Description
Center of Community Organizing (CCO) has years of experience in community development work and active participation of citizens in decision-making processes in relation to their communities. The aim of CCO is to encourage active citizens in the spirit and the need for change in their own communities.The biggest challenge that faces the CCO from the beginning, is to teach people what the word community means, that it consists of several micro communities and who represent these micro-communities. On the basis of present fieldwork in Zvolen, CCO identified four micro-communities representing Roma minority, LGBT immigrants and disabled people, who often feel excluded from the work of community development. The aim of this project is therefore "link bridges' and knowledge of the majority and minority communities on the basis of a questionnaire, workshops associated with the presentation of the minorities through artistic experiences. Emphasis will be given mainly to engage the younger generation (12-20 years).
Summary of project results
All the project outputs were accomplished as planned. We only needed more time for the implementation phase which was achieved by the request for the project extension. Based on the successful cooperation with the primary school and the positive response from participants of the workshop hopefully there will be more educational activities between the primary school and CKO in the future. On the other hand, the publication is going to serve as an important material for other strategic documents for the City of Zvolen, but also for other NGOs operating in the city and working in the field of human rights. The project was necessary for three main reasons. First of all, it tried to open the themes that often remain concealed in families or school. Secondly, the project has given space to express opinions during the workshops which helped them to improve their communication skill and supported as well the important need of expressing opinions in different environments. Finally, the project was able to prepare and create a study and publication in the topic that is usually not very often spoken in such a small cities. The main target group – youngsters aged 14 – 20 were regularly involved in all project activities. This target group has had the opportunity to actively express opinions about the themes of the project and confront their opinions with other participants. The opportunity to participate in workshops has been given to the participants because of the cooperation with the primary school and CKO organization. 5. The partnership between the primary school and CKO organization gave a chance to fulfill all the project expectations in such a scale. This cooperation has been beneficial for both sides – for the school because given topics are not usually very much spoken during the school hours, and for the CKO organization, because if gave the opportunity to work with many young students, which was the main goal of the project.
Summary of bilateral results