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Programme: Europe for Citizens
Identifier: 625307-CITIZ-1-2020-1-HR-CITIZ-CIV
Title: Moving Forward in Europe with Volunteering
Summary
The project focused on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on volunteering, citizen engagement in local actions, and how CSOs (civil society organizations), public bodies, educators and others had to reinvent themselves in these hard times. Promoting active citizenship & volunteering in these times has been difficult due to new & ever-changing restrictions on physical contact & travel. Due to many unknowns, many citizens (incl. younger persons) have thought twice about volunteering. With this in mind, the project has aimed at enhancing citizen engagement in volunteer-based actions relating to civil protection, social inclusion, culture, education & employment. The project has been organized as 1 preparatory meeting/activities (in Varazdin, HR over 2 days) and 5 3-day events hosted by the partners (in Rome, IT; Varaždin, HR; Srem. Mitrovica, RS; Ptuj, SI; & Plovdiv, BG). Each event provided best practices showing how citizens (esp. youth) can engage as volunteers in actions that address issues that affect local development. The project also focused on the EfC priority “Promoting solidarity as a basic concept.” Activities were designed to allow the partners to gather inputs from citizens about their vision of Europe. At events, the partnership focused on building citizens’ understanding on how solidarity functions; how the new agenda for 2021-27 supports communities in overcoming COVID-19 (& other crises) and how the EU contributes to efforts to enhance civil society. Workshops, panel discussions, presentations, site visits, group work, etc. were used to encourage volunteering, enhance understanding about the EU, and allowed citizens to discuss issues and create new volunteer-based projects. Dissemination actions (i.e. volunteering guide, film, partner websites w/quiz, press coverage, etc.) contributed to informing the public on how they can volunteer in actions and the benefits of applying EU values to community actions. The concluded network agreement defines priorities & future actions for the partnership.The partners faced challenges (due to COVID-19); however, they achieved the project aim, which is linked to these results: 1) Citizens gained competencies to plan/manage and volunteer in actions during the pandemic in various fields: They learned how to adapt to the challenges related to COVID-19. They gained new competencies that can be applied to other crises. By exchanging know-how on issues, applying democratic processes, working in solidarity w/different groups; citizens were able to engage each other (in civil society) and plan new actions. By presenting best practices (EU & volunteer-based actions), participants learned how the EU agenda improves communities, promotes democracy and encourages citizens to volunteer.2) Enhanced citizen awareness on how EU policies & solidarity impact civil society: At each event, we focused on how the EU promotes citizen engagement from the bottom-up. Presentations, demos, workshops, etc. showed how solidarity works in practice (in education, civil protection, social inclusion, etc.) as a key EU value. By exchanging best practices at events, citizens gained know-how on methods that can reinforce volunteering. By including project findings & lessons-learnt in the volunteering guide, the action shows how citizens can cooperate locally & transnationally and be resilient in crises. 3) Long-term partnership for citizen engagement: The network agreement sustains results. Via the agreement, partners will exchange know-how over the long-term and jointly resolve issues of interest. In total, the project included 437 direct participants. 225.000 person were reached indirectly via dissemination (Volunteering guide, press coverage, film, partner websites & social media).
Start Date: 01-03-2021
End Date: 31-08-2022
Duration in months: 18
Total Budget: 95760
Details
Year (Call): 2020
Country:
Activity: Strand2: Democratic engagement and civic participation
Sub-Activity: Civil society projects
Coordinator
Organisation: PUCKO OTVORENO UCILISTE VARAZDIN
Address: HALLEROVA ALEJA 1/II 215
Postal Code: 42000
City: VARAZDIN
Country:
Region: Varaždinska županija
Organisation type: Educational, cultural or research organisation
PIC: 907421421
LJUDSKA UNIVERZA PTUJ
Address: MESTNI TRG 2
Postal Code: 2250
Region: Slovenia Extra-Regio NUTS 3
City: PTUJ
PIC: 948890473
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF SREM LTD RUMA
Address: GLAVNA 172
Postal Code: 22400
Region: Serbia
City: RUMA
PIC: 928983454
TOURIST ORGANISATION OF THE CITY OF SREMSKA MITROVICA
Address: SVETOG DIMITRIJA 10
Postal Code: 22000
Region: Serbia
City: SREMSKA MITROVICA
PIC: 905092936
PROGEU-PROGRESS IN EUROPEAN UNION -ISTITUTO PER LO SVILUPPO
Address: VIA DELLE ROBINIE 7
Postal Code: 00172
Region: Italy Extra-Regio NUTS 2
City: ROMA
PIC: 910928456
HRVATSKI CRVENI KRIZ ZAJEDNICA UDRUGA DRUSTVO CRVENOG KRIZA VARAZDINSKE ZUPANIJE
Address: PAVLINSKA 842000
Postal Code: 42000
Region: Varaždinska županija
City: VARAŽDIN
PIC: 893182500
INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
Address: 14, DONDUKOV BLVD.
Postal Code: 1000
Region: София (Sofia)
City: SOFIA
PIC: 911801359
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Europe for Citizens Programme