RUBIKON Citizen Association Skopje
Total budget: MKD 323,000
Timeframe: 01.12.2021 – 31.03.2022 (4 months)
CONSTITUENTS
The children from the Tetovo Juvenile Detention Centre, officials from the Treatment Department, the Prison Police and the Department for Expert and Instruction Affairs and the biological families of the children at VPD Tetovo.
ON THE PROJECT SUPPORTED BY CIVICA MOBILITAS
Support to Children in Conflict with Law
BACKGROUND
The Tetovo Juvenile Detention Centre is a specialized educational and correctional facility of semi-open type, whose primary function is to implement a resocialization treatment for minors and young male adults aged 14 to 23, who have conducted various crimes, and have been sentenced to prison. The duration of the prison sentence is one to five years.
The rate of recidivism with the convicted persons in Macedonia is quite high, especially with children and youth. Because of the weaknesses in the system and the process of resocialization in the last ten years, a big number of children and youth remain returnees to the penitentiary system. Because of the poor economic situation of the parents, the visits by the biological families to the children in the Tetovo Juvenile Detention Centre are very rare, while at the same time being necessary for the successful resocialization and inclusion in the family and the broader community. Additional support to the child – convict and his closer family is needed, in order to build their relations and climate of mutual support. Additional education and motivation of the officials in the Department for Expert and Instruction Affairs is also needed, as well as furnishing additional tools in the workshop. The vocational training helps to strengthen the skills for employment and social inclusion of this group of marginalized persons after the end of the detention.
GOALS AND RESULTS
Goal: Contribution to decreasing recidivism with the children in the post-penal period.
Objective:
Strengthening the competencies of the children and professionals at VPD Tetovo regarding postpenal reintegration of the convicted in the community.
RESULTS
- Developed skills with the children for penal rehabilitation and inclusion in the community in the period after the end of the detention
- Support to the officials of the Department for Treatment of the Children and the Prison Police, as well as the Department for Expert and Instruction Affairs in implementation of the rehabilitation of the children
- Enabled building of positive relations of the convicted with their biological families during the penal period
ACTIVITIES
- Implementation of 4 educational workshops with the children on soft and practical life skills and employability skills
- Support to the process of training the children for crafts by procuring machines, equipment and tools in the rooms for practical work and acquiring a craft
- Preparing and organizing a cycle of trainings for all 38 employees at VPD Tetovo
- Conducting two training sessions on communication skills, strategies and techniques in working with children at risk for all officials
- Conducting two training sessions on team work and establishing a unified approach in working with children at risk for all officials
- Establishing meetings with the biological families of the children and 18 children from VPD Tetovo
- Mapping the needs of 18 families to support the children in the rehabilitation period