ORGANISED HOUSING WITH ALL-ENCOMPASSING SUPPORT

Socially-Therapeutic Community Breza
is a form of support for children and youth with special experiences due to which they cannot live with their parents, foster parents or institutions in which they were placed.
The support includes: housing, continuous monitoring and upbringing, care about health, diet, schooling, socialisation, learning about responsibility, development of personal potential through various creative and experience related pedagogic activities and free time. We provide individual and group psychotherapy help, work-occupational therapy and learning of life skills to our users in order to strengthen them more.
Age of the users: 12 -18 years old
Location: Country estate in the vicinity of Osijek, elementary school, ambulance, option of regular or private secondary education with public transport.
Maximum number of users: 6
Intense Individual Therapeutic Program
is focused on strengthening the users who have difficulties with the socialisation and with every-day functioning, and who have the need for daily psychotherapeutic support.
The user has access to all-encompassing support through which he strives to integrate into the Socially-therapeutic community.
Age of the users: 12 -18 years old
Location: two estates in the vicinity of Osijek, schooling is available with the option of individual teaching.
Individual transport is ensured.
Maximum number of users: 2

ORGANISED HOUSING WITH PART-TIME SUPPORT

Communal Life
is a part-time support program with the aim of gaining independence and preparing for independent life. Users learn to organise their activities, take care of their health, manage household, socialise and integrate into wider social community on their own, they have the possibility of volunteering, seasonal work, and schooling for various occupations.
Age of the users: 17 -21 years old
Location: apartment in Osijek
Maximum number of users: 5
Posttreatment Support ISKRA
is provided to the users who went through Socially-therapeutic community program and through the Communal life program in order to become fully independent by getting a job. Users have the option of taking driver’s test, they are given legal support, and there is also an option of scholarship for those who continue tertiary education.
Age of the Users: 18-25 years old.

HALF-DAY STAY SERVICE

Half-day Stay Service
is focused on to help and support the children to develop work, cultural and hygienic habits, social skills, to develop the habit of healthy diet, free time organisation, and quality personal development.
There are two modes of operation: group and individual.
Service Includes:
  • Food, which includes etiquette and hygiene
  • Help with learning, writing homework, and overcoming existing educational and upbringing difficulties, introducing learning techniques
  • Developing working habits and life skills such as cleaning, cooking, up keeping
  • Council and help to children and parents; Developing child’s social skills, believing in yourself and others, creating positive image about yourself, gaining confidence, conflict resolution skills, communication skills, building mutual trust and support
  • Organised free time through play, sport activities, creative and artistic skills
  • Collaboration with expert assistants, teachers, homeroom teachers, subject teachers
  • Other services, depending on user’s needs.

HOMESCHOOLING – INDIVIDUAL TEACHING

  • Homeschooling is an individual teaching at home which is being successfully carried out by Breza’s expert upbringing-educational team since 2002.
  • The class is designed for Croatian and Swiss, i.e. foreign users of Social-Therapeutic Community (STZ) age 13-21.
  • The program is based on individual class in accordance with the school program of countries from which the students come.
  • Individual teaching is held at the Community’s spaces and wider.
  • We offer alternative education with complete individual approach to our users in the form of teaching class matter, learning and testing with special emphasis on practical work and learning through experience.
  • The aim of the program is to develop all of the user’s potential and to create a positive image and relation about the school (creating work habits – studying, reading, writing homework…, being motivated, concentrated etc.).

Program Participants:
a) Community’s users (Croatian citizens) who have not finished elementary or high school so they are given the possibility to enrol at state schools or polytechnics without attending classes with consultations with the subject teacher, and taking written and oral exams.
Breza’s expert team, in accordance with the arranged school program, prepares the user for each subject and takes care of everything necessary for quality schoolwork.
Competent school/polytechnic issues a diploma to the user at the end of a school year.
b) Community’s users (foreign citizens) who have the option to continue schooling according to the Steinerschule (in German language) school program after quitting schooling (up to 9th grade).
Swiss partner issues a diploma which is valid in all of Switzerland on the basis of user’s achievement and report about the user.
Foreign users also have mandatory Croatian language courses and receive a diploma, which can be used in any country, on active knowledge of Croatian language when they return to home country.
Head of individual teaching: Ivana Šibalić, 031 272818, e-mail: ivana@breza.hr

