This past weekend was an opportunity for the Senior Management to visit some of the cultural sights in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to better understand its history and the context in which PH BiH operates on a daily basis and also to hang out with BLSP staff. We had a great time!
Meg Harris and Michael Gauthier, who are currently visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina Office, met with Legal Socialization Program (LSP) partners and beneficiaries in Banja Luka (Republika Srpska) on March 3, 2023.
Accompanied by PH Bosnia staff, they visited Primary School „Jovan Cvijić“ in Banja Luka where they were warmly welcomed by Ms Milkica Čudić, School Principal, Ms Dragana Kecman, Pedagogue and LSP Teacher and students who attended LSP classes and completed all 8 modules of the Legal Socialization Curriculum. Students talked about the topics covered at the LSP classes, how what they learnt changed their perception of online bullying, culture of behavior, the role of the police and other institutions dealing with child protection, etc. They thanked PH International for the opportunity to participate in the program.
The delegation then went to the Faculty of Security Science of the University of Banja Luka where they met with Professor Predrag Ćeranić who serves as the Dean of the Faculty and his two associates, Velibor Lalić and Žana Vrućinić, who participated in LSP curriculum writing and teaching teams training. They talked about the importance of LSP being implemented in RS schools as a precursor to the planned introduction of a new subject in schools' curriculum called „Security Culture“.
The BLSP RS/BD Lessons Learned Conference on November 30, 2022, at hotel “Jelena” in Banja Luka was attended by about 70 representatives from the partnering institutions and participating schools from Republika Srpska (RS) and Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BD).
The audience were addressed by Nedžada Faginović, PH BiH Country Director, Predrag Damjanović, Director of RS Pedagogical Institute, Predrag Ćeranić, Dean of the Faculty of Security Science University of Banja Luka, Mile Šikman, RS Ministry of Interior, Mile Juričanin, Brčko district Police and Samir Čorbadžić, Department for Education of the Government of Brčko District.
PH Certificates of Appreciation were handed to representatives of the institutions and schools for their support and for participation in the implementation of the Program. They shared their impressions after two years of delivery and pointed out various advantages of the program and its benefits for the juveniles. The final part of the Conference was reserved for the presentation of the External Evaluation Report of the BLSP implementation in the RS and BD school and the empirical results supported the impressions of the participants that the program is highly beneficial, well-conceived, sustainable and that it achieved the set objectives.
The sixth Police Youth Academy (PYA) within the Legal Socialization Program in Republika Srpska and Brcko District BiH (BLSP RS/BD) was held on November 23, 2022 at the new premises of the Brcko District Police. The event was coordinated and organized by Mirsad Ribic, Deputy Chief of Crime Police Unit for Fighting and Suppressing Organized Crime and Narcotics Abuse and a member of BLSP RS/BD Curriculum Development Team.
Forty students from two secondary schools in Brcko accompanied with their LSP teachers were addressed by Mile Jurosevic, Head of Cabinet of Brcko District Police Chief followed by Samir Corbadzic, Chief of Sub-department for Joint Affairs of the Department for Education of Brcko District Government. In their opening words and subsequent statements for the local TV station reporting on the event, both of them commended the project accentuating its sustainability since trained LSP Teaching Teams will stay within the police force and the participating schools and would continue to work for the benefit of their local communities.
Students had an opportunity to see a training practice including a police dog , some of the Special Police Unit equipment and visit Operational and Communications Center and laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment used for ballistics and fingerprint analysis where police officers introduced them to the work they do. Four police officers gave presentations on the topics of rights and obligations of children and youth, prevention of violence, prevention of addiction and prevention of human trafficking. Afterwards, students divided in four groups working on their own presentations fo the above topics which they later presented to their peers. Students had a lot of fun and liked the experience.
The reports on the event were published in local TV and media portals.
On Friday November 11, 2022, a representative of PH International Office in BiH visited secondary school „Saobraćajna i elektro škola“ in Doboj, Republika Srpska which was awarded a $500 mini grant for the implementation of small community project titled „Internet All Around Us- Part Two“ to provide unlimited internet access for the entire school. The necessary supplies and equipment worth $500 were purchased and delivered to school to be able to implement the project.
Before the implementation of this small project, only 50% of specialized classrooms were connected to internet through a different project. All classrooms, specialized classrooms and universal classrooms, are now connected to internet using materials purchased with funds from this mini grant.
