Late last month, our Serbian member Ekumenska Humanitarna Organizacija (Ecumenical Humanitarian Organisation) presented its study on the phenomenon of street kids in Novi Sad, Serbia.
The study is part of a bigger piece of research on youth homelessness in the Balkan region conducted by Serbian, Albanian, Bosnian and Montenegrin social service providers working in the field, and supported by North-West Balkans Save the Children. It involved four countries, six regions, twenty-nine municipalities, and 1062 social units. The results show that almost 900 children in the region are homeless or work on the streets, and 842 of them have never attended school.
EHO’s local research was conducted in Novi Sad – Adice, Veliki Rit and Bangladeš, and included interviews with 103 families in 97 social units. The study shows that 137 children are homeless or work on the streets, and 268 are at risk of extreme poverty and homelessness. Regarding primary education, 37% of them do not attend school.
The presentation was attended by a broad public, including representatives from the Novi Sad Center for Social Welfare, the Provincial Institute for Social Welfare, the Center for Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Belgrade, the Novi Sad Police department, Novi Sad Higher Public Prosecutor, and local education institutions.
Find out more about the research here (EN).