Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

I am a beneficiary of the new social protection service of the city of Belgrade – support to self-sufficiency of young people who grew up without parental care. This support includes the right to free housing (payment of utilities) and temporary financial assistance up to two years, with the assistance of advisors for self-reliance.

This programme does not exist in all the cities in Serbia, although the number of young people exiting the system of social protection per year is not big and notwithstanding the fact that the service is economically viable. Namely, it is much easier on the state budget for the young people to exit, the vicious circle of social assistance beneficiaries and become tax payers with some support.

Life in subsidised conditions for support to self-sufficiency must go hand in hand with appropriate psycho-social support of advisors for self-reliance and professional services. The best practice example of psycho-social support to self-reliance is the multiannual project of the organization Familia. Approximately 150 children and young people who attended psychological, educational and creative workshops were assisted to develop skills in demand at the labour market. The programme takes the form of a youth club, thus overcoming the resistance of adolescents to adults.

Money is important indeed, but makes no difference – what does make the difference is teaching a young person to face the challenges. Therefore, there must be a person who is always available for the young person in the course of his/her becoming self-reliant, who cares how the young man/woman feels, who will take an urgent call if a pipe bursts or if they need advice.

A person who will instruct them and teach them how to handle money, which is a challenge even for an average citizen of Serbia let alone persons who have lived to be 20 with the notion that the state takes care of everything, only to find themselves all of a sudden with 30,000 dinars to pay the bills, buy the cheapest food and save instead of buying the latest video game and the most expensive tennis shoes. A little bit of support makes enormous change: the state is to get a taxpayer from the former beneficiary of social welfare assistance; an individual should exercise the right to an opportunity to live a dignified life.

It is not easy for the general population of youth in Serbia to attain self-sufficiency. Just try and imagine how difficult it is for the young people leaving the system. It is a stress. It makes you rembember your 20s not as years when you were young and enjoyed life, but as years of utter deprivation, disappointment and crisis.

There are not many young people in Serbia and the figure is decreasing by day relative to the number of the elderly. This is all the more reason to support youth. Young persons without parental care who do not even know who fathered them often, are in search of identity and need to feel they belong somewhere. That is why many of them have felt the sense of belonging to the football supporters’ gangs manipulated by local bullies and drug dealers.

Many young people who grew up in homes for children withouth parental care do not complete secondary education because the teachers care too much or too little. Many, who grow up in foster families, are also neglected because they are neither motivated to educate themselves nor given a chance to discover their talents in early adolescence.

Dražen Zacero (Blog on Social Inclusion)