Information Technology Teacher and Pedagogue tasked 8 second-grade students and a school janitor with implementing this small project: two students were setting up the WiFi router and password and configuring router, switch and wireless access point IP address. Other students were assembling a networking cabinet. With the assistance from the janitor, it was mounted to the wall in the school corridor after which the entire school facility gained access to the internet.
The fifth Police Youth Academy within the Legal Socialization Program (BLSP RS) in Republika Srpska was held on Tuesday, November 8,2022 at the premisses of the Faculty for Management and Production in Trebinje.
Police officers from the Traffic Police, Crime Technique and Gendarmerie presented various equipment and devices they use every day to 40 students and two teachers from secondary school “Centar srednjih škola” from Trebinje participating in BLSP RS.
Police officers gave short presentation related to drug addiction, prevention of violence and rights and obligations of youth and children and engaged in discussion with students on the consequences of breaking the law. Students divided in three groups made their own presentations on the above topics and presented them to their colleagues.
The report on the event was covered by a local media and the official pages of the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior.
The fourth Police Youth Academy within the Legal Socialization Program (BLSP RS) in Republika Srpska was held on Monday, November 7,2022 at the premisses of the Police Administration/Police Station Istočno Sarajevo.
Police officers from the Traffic Police, Special Police, Gendarmerie along with police tracker dog Leonidas and his handler presented various equipment and devices they use every day to 40 students and four teachers from two secondary schools from Istočno Sarajevo participating in BLSP RS.
Afterwards, students moved to Cultural Centre where three police inspectors/BLSP Teaching Team members held an interactive presentation on various topic such as, violence and neglect, rights and obligations of youth, addictions, etc. Students used the opportunity to ask a lot of questions and learn a lot of new things.
The report on the event was covered by a local media and the official pages of the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior.
Cross-Regional Youth Leadership Conference within Bosnia Legal Socialization Program was held on October 31, 2022, at the premises of the Faculty of Security Sciences in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska. This one-day conference was an opportunity to gather youth, police officers and teachers who have been involved in the LSP from Republika Srpska and Brčko District Bosnia and Herzegovina. It allowed 100 participants to come together and share their experiences in youth-police projects. The conference was attended by representatives of the Faculty of Security Science, Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior and Republika Srpska Pedagogical Institute who welcomed the audience.
Focusing on sustainability and expansion of the Legal Socialization curriculum in the Republika Srpska and Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first cycle of Training of Trainers (ToT) activity was organized between October 24 and 27 at hotel “Termag” in Jahorina.
Potential candidates for the LSP ToT were all persons who participated in any of the BLSP activities. A call for participation in the selection of candidates for future LSP trainers in Republika Srpska and Brčko District Bosnia and Herzegovina was sent out June 27, 2022. The main criterion for selection of the candidates was a motivation letter that reflects individual ambition for professional development and adult education.
The BLSP received 16 motivation letters expressing motivation and satisfaction with the LSP concept, however only 10 candidates could be selected for training. The training is conducted by Professor Mirjana Mavrak, PhD, a renowned Adult Education/ Andragogy Specialist from the University of Sarajevo.
Following a public call for proposals for community projects, the BLSP Curriculum Development Team/Advisory Council held a two-day meeting on October 10 and 11, 2022 in Jahorina to review the applications. The call was open to 33 primary and secondary schools from the Republika Srpska and Brčko District Bosnia and Herzegovina participating in BLSP this year.
Selection criteria for winning projects included active involvement of police, teachers and students in collaborative community efforts, strengthening youth leadership and positive social change in communities, and addressing key rule of law issues in communities.
After careful assessment of project applications, CDA/AC selected 19 project proposals to be awarded mini grants of $500 each. PH Office in BiH will purchase supplies worth $500 as specified in the project proposals to be delivered to schools together with a hand-over letter.
.jpg)
This past weekend was an opportunity for the Senior Management to visit some of the cultural sights in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to better understand its history and the context in which PH BiH operates on a daily basis and also to hang out with BLSP staff. We had a great time!
Meg Harris and Michael Gauthier, who are currently visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina Office, met with Legal Socialization Program (LSP) partners and beneficiaries in Banja Luka (Republika Srpska) on March 3, 2023.
The BLSP RS/BD Lessons Learned Conference on November 30, 2022, at hotel “Jelena” in Banja Luka was attended by about 70 representatives from the partnering institutions and participating schools from Republika Srpska (RS) and Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BD)..jpg)