MOKUC TRAVELS TO YOU

Mobile Educational-Cultural Centre for Kids and Youth MOKUC
which Breza designed and started in the summer of 2015 is a real attraction wherever it shows up.
Designed as a combination of culture and education in collaboration with its users – children and youth, it offers various creative workshops, presentation places in a remodelled red camp trailer which travels around city blocks, suburbs and rural areas of Osijek-Baranja County.
Various activities are realised by ensuring the availability of cultural-educational content to children and youth where it’s been left out or it isn’t represented enough.
  • During the August of 2015 we visited Donji grad and introduced Japanese culture and tradition – we sang songs in Japanese, acted in shadow play, and danced szme. After that we visited Tenja, suburb of Osijek, where we presented picture books, read stories, and after that we went to the Vijenac Ivana Meštrovića, where we continued creative workshops such as creating traveling aids, giant balloons, sound traveling etc.
  • In September we visited Sjenjak where we had a dance workshop, theatre play for children and youth, and a few interesting art installations. MOKUC cleverly disguised itself as a traveling post office in one of squares in the city’s downtown and gave the opportunity to elementary school children to write letters, put stamps on them, and send those letters.
  • Minorities are also included into our scope of work, so we hosted Roma Folk Dance and Song Ensemble from Darda in one of our parks and they taught us traditional Roma dances, how to weave baskets, etc. and there were also other workshops such as mime and juggling workshop.
  • MOKUC’s October destination was Nature Park Kopački rit, village Kopačevo to be more precise, where visitors could, among other things, watch flora under the microscope in a bio laboratory which was set up for especially for that occasion.
  • MOKUC’s last trip in 2015 was in December when it turned its attention to Erdut municipality where creative workshops and Christmas play were held.
  • MOKUC continued with its travels during 2016 thanks to the support of city of Osijek… All content were realised in cooperation with the Osijek Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Slavonia, City and University Library Osijek, GEKKO association, PI NP Kopački rit, Vijenac elementary school, Tenja elementary school, elementary school from Erdut, Slavonski hrast Scout Association, individuals, students, and volunteers.
  • Over 700 children and youth, but also parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, participated in these activities

PROJECTS

BELOW 10
Project Number: 2016-1-ITO2-KA201-024125
Project Duration: 36 months (1/9/2016 – 31/8/2019)
Project Holder: ProgettoMondo Mlal Verona (Italy)
Project’s Total Value: € 447,510.00
Purpose of the project: Performing actions and research aimed at pupils’ lack of motivation and prevention of early education abandonment whose percentage is extremely high in some of our partner countries, whilst in another partner countries that percentage is not a reason for concern, but the level of education which youth achieve is a problem.
Aim of the project: To enable EU youth a right to continue their education in a quality manner in order for them to be active citizens in their local, and EU communities which also gives them better opportunities to find a job.
Target group: Young people age 15-29 with a focus on youth with less possibilities and on NEET groups (not in education or employment system).
Activities: Project activities are focused on teachers, decision-makers, local government and self-government representatives, high school students, educators, coaches, experts working with and for the youth, volunteers
  • Qualitative research of various influences of early education abandonment in rural and urban context (interviews, focus groups, gathering of life stories)
  • Joint teacher and experts working with and for the youth educations about examples of good practices aimed at the prevention of early education abandonment (within and outside of educational institutions)
  • Creating an “Integrated Local Plans” manual made in all of the previous activities

PEERMENT
Erasmus+ project: peer mentoring for teachers, change builders
KA2 strategic collaboration partnership for innovations and exchange of good practices (schools and education)
Project holder: University of Malta – department for sustainable development
Aim and purpose of the project: Design, test, improve and spread new mentorship and peer mentorship model in education for sustainable development (OOR). That will be achieved in process of action research which will directly include around 20 educational experts, teachers and mentors, and around 50 teachers as mentors in local test groups.
Target group: Teachers/professors, sustainable development experts, high school students and students
Activities:
  • Gathering good practices about mentorship experiences from five EU countries
  • Designing “Mentors for Sustainable Development” prototype
  • Designing a guide for experts/teachers/professors
  • Establishing local teachers/professors groups and creating local educational paths
  • Teachers/professors training
  • Public event as a promotion of project activities

