The project “Democracy Workshops” of the Parliament of Montenegro is intended to promote interest in politics and democratic processes among the youth population. The project is designed as a civic education program for primary school students and provides knowledge on parliamentary democracy, functioning of a parliament, adoption and application of laws as well as the role of media in the pluralist society.

Throughan interactive programandin a manner suitable to their age, with the help ofselectedandtrained teachers/trainers, children from eight to fifteen years of age learn through playhowdemocracy functions. The children write about their obtained knowledge and experience in journalistic essay or present it in the form of a radio broadcast, which is later published on the democracy workshops website (www.demokratskeradionice.me). In addition to learningthe basic principlesof democracy andparliamentary processes, the program aimsto explainthe other twoconditions forpolitical participation, media competence andwillingness toexpress an opinion.

Democratic workshops are organizedunder the Parliament’s "Open Parliament" program withthe aim of its furtherexpanding andenrichingandfocuson strengthening thelink between the Parliamentand the youth,particularly theprimary school population.

The "Democratic Workshops" have been conducted by the Austrian Parliament since 2007, where over 10,000 children participate annually. A broad spectrum of topics is offered in these workshops, such as: Political workshop, Media workshops, Workshop with parliamentarians, “A Journey through Time” and Europe workshop.

This Democracy workshops project in Montenegro isfinancially supported by theERSTEFoundation, while technical and expertise support is provided by the NGOForum MNE(Forum ofYouth and Informal Education).