Youth centre of Dravinja valley, the partner organization from Slovenia, continued the work with the groups of young people from 10 schools that participated in the focus groups research. During each youth group meeting, youth workers supported dialogue and discussion with young people about the findings of the last years’ focus groups interviews and explored if any new challenges that the youngsters are facing emerged. Afterwards groups in every school decided which challenges they want to tackle though their projects.

Young people from primary and secondary schools decided to tackle challenges of psychological violence, feeling of exclusion among peers, good school performance, gaining of good self-esteem, gender equality, social networks – dangers and reducing time spent on them and healthy lifestyle. One group from secondary school Gimnazija Slovenske Konjice decided to combine three challenges – excessive focus on school, disregard of their opinion by professors and students’ non-engagement. They explained the reason behind it:

»All three are linked, if school obligations were better distributed, we would have more time for other stuff like hobbies. And if professors would actually listen to our opinions and took them seriously, more people would engage in something besides classes.«

In February the project staff will continue with the meetings and supporting the young people in preparing and implementing their projects.