Results: Study on good EU practices in the field of mentorship and peer mentorship; System which can recognise and confirm “Mentors for Sustainable Development” new competencies; Guidelines for educational experts who want to participate as OOR mentors; Guidelines for teachers/professors who want to be included in the mentorship and peer mentorship system; Set of didactic materials on some of the relevant Global challenges in form of „web tasks“
START THE CHANGE
Educational model on global active citizenship with the aim of achieving sustainable development with special focus on connection between migrations and inequality
Aim of the project: With this project we start to develop European civil awareness and critical understanding of interdependent world and his role by educational model on global active citizenship with the aim of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with special focus on connection between migrations and inequality
Target group: Young people age 15-24
Activities:
  • Designing, carrying out and implementation of educational paths intended for students and young people in 12 EU countries which deal with subjects related to global interdependence with special focus on analysis of relationship between migration and global inequality. Activities are conducted throughout all three school years (2017/2018, 2018/2019, 2019/2020).
  • Creating/strengthening new forms of inclusion of young people in local educational and transnational communities for achieving youth activism in relation to SDG and all migration factors.
  • Establishing cooperation and networking with schools and local non-governmental organisations in 12 EU countries with the aim of including schools and non-governmental organisations into promotion of public education and global partnerships for SDG

Other:
Breza youth association is a partner in a three year long European START THE CHANGE project which started in October 2017
The project is financed by European Commission DEAR program, Europe Aid/151103/DH/ACT/Multi
It’s about a project which includes 15 partners from 12 EU states whose goal is the to develop European civil awareness and critical understanding of interdependent world and his role, responsibility and sense of development agenda as is set in the goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through fostering global education quality.
GRANDMA’S STORY
Purpose of the project: To include young immigrants or refugees in local community involvement by developing interpretation skills and preserving the heritage, develop teachers competences when working with young people, and cooperating with galleries and museums, and creating educational platform aimed at the young people with the aim of creating on-line exhibitions.
Aim of the project: To develop high-quality educational material for people who work with young people and to develop skills and competences when working with young immigrants or refugees in an intercultural environment.
Activities:
  • Creating methodology for developing simple pop-up exhibitions, collecting stories of elderly immigrants
  • Creating methodology to develop “Immigrant Heritage” paths and including young immigrants into community work.
  • Development of educational programme for people who work with young people
  • Creating guidelines for strengthening campaigns related to immigrant subjects
  • Creating free educational platform which will contain all the tools required to set-up and build immigrant stories.

LONAC Youth Club
Lonac youth club – new local alternative centre is a project of Youth Association Breza whose goal is to encourage young people from Osijek to spend their free time in a quality manner. Various workshops and activities from different fields such as education, volunteering, art and creation, media, cultural etc. are offered to the young people through this project. Young people have the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills in an informal setting and to spend their time in a meaningful, organised and motivated way.
In addition to that, our wish is to provide young people with a place where they can hang out and network in an informal way.
Lonac youth club is financed by project budget of city of Osijek and by Ministry of Demographics, Family, Youth, and Social Policy.
WORTHY
Purpose of the project: The purpose of this project is to contribute to school programme modernisation needs through combining usual school skills with other skills such as digital competency, critical thinking, teamwork and cooperation skills, and to learn through experience about World War 1 and World War 2 subjects.
Target group: Young people age 13-19 and elementary and high school teachers
Activities: Project activities are focused on elementary and high school teachers, students age 13-19 and their families, historians and local cultural institutions, IT sector representatives, and people working with and for the youth.
  • Develop web platform which will serve as a library for the data and objects collected related to World War 1 and World War 2, and it will offer modern approach to learning about history
  • Organising training activities for teachers and educators, and designing a guide on how to teach about wars using new methods
  • Student exchange from five different European countries with the aim of exchanging experiences through workshops and war related discussions