Civil society organization in response to the crisis #
Association of students of Bukovica and Kotar – BIK, founded in 2015, gathers students from the area of Bukovica and Kotar, and currently has about 200 members, equally represented men and women. The work of the association is recognized at the local level, and the association’s activities are extended to increase social services and establish a socioeconomic framework for the development of entrepreneurial initiatives.
The members of the association are students and highly educated persons of the project area, of various professions, and are able to develop the capacities necessary for the establishment and active operation of a local support center for associations as initiators of socio-economic development.
The students’ association participated in several European projects, in which they acquired specific knowledge for working with young people.
The activities of the association are: gathering of students from Bukovica and Ravni Kotar (geographical area of the city of Benkovac), organizing consultations, lectures, forums and other gatherings in the domain of the association, organizing tourist tours of historical sites in Bukovica and Ravni Kotari, preserving and promoting the traditions of Bukovica and Ravni Kotari, launching various projects aimed at improving the preservation and protection of nature, helping students in realizing their rights through mediation in communication between students and administrative bodies of universities and other institutions, providing support to associations.
Problem addressed #
Despite great effort and engagement, experience has shown that CSO members do not have enough knowledge and skills to respond to crisis situations, which is particularly visible in the area of management, coordination of volunteers, protection and safety.
Faced with the evidence of the lack of knowledge and skills in the event of a natural or other major disaster, it was decided to implement this project with the aim of strengthening the capacities of the population to be able to act in an emergency situation.
Objectives & implementation #
The development of the project “Civil society organization in response to the crisis” will improve capacities to cope with crisis situations, which will allow the development of an innovative model of crisis response in the areas of Ravni Kotar and Bukovica.
A new model of crisis response management will be established, through the strengthening of competencies and skills, and through cross-sectoral cooperation.
Stakeholders #
The target group of the project is BIK members who will strengthen their competences through the implementation of the project and in this way will create prerequisites for further development of activities based on the experiences gained in the project.
The end users of the project are civil society organizations and local communities.
Other project stakeholders are public entities or administrations, which will be beneficiaries of the project.
Timescale #
The project implementation period is 12 months, the project started on July 27, 2022 and lasts until July 27, 2023.
Fields of application #
Strengthening and improvement of CSOs from the area of Ravni Kotar for the implementation of activities of building their own capacities for dealing with crisis situations.
Transferability #
Given that it is about strengthening the capacity of CSOs active in local communities to implement activities adapted to local problems, it is possible to transfer the project to various local communities. The very fact that for a crisis situation, it is not possible to predict it in a timely manner and be fully prepared, it is desirable to constantly work on it in order to meet it as ready as possible. From this we can conclude that all local communities can implement this type of project. In conclusion: Improving the capacity of civil society organizations to provide an effective response to the needs of the local community in crisis situations is desirable to transfer in order to contribute to the achievement of the general goal of the call, which is to ensure the development of civil society in the Republic of Croatia, which ensures uniform regional-social economic growth and democratic development Republic of Croatia.
Impact & Results #
As part of the previous project #nauči#primijeni#promijeni 40 people, of which 15 members of the association “BIK” participated in the education of the project #nauči#primijeni#promijeni and listened to lectures from Module 1, which includes the legislative framework and knowledge about the establishment of the association, scope of work and financial operations, Module 2, which includes the accounting and financial framework, where the participants received basic knowledge about accounting, Module 3, which includes knowledge about EU funds, operational programs, preparation and implementation. In this way, it strengthened the capacities of CSOs.
Capacity management in crisis situations education conducted in
in the form of 5 courses:
- Crisis management
- Course of communication in a crisis situation and recognition
so called fake news
- The self-confidence course that is currently being implemented
- First aid course
- Course of protection and safety in the form a total of 10 course participants in all courses
40 volunteers will participate in the implementation of the project. 320 volunteer hours are planned.
