Family measures at local level are not sufficiently developed in the sense that childbirth subsidies are either small or almost non-existent. There are often no surfaces (built playgrounds, landscaped parks) where families with children would gather and socialize with each other. The idea pitch is therefore to organize interactive workshops for parents and children in parallel, that would encourage and empower them to jointly initiate the development of their local communities.

The idea would be implemented in 12 Croatian local communities which are chosen through the project.

In most local communities, families with children are in a disadvantaged position when compared with those in more developed parts of Croatia. Families in rural communities are often faced with poorer economic situations as there is no developed industry, which thus results in lack of work. The situation with COVID-19 certainly further made the conditions worse as many people lost their jobs, so there is a need to inform parents on the importance of developing the local community. The goal is to enable a quicker development of their local communities by actively advocating (increasing childbirth subsidies, one-time compensations for starting first grade, free transport for pupils…) and volunteering (building playgrounds, landscaping parks, establishing spaces for spending family time…).

The target group for which the project shall be implemented are families with children in rural areas, i.e. in smaller local communities. More accurately, the direct participants in the project are families with children. Upon considering conducting workshops in all twelve local communities, it is planned to educate around 180 parents and 360 children on average within this project. The previously mentioned means educating an average of 15 parents and 30 children in each particular local community, i.e. an average of 8 families with children as part of each separate workshop. The indirect participants of the project are the family members who shall be taking part in the workshops, as well as all the inhabitants of small local communities where the workshops shall be implemented.

The 12 local communities shall be chosen that are faced with inadequate meeting of the needs of families with children. The second phase shall include the implementation of interactive workshops for parents. Each workshop shall have expert individuals who shall encourage parents to recognize concrete problems in local communities. There shall also be parallel workshops for children where they shall have the opportunity to recognize the importance of local community. In the third phase, the chosen local communities shall once again host workshops that will follow up on the workshops from the second phase. They would design activities for realizing the ideas for the development of local community. The children would take part in programme where the topic would be appropriate for their age.

It is expected that an average of 180 parents shall recognize the importance and opportunity for improving the situation in their local community, all aimed at achieving a higher level of quality of life for their families. It is also expected for parents to acquire the needed skills, as well as to empower them to implement activities that shall result in the development of their local community (e.g. upon the completion of the workshops the parents are capable and motivated to contact the local entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in order to initiate certain activities aimed at improving their community). It is also expected that an average of 360 children shall recognize the importance of tolerance, protecting the environment and other activities for the benefit of their community.

This project shall contribute to raising awareness of the need for equality, that is, for equal conditions and quality of living for all individuals, as well as for families with children in rural communities. Active consideration for the benefit of smaller local communities is an effort towards eradicating the gap between rural and urban areas, which is very often present.

In local communities it can often be noticed that rural areas lag behind in almost all segments when compared to urban areas. This was also observed through communication with families with more children who meet numerous challenges on a daily basis, such as lack of financial, organizational and time means and resources. Upon adding to the above mentioned the underdevelopment of the local community they live in, this results in calling into question the quality of life of such families. We believe that the lagging of smaller local communities should not be happening at the expense of the quality of life of families with children. This project is thus aimed at empowering parents to initiate a more quality life and quicker development of local communities through their personal engagement.

Human resources: 36.600,00 EUR
Travel expenses: 3.200,00 EUR
Other costs: 4.160,00 EUR
Promotion: 1.600,00 EUR
Indirect costs: 2.222,00 EUR

Financing, assistance in producing work methods through exchange of experiences, feedback on the project idea pitch, advice on potential modifications, i.e. improvements?