Donor: Danish Refugee Council
Duration of the project: September – December 2000
A team of Belgrade Centre for Human Rights – Kraljevo branch office, local NGOs activists and international volunteers of Service Civil International organised and conducted daily psychosocial activities for IDP and refugee children at a collective centre in Mataruska Banja, near Kraljevo. The program intended to establish links among the local community, the refugees and IDP’s settled in Mataruska Banja, and volunteers from abroad and thus promote community-building, democratisation and peace-building. Main beneficiaries were more than 200 IDP children, from three collective centres. The activities included: games, creative workshops, sports, English language courses, psychosocial interaction, craft and other special workshops according to the individual skills of the volunteers and the needs of the community in the centre.Aim of the project was to: offer daily activities for displaced children, and their families, in order to improve their quality of life; empower the community of refugees and IDP’s through close support from international and local members, and assist their integration into the local community; promote local action and solidarity by cooperation between locals and internationals; break the isolation of the local community through the presence of international volunteers and provide international volunteers and members of the local community with an opportunity to assist vulnerable groups in the FR Yugoslavia.
