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Description
The key problems that accompany the local are the departure of young people from the environment, lack of interest of young people to participate in the general community, lack of content that would be attractive to young people, withdrawal of young people and refusal of any form of cooperation.
The need of young people in the City of Pleternica is that they do not have their own space with the contents of the so-called. "Youth Club" where they can spend their free time. This project will solve this problem because equipping the space will create an adequate space for young people who will achieve good results and help achieve the project goals as well as volunteer actions and the involvement of young people in active community life.The project aims to strengthen the democratic culture, civic awareness and civic engagement of young people, systematically support and empower them as vulnerable groups, promote mobilization and engagement of citizens, maintain partnerships between CSOs and support the work and dissemination of CSOs to citizens and local communities activities envisaged by the project proposal.
The project proposal is relevant to this Call due to the fact that more attractive methods of access to young people, which are a sensitive group that advises and informs them about the legislative framework and public policy.
The multiplier effect is achieved by establishing a space that will help achieve all the goals of the project, of which volunteer actions are included in active civic life. The results that are planned to be achieved with this project are increased social engagement, increased youth satisfaction in the Pleternica area, increased expression of critical opinion and ultimately create a more beautiful environment for young citizens.
Summary of project results
The main target group of the project were school age children and youth of the Town of Pleternica. The issues and challenges addressed by this project were:
- the lack of contents and activities that are attractive to young people,
- the lack of interest that young people have and demonstrate for participation in the community,
- and subsequently them leaving the city and the country in search for a better life.
Prior to this project in the Town of Pleternica there was no place, such as a youth club, that would address the needs of youth for spending quality free time. There were no organized social activities that would actively engage young people in the community and increase their feeling of usefulness. This project aimed to increase the engagement of young people in the community by establishing and equipping a space where they can spend quality free time as well as by engaging them in youth initiatives and volunteer actions with aim to increase their active engagement.
The activities of the project included:
Establishment of the Youth Club – with the support awarded by the Active Citizens Fund the organization Youth for Youth of Pleternica has renovated, furnished and equipped a club where young people can gather, learn, and spend quality free time. The club is equipped with modern furniture and attractive content (darts, board games, table tennis, table football, TV, laptop). It offers various interesting and educational activities and a space for meeting and socializing. The club is open daily from 10am to 2pm and run by a volunteer in charge of the club operation and once a week there are workshops for children organized in the evenings.
Panel with the Mayor – the project activities included communication and cooperation with the local authorities. A panel with the Town Mayor was organized in a form of a public debate which enabled young people to actively participate in the discussion and talk about their position in the community and their needs.
Debates and discussions were an activity closely connected with three educations organized for youth, including the project team members. The educations, held by experts of the Entrepreneurial Centre Pleternica, focused on development of projects from ideas as well as development of business and communication skills, with useful insights into good practices. Each education was followed by a debate and discussion about the topics and contents of the educations.
Boxes for proposals – In order to enable and encourage the youth of Pleternica to participate in the local the decision-making process the project aimed to open for them a possibility to give their suggestions and propositions for improvement of the life of youth in the town. Two boxes for proposals were placed at two locations in Pleternica - one in the youth club and the other in the town Library. Young people can place their suggestions at any time and then those suggestions are presented to the municipal authorities.
Volunteer actions – five volunteer actions were organized with the aim to encourage volunteering of young people. Young people helped the elderly by doing chores such as mowing, grocery shopping, chopping woods, etc., thus built a sense of solidarity and usefulness in the community.
The establishment and equipping of the youth club has benefitted the youth of the Town of Pleternica as they now have a pace for gathering and spending quality time with their peers but also for learning new things and active participation int he society. Establishment of the youth club also brings new opportunities for the implementing organizations as well as other organizations in the local community as they will be able to use the benefits of the space for their activities. The youth club will remain active after the end of the project and will be an example of good practice for other local communities.
Boxes for proposals enabled youth to communicate their needs to the local authorities. They will continue to be placed in the youth club and the library where the staff check the forwards the proposals to the responsible. A number of proposals have been placed and some have already been responded to and realized, such as the request for a photo corner and new gym equipment in the town park. As a response to that request a volunteer action was organized to renovate the city park and a photo corner was created and new gym equipment placed. The young people had other proposals and requests such as organization of concerts, children''s fairs, city pools, gym, etc., which will be organized in line with the municipal budget. The reasons for those that are not likely to be realized are communicated with the youth by the local authorities. At the same time, the municipal authorities have got a better idea and overview of the needs of their young citizens. Thus, a two-way relations and communication has been established.
Through the five volunteer actions organized within the project the involved youth helped meet the needs of the senior citizens in the local community, what gave them a sense of fulfilment and at the same time the senior citizens a feeling that they are cared for and supported.
The implementing organizations'' project team members and youth included in educations and debates organized through this project have gained new knowledge and information as well as incentive to continue their work in the local community and develop new ideas and projects. The experience gained through project implementation and management has also contributed to the organizational capacity, both in sense of increased project management skills as well as increased financial capacity of the organizations, in particular the Beneficiary – Youth for Youth of Pleternica.