The project responded to the problem of ineffective rehabilitation of young people from the Zielona Góra district at risk of social exclusion due to conflicts with the law. Every year, the courts refer more than 700 young people aged between 13 and 18 who have been in conflict with the law to probation centres. These young people mostly come from difficult and neglected backgrounds, where they do not receive support and motivation to change from their relatives. The inadequacy of the legal and educational system means that minors placed in probation centres are often unwilling to cooperate with the educational staff. The effectiveness of this form of rehabilitation requires the centres to cooperate with youth and other social organisations, as the Ministry of Justice has pointed out.

As part of the project, 3 sessions of meetings and development workshops were held for young people aged 13-18 from the Zielona Góra Probation Centre (36 people). The workshops and meetings covered practical skills – cooking, DIY, ironing, sewing – as well as relaxation and motivation techniques and career counselling. The form and content of some of the activities were influenced by the participants themselves. During the career preference meetings, the young people got to know seven companies from different sectors that had invited the project participants and showed them how they work “behind the scenes”.

The project benefited 36 people – young people from the probation centre in Zielona Góra. The young people developed their social skills and emotional intelligence and increased their motivation to enter adult life in a mature way and to make informed decisions. They also acquired practical skills to function independently after leaving the centre, useful in the household. Young people’s awareness of career choices has also increased. Thanks to the project, the beneficiary has developed interesting and innovative tools for working with young people at risk of exclusion, which will be used in work with successive groups of young people in the Probation Centre in Zielona Góra.