Description (EN): The programme area is in a need for modernization of the health and social care system in charge of provision of services for children and youth with developmental disabilities with the aim to make it more efficient and responsive to contemporary and future needs what can be achieved by focusing on the implementation of efficient investments in terms of small scale infrastructure and equipment as well as in strengthening of human resources. Common territories challenges above described are reflected in poor services for children and youth with developmental disabilities provided. The main project objective is to increase the accessibility, availability and quality of the provided health and social care services for children and youth with developmental disabilities in cross-border area. In order to achieve this specific objective it is planned that 1 new service for diagnostic of hearing and speech will be developed, then 1 new ICT tool– web site, dedicated to networking among related institutions in cross border area and intended for exchange of experiences, knowledge and practices as well as for promotion of available services, will be developed and available. Through jointly developed education and training scheme, 60 specialists will be educated and trained. Improved current services and new services created will cover needs of target groups: Children and youth with developmental disabilities (hearing, speech, vision, autism and other physical and mental disabilities) that are beneficiaries of partners' institutions for health and social care of children and youth with developmental disabilities; Parents of children and youth with developmental disabilities and specialists from partners' institutions as well as specialists from other public health centers. Current direct users of services are 914 (457 children and 457 parents) but in total 4% of population needs these services. Outputs are widely applicable.
Read more Achievements (EN): Improving transportation service quality within project ASIQ:
Thanks to the ASIQ project, co-financed through the Interreg IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014-2020, accessibility and availability of services for beneficiaries of the PI Centre “Protect Me” and PI “Center for Education and Rehabilitation of Hearing and Speech” from Banja Luka, Elementary School “Voštarnica” from Zadar as well as PI Resource Center for children and youth “Podgorica” are now improved. Adequate transportation for children and youth with disabilities was enabled through procurement of new vehicles, which directly affects the quality of provided health and social services as well as the number of service users.
Transportation service includes picking up students at their home and returning after school. Also, the vehicle and driver are available for the many activities the school organizes. The aim of providing transportation is to provide opportunities of life and community involvement for students and socialization opportunities.
Infrastructural works in Podgorica completed within ASIQ project:
Public Institution Resource Center “Podgorica”, Project Partner on project ASIQ, finished the implementation of infrastructural works on boarding school. Works started in November 2020 and finished in January 2021.
The following works were implemented: dismantling and demolition of wooden facade and interior carpentry, installation of hardware (doors and windows), plastering of interior walls, spalette treatment, construction of horizontal waterproofing of the floor slab in the existing sanitary node and in the kitchen, coating of floor with anti-slip ceramic tiles and coating of kitchen walls with ceramic tiles, making a raster suspended ceiling in the toilet and in the kitchen, painting of all walls and ceilings in the rooms that were being renovated, installation of laminate in rooms that were being adapted and installation of thermal facade.
Reconstruction of the boarding school will create preconditions for improving the accessibility of social and health services to children with special needs, but also create preconditions for the development of a common social service in the CBC area.
The institution gained a reconstructed part of boarding school capacities in which cabinets for Early intervention programs are located, which will enable higher quality and more pleasant stay for children and work of employees.
The reconstruction will contribute to the overall goal of the project, which is enhancement of accessibility to social and health services for children with developmental disabilities and to creation of a joint service with health institutions.
Improved practical lessons and interactive teaching through ASIQ project:
By purchasing materials and equipment for hairdressers and machines for agricultural producers, each topic realized through practical classes is better approached and explained to the students. It is especially important that during their stay at home, students can apply their knowledge and help their parents and friends (mow the grass, trim the garden, cut someone’s hair).
Also, Elementary School Voštarnica – Zadar purchased new working tools – Smart screens for quality and interactive teaching and working with students. Five interactive screens were procured from the project, and another 11 from other sources, and now all classrooms are equipped with this interactive technology.
With smart screens, it is possible to display a large amount of interactive content adapted for schools, with possibilities for storing and sharing the lessons with colleagues and students. According to the latest research, the Smart screens helped extremely quickly in teaching and working with students with disabilities because, in addition to being instruments that enable the individualization of all teaching content, they have extremely strong motivating effect.
More pronounced visual and auditory stimulation encourages students to actively participate in seeking information related to a particular topic and while solving tasks. By using an interactive screen, the teaching process is improved in several ways: it improves the motivation and enthusiasm of students, and it is suitable for different learning styles and student needs.
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Expected Outputs (EN): Project result is the following: improved health and social services for children and youth with developmental disabilities living in cross-border area. After the implementation of the project, it is expected that current health and social services for children and youth with developmental disabilities will be significantly improved in quality through providing the services to more beneficiaries who need it. New service for diagnostics of hearing and speech will be developed thanks to new infrastructure, equipment and knowledge. The project connects three countries, 4 relevant public institutions in charge of provision of health and social services for children and youth with developmental disabilities, that before this project preparation phase did not have experience in cross-border cooperation and connections. Each institution has specific experiences and knowledge and by using new ICT tools, all valuable knowledge and experiences will be gathered, transferred, shared during the project implementation and will be publicly available. After the project ends, this knowledge sharing tool will be used, not only by partners but also by other institutions that have the same vision and responsibility to develop and provide adequate service to children and youth with developmental disabilities.
Increase in level of accessibility and availability to services can be measured through increase in percentage of beneficiaries of available services and percentage of increase in number of new services, but also through number of specialists using education schemes and new ICT tool as education tool.
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