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Bebbo app, an online tool for parents in Montenegro

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in Stories.

An online application that provides reliable parenting advice is now accessible for free to all families in Montenegro.

Maja Miranović is a mother of a five-year-old girl and, like all parents, she is interested in the best positive parenting methods, including the health and safety, development and learning of her daughter. However, getting reliable advice on parenting is not always easy, as there are many sources of official and unofficial information available. Since February this year, Maja has been using the mobile application, Bebbo, to answer most of the key questions she has on positive parenting.

“Given that we live in an era of internet communication and the rise of social networks, we tend to be overwhelmed with information and advice from various sources and are unable to immediately assess the reliability of some of the information. The Bebbo app saves me time and energy because everything I find in it comes from a credible institution, so I recommend it to all the parents I know,” Maja says.

The Bebbo app is a free online tool that was launched in February this year, and Maja was part of a test group of parents who tried Bebbo and provided their suggestions for the further development of the application. Since it was launched, Maja has been actively using and recommending it to other parents. She describes the tips and articles in the Bebbo app as concrete, concise, verified and reliable. “Several ‘brainteasers’ suggested for a given age not only made our time pass faster and entertained her well, but also showed me that my child is capable of thinking in a way that, until then, I had not noticed,” Maja says.

“The application has been downloaded more than 7,800 times in Montenegro. The parents have rated it on average 4.53 out of 5. These figures show that the parents are happy with the app, however, we plan to supplement Bebbo continuously with new content and try to make it useful for as many parents and professionals as possible.”

Professional parenting gathered in one app

The Bebbo app was developed and launched by UNICEF’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, with the contribution of the European Union. The app is designed to help parents of children under six years of age with easy tips on topics like breastfeeding and baby weaning, health, nutrition, immunisation, learning, toys and games for children, developmental milestones and positive parenting. Helpful and interactive tools help nurture and aid children’s health and development. Ida Ferdinandi, UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Officer in Montenegro, explains that they are very pleased with the results and parents’ feedback so far. “The application has been downloaded more than 7,800 times. The parents have rated it on average 4.53 out of 5. These figures show that the parents are happy with the app, however, we plan to supplement Bebbo continuously with new content and try to make it useful for as many parents and professionals as possible,” says Ida.

Ida further explains that all the content has been developed and validated by early childhood development experts and a large team of professionals including developers, child psychology experts and practitioners. In addition, the UNICEF office in Montenegro worked on adapting the app to specific country needs.

“We had to adapt the content for our context so we partnered with the Institute of Public Health who cross-checked and adjusted some articles, or developed new content. For example, we adapted the vaccination calendar, which is very different from other countries, the paediatric schedule, health services available, and information about phone numbers and hotlines. We had to contextualise, so people in Montenegro can get full services from the Bebbo app,” says Ida.

“The EU financial support was instrumental for both developing the app at regional level and for launching Bebbo locally. The app is richly designed, with plenty of features to satisfy different needs parents might have. The whole process included months of hard work by quite a large professional team. For local adaptation of the app, we used resources from the “EU and UNICEF for Early Childhood Development in Montenegro” project.”

About the project

 The parenting app was developed by UNICEF. The EU-funded “Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on children and families in the Western Balkans and Turkey” project supported the development of some additional features of the application and enhancements, as well as ongoing technical support to the country offices in the Western Balkans during the adaptation phase. The project was launched in 2021 by UNICEF and the European Commission Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations. It aims to strengthen national health, education, early childhood development, and child protection systems to ensure continuity in the provision of core services for vulnerable children and their families in the immediate and the longer-term recovery response to COVID-19. In Montenegro the adaptation of the application was funded through the “EU and Unicef for Early Childhood Development in Montenegro” project (2020-2023).

According to Ida, the development of the app was very demanding in terms of funds and expertise. “The EU financial support was instrumental for both developing the app at regional level and for launching Bebbo locally. The app is richly designed, with plenty of features to satisfy different needs parents might have. The whole process included months of hard work by quite a large professional team. For local adaptation of the app, we used resources from the “EU and UNICEF for Early Childhood Development in Montenegro” project, says Ida.

She explains that the Institute for Public Health in Montenegro is considering taking over the management of the app in the long run. In the meantime, UNICEF and the Institute for Public Health are developing new content and publishing it within the app.

YEAs play an active role in EXIT festival

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

At this year’s EXIT festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, Young European Ambassadors (YEAs) organised and took part in a range of activities with the aim of promoting EU values, meeting other cultures, and contributing to discussion of important contemporary topics.

