From the street to the school, to the future
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Kyrgyzstan, 8 August 2008 – At the Youth Conference in Issyk-Kul, forty young leaders from vocational lyceums and universities developed skills in critical thinking, leadership and participation. The conference last week was organized by the UNDP project ‘Vocational Education for Street Children in the Kyrgyz Republic,’ which aims to ensure the right of a child to participate in the decision-making processes that impact their lives. This event provided knowledge and skills to young leaders representing children from vulnerable families, orphans and street children obtaining vocational education in the lyceums of Bishkek.
Partner organizations invited to the conference to present their work included the UNV-UNDP Youth Programme, which provided information about the volunteer clubs and its activities, and the Center for Protection of Children, which conducted trainings on child participation, team building and leadership using interactive methods.
Intensive trainings were conducted indoors and outdoors that gave children pleasure to work and enjoy at the same time. “I liked the conference very much and would like to thank you, I liked games, coffee-breaks, teams, respect, solidarity, new friends, and role plays,” said Violetta Samohina, from Professional Lyceum # 43. Another participant, Slava Korsikov, also from Professional Lyceum # 43, emphasized that he “got a lot of information” for himself and his future life.
The Vocational Education for Street Children (VESC) project links UNDP’s work in poverty reduction with efforts to increase the participation of young people in managing their lives. Out of a population of around 5 million, roughly one third are aged between 10 and 24. There are children living or working on the streets – it is impossible to count this group accurately, but mid-level national estimates range from 2000 to 5000, concentrated in urban areas. Of these, around one fifth are estimated to be homeless.
In VESC, UNDP has been cooperating with vocational schools to provide opportunities for training to street children, and serious efforts are made to build links with the private sector to ensure after-school employment. The project picks up the best activities of the state policy for improving the chances of street children. This includes education in residential centres and helping transition to mainstream education, moving away from previous, repressive methods which did not address root causes of children’s delinquency and desperation.
Trainings are also conducted to deliver a message of the rights of children, increasing their voice in the society; as well as trainings in basic life skills including English classes which contribute to better life chances.
Integrating street children into mainstream schools has required promoting a specific methodology to deliver vocational education to these children, so a principal focus of the project is on building a capacity of management and teachers at pilot schools and help them to adjust their curriculum and approaches, including pedagogical and psychological aspects, to the specific needs of the street children.
Through supporting mainstream education and employment, the project also helps to tackle negative stereotypes about socially vulnerable children and encourage their treatment as equal members of society.
A broad range of actors are involved in the process – government agencies, a network of university students, NGOs working with vulnerable young people and other international agencies including UNICEF, ILO, Save the Children and Everychild. This Project is funded by Norwegian Government, for whom this is a unique challenge in linking professional education with street children as new way of tackling the issue of poverty through getting the street children involved, providing them more opportunities and building a platform for their adult life.
For more information, please contact Nuria Choibaeva, Programme Manager: (+996-312) 66-38-85 / nc@prp.undp.kg
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