Warsaw, 19/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU member states met on 14-15 December for the European Prevention Network Conference, “Sport, Education and Art in the fight against delinquency among children and young people”. Among the best European practices mentioned was the German initiative based around the “Fairplayer” project. With the slogan, “It's easy to look away. Helping is also just as easy!”, the psychologist, Herbert Scheithauer and his team are committed to tackling violence in school. This project includes raising awareness about helping children respond positively when having to tackle harassment from another child. It includes a three day course where pupils aged 8-10 years are involved in around 30 different activities. The workgroup explains that exercises are supposed to “optimise their social skills for interacting in mixed groups. It is about developing a capacity for openness and evaluating stressful situations, in order to accomplish acts that require responsibility.”
This year, the European prize in the area of crime prevention was won by the German project. The winner last year was the regional police centre of Szczecin. The competition identifies and rewards the best projects in the area of crime prevention. The prize is worth €20,000 for the institution that implements the winning project. (VW/transl.fl)