Description
The Cojocna Civic Brigade, project implemented by ActiveWatch, aims to set up a citizens' initiative group consisting of 15 ethnically mixed young people (Roma, Hungarian and Romanian). The initiative group will be trained in advocacy techniques and citizen involvement in order to improve the socio – economic conditions in Cojocna. The Brigade will maintain and update a web portal regarding best practices in supporting social inclusion and multiculturalism (5000 unique visitors informed), will be involved in at least 10 citizen initiatives, will attend public meetings held by the City Council, will make study visits in other communities, will organize events such as a public café event and the Cojocna Multicultural Day. These events will involve another 500 community members as well, including 60 children. 30 citizens of Cojocna will be trained in entrepreneurship and some of them will be advised to start a business.
Summary of project results
The project "Cojocna Civic Brigade" offered the possibility for 15 young people with different ethnic backgrounds from Cojocna to acquire knowledge on topics like human rights, good governance and citizen journalism. The trained youngsters constituted a civic action group - "Cojcona Civic Brigade" - and implemented 11 activities in the service of the community, from placing bins in the villages to increasing the transparency of local authorities. In order to make contact with other NGOs, local authorities and other civic action groups, the members of the brigade participated in three study visits conducted in Cluj, Targu Mures and Bucharest. In the study visits, the young people met with local councillors and representatives of NGOs who shared their experiences. These visits helped beneficiaries better put into practice the knowledge acquired during the project, while attending the public meetings of the City Council Cojocna. During the meetings, they proposed placing dustbins in community and trilingual plaques (Romanian, Hungarian and Romani) for the community. "Cojocna Civic Brigade" organised and conducted Cojocna Multicultural Day, an activity with around 6,500 participants. Other 27 community members attended entrepreneurship sessions, during which they developed business plans. 4 of the members attended individual counselling sessions for starting a business and 2 of them started the work for setting up the proposed business. Another 15 community members, 8 of them from the brigade, attended workshops that offered them basic knowledge and support for establishing a local NGO: mission, vision, purpose, NGO activities, writing grant proposals, fundraising, communication, leadership and organisational management.
Summary of bilateral results