation of “What’s Wrong with Timmy” author Maria Shiver year 2002 The book was translated and printed in 150 sets in Bosnian, Croatian and Srbian language Distribution of the books in primary schools

Manuals year 2001 Preparation, printing and distribution: School based project for children with disabilities in BiH – Teacher’s Manual Manual for Inclusive Classroom year 2006 Preparation, printing and distribution: Manual for Inclusive Education

Stress and Anxiety Prevention in Children Program year 2002 Translation and printing of: facilitator’s manual; 10 sets of books for children

Campaigns

Child Tailored Schools year 2002 Awareness rising of the importance of inclusive education and children’s rights Activities: Production and broadcasting of 4 TV telops Performance in TV programs on “Perspectives of education in BH – inclusive education for children with special needs” Printing and distribution of 6600 copies of marketing materials

We require smaller but faster composition – we are graduates but still children year 2007 Aim: Less subjects in final grade of eight-year long primary schooling in Canton Sarajevo Activities: Production and distribution of leaflets Production and distribution of posters Round table