The Zajecar Initiative has been supporting student parliaments in the Timok region for more than 10 years through the "Youth in Motion" program. So far, over 80 projects have been supported that have enabled young people to engage in their school and community around the challenges they face, as well as to gain first-hand knowledge on topics such as democracy, civic activism, human rights, elections and other. The "Youth in Motion" program actually offers civic education to young people in a different, more direct and far more interesting way.

The "School Elections" program is an expected step forward. The Zajecar Initiative tested the school elections in Zajecar with great success, which encouraged us to improve and expand this program. Similar programs are implemented around the world. Many countries with a far greater tradition of democracy today use a similar methodology to increase the turnout of young people voting in the real elections for the first time. The Zajecar Initiative believes that school elections are also a very effective way to encourage young people to learn about related topics, as well as to strengthen their trust in democratic institutions and processes.

What exactly does the "School Elections" program look like?

Through this program, the Zajecar Initiative provides complete technical, mentoring, and financial support to the student parliaments that will participate in it, to plan, prepare, and conduct school elections.

Parliaments selected to participate in the program go through the following stages:

- Nominations of candidates in elections

- Training for candidates and representatives of election headquarters

- Candidate campaigns

- Election day

- Winner Announcement

- Final convention

If your student parliament is interested in participating in this program, all you have to do is to fill out a short online form available on this webpage and to explain why you want to participate in the "School Elections" program. Piece of cake!

The program is available for student parliaments coming from high-schools.

Detailed information regarding this competition can be found in the Call for participation, which is part of the competition documentation.

For additional information regarding the proposal, please contact the Grants Coordinator, Dragana Gogev ([email protected], 019 440 225 or 060 7 444 004).