 

The first day of the festival was dedicated to getting to know their peers from around the Western Balkans and the rest of Europe, exchanging ideas, and sharing experiences and attitudes. It served as a chance for YEAs to inform people about what the EU offers and the policies it has. Visitors whom they interviewed included members of civil society organisations and other activists on social and environmental issues.

 

According to the visitors, the key topics that the EU should advocate for are recycling; more job opportunities for graduates; fighting against global warming and the use of nuclear energy; immigrants’ rights; the importance of adopting kids in gay marriages; and the environment – specifically the carbon footprint of the EU and sponsorship of inventions that create reusable energy. The overall opinion was that citizens can and should do more in tackling these important issues including contributing to increasing the inclusion of vulnerable groups in society, speaking out on human rights violations and in general being more socially active.

 

Visitors also shared initiatives in everyday life, but also during the EXIT festival, to preserve the environment. Some of the activities that they mentioned were volunteering to clean parks and neighbourhoods and teaching kids in schools how to recycle.

 

Their first associations with the EU included democratic politics, peace, equality, justice, human rights and EU funds for artists. Most of the people interviewed had participated in EU educational programmes or knew someone who had. These included sessions of the European Youth Parliament discussing problems faced by youth in Europe, Erasmus+ projects and other projects related to arts and culture that are funded by the EU.

 

At the end of the interviews, participants offered messages to young people from the Western Balkans on the future of the EU. Three of the most significant were:

 “Be nice to nature, elderly people and kids because everyone appreciates gestures of kindness”

“The European Union was created to maintain peace in Europe, especially between France and Germany. The future of the Union is to prevent more wars like the Ukrainian one from happening.”

“The EU donates a lot of money; you should use it.”

 

During their four days spent at the Petrovaradin fortress, enjoying good music and diversity, YEAs showed once again that EU values are human values, that Western Balkan culture is part of EU culture and that the EU is not only the future of the region but the present as well.

EU and EBRD support small businesses in Albania

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Albania are set to benefit from new financing provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), co-financed by incentive grants from the European Union.

 

The bank is extending a €3 million loan to ProCredit Bank in Albania and the EU is providing €450,000 in incentive grants to support local enterprise investment aimed at boosting competitiveness. More than half of the total loan amount will finance investments in green technology and energy efficiency.

 

The loan will improve the availability of funding for SMEs and support them as they face rising costs in the current economic environment. SMEs will be able to apply for funds to invest in an upgrade or extension of their production facilities, new equipment and operations. Enterprises will also have the opportunity to invest in achieving EU standards in the fields of environmental protection, worker safety and product quality and safety, helping them become more competitive.

 

Participating SMEs are eligible for a grant incentive equivalent to 15% of the loan amount.

21st edition of Dokufest opens up in Prizren

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The international documentary and short film festival, Dokufest, started its 21st edition with the screening of “Fire of Love” by the American director Sara Dosa. Over 250 documentary and short films from all over the world will be screened through the week in Prizren, Kosovo. Aside from screenings, visitors will be able to attend activities such as workshops, masterclasses, and discussions.

 

Each year this largest film festival in Kosovo fills cinemas and improvised screening venues around the historic centre of Prizren with a selection of more than 200 hand-picked films from around the world. Founded with the aim of revitalising cinema and cultural life in Prizren, Dokufest has grown to be the most important documentary and short film festival in South-East Europe and since 2019 has been a BAFTA-qualifying festival for short films. The festival is co-funded by the European Union.

 

This year the festival theme is “How to survive?”, and the topic will be covered from angles such as climate change, physical survival, and the war in Ukraine.

EIB Global visits Montenegro

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A delegation from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the bank of the European Union, and its recently established development branch, EIB Global, met the government of Montenegro in Podgorica on 29 July. Their goal was to identify new projects and continue their successful cooperation on accelerating the country’s social and economic development, as well as its accession to the European Union.

 

Led by Acting Managing Director Markus Berndt, the EIB Global delegation met the Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazović, Deputy Prime Ministers Jovana Marović and Ervin Ibrahimović, and the country’s Finance Minister Aleksandar Damjanović. Together, they discussed the investment opportunities for Montenegro unlocked by the European Union’s Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans, and the ways EIB Global can support Montenegro in attracting the funds made available by this and other EU programmes.

