IN Community Centre
SHORT PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Through the implementation of this project, children with developmental disabilities and persons with disabilities from the town of Vukovar and Vukovar-Srijem County will be provided with social and cultural activities that are currently not available to them, and which will contribute to their empowerment for an active life in the community and to expressing themselves within their abilities.
As part of the work of the IN Community Centre, 3 programmes will be carried out every day, and each Association will be responsible for implementing one of them. Structured, thematic workshops are planned 3 times a week. Planned workshops: dance and drama-creative workshops, and art workshops (all workshops will be adapted to the age and needs of the users). In addition to the workshop leaders, experts in the fields of music and dance, fine arts and others will also be involved in the workshops. On the other days, the IN Community Centre will be available to users, at a predetermined and publicly announced time, for leisure activities (reading daily newspapers, socialising, using the internet and computers, playgroups for children, etc.) and for regular gatherings, meetings and other activities that are part of the usual work and contribute to the creation of new ideas and the development of the Associations and the community, throughout the duration of the project. During the implementation of the programme for its users, the Vukovar Butterflies Association will also offer a range of activities for parents (sports activities and dance)
All the activities were chosen thematically because of their importance and proven benefits for the user groups.
PROJECT GOAL
- To enable children with developmental disabilities and persons with disabilities in Vukovar-Srijem County to take part in the social and cultural life of the community
- To strengthen the operational and implementation capacity of the Applicant
- To raise public awareness of the importance of the inclusion of children with disabilities and persons with disabilities
The goals set are based on many years of work by the applicant Associations and come as a solution to the problems identified in the analysis of the current situation and the needs of the users. In general, a major problem is the lack of structured and adapted social and cultural activities that contribute to the inclusion of children with developmental disabilities and persons with disabilities in community life, especially in less developed areas. If we take into account that Eastern Croatia is one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged regions of our country, we conclude that implementing a project like this is a necessity for achieving a better quality of life for deprived groups in society.
RESULTS
Establishing the Centre will provide:
- for children with developmental disabilities and persons with disabilities to spend their free time in a quality and structured way, all with professional support
- support for families and the opportunity for them, too, to take part in various activities (discussion groups, dance school, exercise, etc.)
- strengthening of the capacity of the applicant associations and the establishment of lasting cooperation with the Town of Vukovar in providing comprehensive services for socially excluded groups in the community
- raising community awareness and promoting inclusive volunteering
- equipping the premises and carrying out minor adaptation works
- training and employment of new staff
- numerous activities to raise citizens’ awareness of marginalised members of the community
The established civil–public partnership will be improved and strengthened through implementation. The Town of Vukovar – the project partner – has recognised the importance of our Associations as major drivers of the community and supports us in our work. Since 2018, the premises of the former kindergarten, today the Public Institution for Social Activities, have been made available to the associations that provide social services in the community, i.e. the applicants of this Call. The Associations and the Town are actively planning further investments in these premises and new joint activities with the aim of ensuring their full usefulness for the common good.
At the same time, strengthening the capacity of these Associations has a positive effect on the entire local community: these Associations employ local people – young people with university degrees (currently 53 employees in total), who thus gain the opportunity to continue working and living in their communities, which is very important at a time of a large outflow of the young workforce and a shortage of qualified professionals, especially in Vukovar.
Children with developmental disabilities and persons with disabilities will be provided with equal opportunities and active participation in the community, well-designed activities and ways of spending their free time, thereby improving the quality of life of the whole family.
PROJECT BENEFICIARIES
Children with developmental disabilities with various psycho-physical impairments, members of the Vukovar Butterflies Association, and persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with disabilities, members of the Golubica and VUKA Associations; at least 100 users are expected to be included.
What all these users have in common is that they are not included in the social and cultural life of the community, and that very few of these activities are adapted to their needs.
TOTALPROJECT VALUE AND THE AMOUNT FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION ANDTHE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
Project
value: HRK 1,987,675.54, of which 85% (HRK 1,689,524.21)
is co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund, and 15% (
HRK 298,151.33) is co-financed by the Republic of Croatia from the State
Budget
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD
Implementation period: 3 June 2020 to 3 June 2022, a total of 24
months.
CONTACTPERSONS FOR MORE INFORMATION
Viktorija Matin, project manager
Contact:
viktorija.leo@gmail.com, 098 952 7761
The project was co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund
The content of this text is the sole responsibility of the Association of Parents of Children
with Disabilities Vukovar Butterflies
The project was co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund and by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs of the Republic of Croatia
The content of this page is the sole responsibility of the Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities Vukovar Butterflies
