Within the PPS, we have established the Public policy innovation group, following the example of such units all over the world with the aim of devising innovative solutions to improve public policies, and in this particular case – in the field of education. Education is one of the most important segments in the development of any society. This project was designed in cooperation with teachers, and the Ministry recognized our efforts and joined us in implementing this project in a different and innovative way. The development of entrepreneurial skills is certainly something we as a societystill need to work on. Investing in children is the best investment for the future.
We determined the classroom furnishing as a creative task for the children, and they, in turn, should carry out their vision of classroom that suits their needs. The pupils used crowdfunding as a fundraising model to realize their plan. The idea is to show children the pathway from an idea to its realization through the practical task of furnishing their classroom, in order to learn about this entire process and understand that it requires various skills and knowledge.
The project was designed as a pilot one as it covers a very small sample in order to test a new solution. After the implemented project and its evaluation could one come to the conclusion whether and to what extent it is successful, and whether it is justified to proceed with its further implementation on a wider span of participants.
The campaigns designed by the students are available at “Donacije.rs” internet platform from 7 – 20 June 2021, via the link https://ucionica.donacije.rs/ucionica/. All those supporting the children’s ideas will also receive one of the symbolic, but very imaginative and original prizes prepared by the students. We would like to thank the Catalyst Foundation behind this platform.
We would like to thank the participating schools, teachers and children taking part in the realization of this project!
The project was supported by the German-Serbian Development Cooperation Project “Support to Public Administration Reform in the EU Accession Process” implemented by GIZ, as well as the “German-Serbian Initiative for Sustainable Growth and Employment”. Representatives of the financial and private sectors joined the project as partners and supported “small entrepreneurs” with donations. We are also very grateful to Erste Bank and the companies Cetin, Roaming Networks, Knjaz Miloš, and Pozitiv MVP.
This autumn, the RTS channels will start broadcasting educational and entertaining children’s shows which will show the entire process from the concept design to the realization of this project. We would herewith like to thank Radio Television of Serbia for recognizing the high-quality and uniqueness of this project from the very start, and for filming the entire process and turning it into children’s entertainment and educational shows. We would especially like to thank the Editorial Board of the RTS School Programme for their exceptional cooperation and excellent work.