 

Since 2020, EIB Global and the Investment and Development Fund of Montenegro (IDF) have unlocked €150 million in more affordable loans to boost the post-pandemic recovery and decarbonisation of the Montenegrin economy. EIB Global’s cooperation with the IDF has helped small and medium-sized enterprises recover faster from the pandemic and has supported Montenegro’s transition towards a circular, green, sustainable and socially just economy.

YEAs participate in ‘So Keres Europa?!’ forum in Tirana, Albania

Written by WeBalkans on . Posted in News.

‘So Keres Europa?!’ (in the Roma language, What’s up, Europe?!) is an international week-long social forum, part of the activities under Tirana European Youth capital, which welcomed over 150 young people, including Young European Ambassadors (YEAs), from all over the EU, the Western Balkans and Turkey, to attend a series of workshops. The participants included Roma and non-Roma, who took part in workshops focused on the topics of human and minority rights in Europe, intersectionality, arts and culture, advocacy for youth issues and Roma resistance, in Tirana from 11-17 July.

 

After a full week of workshops, the forum culminated with a public event – The International Roma Youth Festival – where the groups presented the results of their work and representatives of the European Youth Capital, government representatives and national politicians had a chance with those from across Europe to take a stand for the diversity and inclusion of all young people.

 

The event was hosted by Roma Active Albania and Tirana Youth Capital and the forum was co-funded by the EU, Erasmus+ and Tirana European Youth Capital 2022.

YEA joins Roma Holocaust Memorial Day

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Since 2010, young Roma and non-Roma have been coming together every year to commemorate the anniversary of 2 August – the Roma Holocaust Memorial Day. This year, the International Roma Youth Network Ternype gathered around 150 young people from across Europe in Krakow and Auschwitz-Birkenau, including one of our Young European Ambassadors (YEA) from Albania, Olta Shehu.

 

The event named Dikh he na bister (“Look and don’t forget” in Romani) is part of the Roma Genocide remembrance initiative. This aims at raising awareness among young Europeans, civil society and decision-makers about the Roma Genocide, as well as about the challenges of antigypsyism and other forms of racism in Europe today. The event is a space of learning about the past, as well as of reflection about the role of young people in Holocaust remembrance.

 

It aims to build the capacity of youth activists and youth organisations, and to motivate them to take an active role in promoting remembrance education and beyond at local, national and international levels. This mobilisation greatly contributed to the recognition of 2 August as European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day by the European Parliament in 2015.

 

The educational event in Krakow also includes other activities spread over five full programme days where Olta and other young people from many countries will have an opportunity to learn about the Holocaust and antigypsyism and human rights today.

 

The YEA platform is a creative network of young activists from across the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). DIKH HE NA BISTER was founded by ternYpe International Roma Youth Network and its member and partner organisations in 2010, and is co-organised with the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma and in cooperation with the Council of Europe, also receiving funding support from the EU.

Gradiška Bridge completed with EU grant contribution of €3.2 million

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The completion of works on the cross-border bridge in Gradiška, one of the most important projects on the River Sava connecting Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, was marked on 29 July. The European Union co-financed the construction of the bridge with €3.2 million in grants combined with a €5.6 million favourable loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).  
The 430-metre bridge will connect the Route 2a motorway in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the expressway in Croatia that is under construction and which will run from the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina via Okučani to the border with Hungary. Together with the border crossing, the bridge will provide a connection to the Trans-European Core Network on Corridor Vc and become a game-changer for the local economy.  
Once opened for transport, the Gradiška Bridge will significantly reduce waiting times at the border and facilitate a faster and safer route for businesses and citizens of BiH and the region, leading to improved growth and new job opportunities. The project is an important step towards the integration of the Western Balkans within the European Union’s Connectivity Agenda, intended to improve infrastructural links in the region.  
This is the second cross-border bridge over the Sava River co-financed by the European Union in BiH. Last year saw the opening of the bridge, motorway and border crossing in Svilaj for which the European Union provided €25 million in grants.  
The EU has so far allocated over €640 million in grants for 19 projects in BiH in the transport sector, including several sections on Corridor Vc, but also railways, waterways, and ports. The country has greatly benefited from the EU Connectivity Agenda and now also from the Economic Investment Plan.

Promoting human rights in a traditional environment

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An organisation in Albania helps promote human rights and youth volunteerism with the support of an EU-funded project.

