Numerous studies have shown that children and youth who grow up in alternative care face a higher degree of social exclusion compared to those who grow up in their families of origin. In order to reduce the degree of social exclusion, the programme “Training of experts who work with children in alternative care” was designed, because it is these experts exactly who are recognized as key factors in empowering young people in alternative care to participate in processes that affect their lives, as well as in promoting their rights. The training programmes were designed to help build the capacity of professionals in the application of principles based on children’s rights in their daily work with children and young people, and were carried out in 2015 and 2016 in 8 countries of the European Union: Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Hungary and Romania. The same training programme within the project “Alternative Care and Children’s Rights in Serbia” was completed in 2019.

The project is financed by the Government of the Czech Republic, implemented by the Czech Development Agency, and is carried out in cooperation with colleagues from SOS Children’s Villages Czech Republic, SOS Children’s Villages International and the SOS Children’s Village Foundation Serbia.

The project started in 2019 and will continue until the end of 2021, and will be implemented throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project includes 100 professionals from the social protection system and 50 young people from alternative care.