In the Novi Sad Hall Spens, a football tournament for boys and girls of elementary school was held within the project under the working title “To success together” aimed at preventing risky behaviors among school children through sports and education.
The project is implemented by the OSCE Mission in Serbia in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The financial support to the project is provided by the Government of Italy and the Embassy of Israel in Serbia. All present media representatives and children-participants of the tournament were greeted by the mayor of Novi Sad, Miloš Vučević, who officially opened this sport event.
After the Mayor’s address, the representatives of the state summit and BIG marketing centers of Serbia addressed the participants: the assistant to the Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development for Primary Education Vesna Nedeljkovic, who pointed out that this project is a good result of cross-sectoral cooperation, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Health prof . Dr. Ferenc Vicko, then their Excellencies the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Andrea Oricio, the Ambassador of Italy to Serbia Karlo Lo Koskio and the Ambassador of Israel to Serbia Alon Fischer Kam, the representative of BIG shopping centers in Serbia Robert Jahav and ultimately to the participants of the football tournament addressed by the Minister of Youth and Sports in the Government of Serbia Vanja Udovicic. The main objective of the project, inspired by the Israeli project The Equalizer, is to create an environment in which to cultivate respect and understanding as well as awareness of the importance of learning healthy lifestyles through sporting and educational activities, thus preventing risky behaviors such as the abuse of psychoactive substances , violence, alcoholism and various forms of anti-social behavior. The project includes students of the fifth grade, who are at the beginning of the new educational cycle and in the pre-puberty phase of development, which carries with it the risks for the development of socially disadvantaged behavior.