The municipality of Dibër is located in a mountainous region on the bank of the Black Drin River in northeast Albania, close to the border with North Macedonia. Dibër is heavily affected by emigration, in particular of young people, many of whom do not see a future in the region. However, a local non-governmental organisation, Local Action Group (LAG), has been working for years now to make the place interesting for youngsters by offering them an opportunity to contribute to society and be more active.

Erblina is a 21-year-old from Dibër currently studying medicine in Tirana. She has been part of the Local Action Group since she was 16 years old, and continues to contribute when she comes home for the holidays. She explains that she has been an activist since the ninth grade. ”I benefited a lot from volunteerism: it helped shape me as a person. There is also this great feeling when you help and your contribution yields results,” she says.

“We decided that we needed to do something to fill the gap, through advocacy and lobbying for human rights.”

Capacity building for strengthening local action

The Local Action Group was founded in 2016 by Kimete Mazari. Back then, Kimete was working as a teacher and for the International Red Cross. She explains that Dibër is one of the poorest regions in Albania, where apart from poverty there are also issues with the traditional mentality that has an impact on human rights. She saw that there was very little being done to address this issue. “So, we decided that we needed to do something to fill the gap, through advocacy and lobbying for human rights,” she says.

Being a local organisation in a remote location, Kimete and her friends had very little experience of what was needed to run an NGO, and few opportunities to gain the necessary skills. Luckily for them, a chance was provided by the EU-funded Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations (TACSO) project whose mission is to improve capacity and strengthen the role of civil society organisations in the Western Balkans.

With the knowledge gained through TACSO, the LAG has been able to implement and contribute to the community through projects focused on human rights and other topics. Their first project, which was focused on prevention of family violence, and was also funded by the EU, is one of the most important ones for Kimete. She explains that because Dibër is a very traditional region, women were highly reluctant to speak out about cases of family violence and abuse from the men in their families.

“It is very difficult for women in rural areas to speak about or seek help on the topic of violence. The fact that we were a local organisation was highly beneficial in this regard as we had easier access to households and visited house by house, and talked to many vulnerable women and supported them in many ways,” she says.

“The EU TACSO project has been with us since day one, and they have been essential to our success.”

About the project

Technical Assistance to Civil Society Organisations in the Western Balkans and Turkey (TACSO) is a regional project funded by the European Union that improves capacities and strengthens the role of civil society organisations (CSOs). The project assists CSOs to take an active part in democratic processes in the region, and it also stimulates an enabling environment for civil society and pluralistic media development.

The project works in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. TACSO is a part of the Civil Society Facility EU mechanism that provides support to CSOs in those countries that are not yet part of the EU. CSOs play an important role for the EU as key actors in supporting their country’s accession process.

 

For Kimete, the organisation’s greatest success may be the involvement of young people in their activities. The organisation currently has over 300 active volunteers who contribute on a regular basis. “Dibër doesn’t have any youth organisations or representation of youth at local level. By including them in our organisation’s activities we provided them an opportunity to help others but also an opportunity for their voice to be heard,” says Kimete.

However, Kimete emphasised that without the support of TACSO perhaps none of these projects would come to life. TACSO trained her team in many ways, including on project proposal writing, financial management of projects, the best ways to use volunteers, digital outreach communication techniques and many other useful skills. “The EU TACSO project has been with us since day one, and they have been essential to our success,” she says.

EU adopts the IPARD III programme for Montenegro

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The European Commission has adopted the IPARD III programme for Montenegro, worth €63 million, for the period 2021-2027. The benefits offered by the IPARD III programme were presented to the general public at a ceremony organised at the Patrimonio winery, which is an IPARD beneficiary in Bobija, Cetinje.  
Montenegro is currently using the remaining available funds from the IPARD II programme, which can formally be used until the end of 2023, so the funds from the new IPARD III programme will be used after this deadline. In her address, EU Ambassador to Montenegro Oana Cristina Popa mentioned the EU’s more than 250 investments in agriculture through the IPARD II programme.  
“I am very happy that today we celebrate the adoption of IPARD III. Agricultural production and agro-processing in Montenegro should be adapted and improved in order to be ready and competitive for the European market when the country becomes a full member state of the EU. Our IPARD programmes give you an additional chance to increase agricultural production and reduce the dependency on food imports. I encourage Montenegrin farmers and agro-processors to make full use of IPARD II and the upcoming IPARD III, as well as encouraging the Ministry to prepare the implementation of the new measures of IPARD III in a timely manner and show that it manages EU funds and requirements well,” said EU Ambassador to Montenegro Oana Cristina Popa.