Serbia: Successful completion of 18 trainings on the Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence Programme

January 2024, Serbia: UNODC, in partnership and with funding from the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF), the Serbian Ministry of Education, finalized 18 trainings of the Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence (LQSFA) programme in Serbia during November and December 2023.

The Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence programme was organized with the aim of preparing early adolescents, students of the 6th and 7th grades of elementary schools, for the challenges of the adolescence period. The goal of the programme is to strengthen students' resistance to risky behaviors through the development of skills for overcoming stressful situations, as well as recognizing and regulating emotions. The programme strives to enable the creation of an accepting and supportive school environment through the development of assertive communication skills, responsible decision-making, and self-awareness (one's attitudes, values, and needs), as well as strengthening self-confidence. It is envisaged that the training participants will apply the content of the programme later in the classes of the class community through workshops and discussion with the students, and the manual they receive during the training will help them in this.

The trainings were organised for 317 teachers from 170 schools reaching national coverage through 17 school administrative counties. Employees who attended the training programme will implement the programme in their schools. working with close to 10,000 students of the 6th and 7th grades of elementary schools.

Additionally, and in parallel with the implementation in Serbia, within the framework of the Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence and a plan with the donor LCIF to scale up in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in partnership with Federal Ministry of Education of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a meeting was organized in Sarajevo in November 2023 with cantonal ministries for education. In order to get familiar with the implementation methodology, cantonal ministry of education from Bosansko-Podrinjski Canton expressed a wish to attend a training in the closest training venue to them in Serbia. The Ministry of Education of Serbia approved and supported international cooperation and welcomed their attendance at the training in Čajetina, in November 2023.

The Ministry of Education, Youth, Science, Culture and Sports of the Bosansko-Podrinjski Canton were closely informed about the Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence programme and got more familiar with the implementation methodology. After participating in a two-day training in Čajetina they were sure that including LQ Skills for Adolescence program in schools through Bosansko-Podrinjski Canton will be possible and emphasized the importance of the programme.

The LQSFA programme was initially launched in South-Eastern Europe in 2014 and gradually expanded to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia reaching more than 10,500 students in over 210 elementary schools across the region. As of September 2023, the main goal of the programme is to reach national coverage in the whole region.