EPALE Interview with the Youth Association "My circle"
In a year that is particularly dedicated to young adults, their role in society, driving energy, dedication, and ability to collaborate and work together, we wanted to explore how education opens up new opportunities for them and designate those initiatives and young adults who are actively working to inspire and be carriers of positive change in society.
In the following interview, I had the privilege and pleasure to talk with Denis Ćulahović, the founder of the "My circle" Association, the first and so far, the only association in Serbia founded with the aim of empowering and giving support to young adults without parental care, after their exit from the social welfare system and foster families. Denis has shared with us how an initiative to establish an association was launched with the members of his circle of peers, we talked about peer support through peer education, connecting service providers, but also the challenges they are facing and the place of young adults without parental care in society.
1. The establishment of the Association "My Circle" in 2018 was supported by a number of non-governmental organizations dealing with empowerment and giving assistance to young people. How was the idea for starting the association born and what was your vision when you assembled the team?
Denis: Since we ourselves are young people who were once in the system, as the current director of the association was, at one of the seminars (dedicated exactly to young people who want to improve support services themselves), I came up with the idea to create a circle of support, such that everyone helps one another. We realized that it was simply impossible to leave the whole thing without somehow trying to support the younger generations. This idea grew and evolved after I included my peers with the similar status (system users) into the implementation. As you mentioned, we had immense support from FICE Serbia and SOS Children's Villages, both financial and educational.
2. Your team consists not only of young enthusiasts who want to help their peers but of young people who themselves grew up without parental care. How do you help your peers find their way around, integrate into society and go through the process of becoming independent?
Denis: What we are focusing on precisely is peer support through peer education, mentorship and counselling. The combination of experience and training by professionals allows us to be competent, but still very close to the adversities that our peers deal with. Not so long ago we were in the same shoes, therefore a friendly approach and an empowered advisory action is what we actually aim for. In addition, we are engaged in connecting our members with associates, if there is a need for support we cannot provide. If necessary, humanitarian events are also organized.
3. What are the biggest challenges for young adults after leaving foster families and social welfare programmes?
Denis: Young people are faced with various challenges. The lack of counselling support would be the greatest challenge because in addition to different programmes, projects and activities at their disposal, as well as a few services offered by the system, the young people are very lost and often unaware of their need for support. Unaware until they realize that they are stuck in a world completely unknown to them.
4. On your projects and the ones on which you cooperate with other organizations, you inform young adults without parental care about possibilities, open opportunities and empower them through a series of educational programmes, interactive workshops and trainings. Can you tell us something more about the Association's projects and how do you conduct your activities?
Denis: We have our own independent projects based on peer mentoring and peer education. We connect with young people and our cooperation is based on continuous support throughout the project. After the project officially comes to an end, we try to transfer everything to constant activities. So far it is going well, so we have mentoring activities, instrumental mentorship (support in learning specific topics, as classes), peer education, counselling and the English language. We try to ensure that what the project initiates remains our ongoing service after its completion.
As for the cooperation projects, we are more active there on higher levels also. We are trying to motivate the government and non-governmental sector to recognize the real and primary challenges and needs of young people so that we can all focus on providing the right and quality support. We are constantly working on connecting as many service providers as possible because we all work with the same group.
To put the question aside for a moment, we are certainly most proud of the "Krugolijada" which was created as a result of the desire to hang out together for one day in a year. It has grown into much more, into a traditional annual event that primarily aims to connect and meet members, associates, donors and friends of the association.
5. What age are the young adults turning to you most often, and how do they learn and inform themselves about the initiatives and activities of the association?
Denis: The young between 18 and 30 years of age. We are currently promoting ourselves through social networks and self-promotion ("word of mouth").
6. You were very active during the pandemic. In what ways did you support the young people who addressed you during that period?
Denis: We were working on the first independent project on providing support which is urgent and necessary in an emergency such as the pandemic in this case. The project included material support in the form of vouchers that young people "earned" by creating a certain form of education themselves, educational support in various activities, and psychological support by associate psychologists and psychotherapists.
7. Do you think that young adults without parental care after leaving foster families and social welfare programmes, have sufficiently developed digital skills to meet the current demands of the labour market? What are the biggest challenges in this regard?
Denis: Certainly not, young people are digitally aware as much as they were given an opportunity until then (in most cases - scarce). The biggest challenges are certainly access to devices themselves, but also to training. We are slowly changing that with various other and even digital education.
8. Bearing in mind that this year has been declared the European Year of Youth, can you tell us if the awareness improving about the fact that young adults without parental care need support, acceptance and better inclusion into society?
Denis: With the independent establishment of our first organization of that target group, a lot has changed over the past few years. Over the past three years, we have been doing projects with our partners that are based on autonomy, and this year we are working on getting the system, NGO sector and all stakeholders together. To get them networked, to begin with, and the final product will be a website that will display most of the options for young people through the link. The website is nowadays the most accessible source of information, having in mind all parties involved in the matter. Apart from that, newsletters are made for those who are still lovers of covers and paper. The goal is to bring everyone together into one circle, "a circle of support" as the project is called, and we are doing it with our friends and partner organizations CEPORA and GRIG, with whom we have built an informal network. It functions by each of us providing the part of support at which we are best. (Connecting everyone is one of the main objectives of this organization). This project is supported by the Swiss Government, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and Civic Initiatives. We might say that it is our highest endeavour so far.
9. Do you think that the position of these young people has improved compared to the period when they went through the challenges of becoming independent, and do they presently have better access to educational and developmental opportunities in order to use their potential and be equally treated members of society?
Denis: I would go back to our founding which changed everything. There are about 150 members in our association. Everyone has undergone at least one if not more activities. Talking in numbers (which we don't like to do at all), it is the number of those who got slightly more than some of the older ones before. On the other hand, raising awareness of other organizations results in young people listening and asking more, making decisions. It's not perfect, but it's way better.
10. What activities and projects will be the focus of the association in the coming period?
Denis: The association primarily deals with peer support through peer mentoring, education and counselling, on which we already have created publications. We find these types of support the most effective. In this case, young people approach young people, and the results can be seen just after a year of the program.
What we also want to focus on is the employment of one person, since this association is currently driven by our enthusiasm and free time. The results are there, but the potential is much greater than the current situation.
