The Foundation for Partnership and Civil Society Development
Active in the Community
In 2022, the Foundation for Partnership and Civil Society Development will continue to implement the "Active in the Community" program within the program cooperation of the National Foundation for Civil Society Development in 5 counties: Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Karlovac, Sisak-Moslavina and Krapina-Zagorje. Through this program, the Istria Foundation will create a program of the Academy "Active in the community" in which 15 representatives of local communities will participate, and in which they will be informed, educated and motivated to initiate changes in their communities. These should be the people who will be the drivers of social change in their local communities.
In 2022, based on the experience gained in previous years of implementing the program, the Istria Foundation will continue to work on raising awareness of the importance of social capital and encourage the increase of social capital in local communities. Given the excellent feedback from current participants, this year the Istria Foundation will implement a program called the Academy "Active in the Community", which will invite new representatives of 15 communities to inform, educate and motivate them to initiate change in their communities and The program of the Academy "Active in the community" will be based on the development of social capital in local communities. It will include interactive work with students on detecting problems that exist in a particular community, mapping resources and potentials and will detect possible solutions, develop concrete ideas, ie social programs that will be implemented in local communities with the mentorship and support of the Istria Foundation.
The Istria Foundation will publish on its website a public call for expressions of interest of Academy students from 5 counties in which the Istria Foundation operates in the implementation of the program "Active in the Community" (Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Krapina-Zagorje, Karlovac, Sisak-Moslavina). The Istria Foundation will hold introductory online meetings with all selected participants of the Academy. During the Academy, participants will gain the necessary knowledge about community development, social capital, implementation of activities, motivation of stakeholders, fundraising and other knowledge important for the implementation of social programs.
One of the tasks of the participants will be to implement a social program by the end of the year in their community so as to involve the wider community, with the mentorship and support of the Istria Foundation. Upon completion, the participants of the Academy will receive a certificate of attendance at the Academy "Active in the Community". Awareness of the local community about the importance of developing a culture of giving will be carried out by the Istria Foundation in cooperation with the participants of the Academy during the implementation of social programs, either through presentations, talks, meetings or lectures on social capital, philanthropy, volunteering, active citizenship and the like. The modality and topics will be defined for each community individually, depending on the selected social program in cooperation with the participants of the Academy. Programs will be implemented in individual local communities, according to pre-agreed procedures, depending on the individual program and the plan of each participant. The Istria Foundation will mentor the implementation of the program and provide advice and assistance in the field to support each student of the Academy.
After selecting the social need, ie the specific social program, depending on the nature of the need, the schedule of activities, their holders and the method of fundraising will be defined. Fundraising activities in this regard can be different, depending on the individual local community, from humanitarian events, fundraising, crowdfunding, media action and the like. Namely, once the social program is defined, ie the need or problem that needs to be solved is defined, it will be easier to raise funds in the local community.
All stakeholders who have expressed a desire to be involved in the implementation of the social program will receive their responsibilities. In cooperation with local partners, the Istria Foundation will mentor the entire process, ie the implementation of activities and their timely execution, and will support the implementation of defined activities. Furthermore, the Istria Foundation will continue to develop social capital in some of the communities in which the "Active in the Community" program was implemented in 2021. It is important to continue working in communities with people who have the will and desire to do something. The programs that started in 2021, where the realization of the Covid-19 virus has been extended, will be completed. In this regard, the readiness of communities to continue further cooperation with the Foundation through the "Active in the Community" program will be examined.
