If local residents do not participate in activities that take place in the city, it is necessary to bring it to them, as we must provide all people with the opportunity to learn and participate in the local environment. Therefore, we want to establish a mobile unit as an accessible point for socializing, cooperation and decision-making of residents of all ages, who live in 65 villages around Cerknica. The mobile unit will be equipped with tools for conducting various workshops.

Cerknica, Inner Carniola, southwestern part of Slovenia

The establishment of a mobile unit will contribute to solving the multifaceted challenges of the local environment:
(1) the predominant mentality that the individual has no influence over local decision-makers and policy,
(2) low social cohesion in the villages, which are not functioning as communities that can achieve common goals,
(3) lack of educational opportunities and opportunities for active participation in the local environment, which the mobile unit will make accessible to a wider range of people,
(4) overcoming different types of accessibility problems which are the biggest barriers for joining educational or civic participation programs i.e. accessibility related to location, time, content and organization of activities.

We want to reach the local inhabitants of the villages in the municipality of Cerknica. Specifically, this means a large number of older villagers who, for various reasons, do not participate in lifelong learning and active citizenship activities and young people, characterized by growing apathy and disinterest in local and national politics and lack of motivation for any activities not related to school work. We will also address the integration of migrants into the local community. They are currently marginalized, as they do not have the opportunity and desire to participate and integrate into the community due to existing prejudices.

Prior to the beginning: organising a fundraiser event with local artists for NGOs, policy makers, companies and locals to inform the potential donors about our project, discuss the ideas for improvements in the local community.
Phase 1: Purchase and conversion of a van for the project; detailed program: analysis of the needs, population structure, design of individual workshops. Field activities: visits to the villages to present the project. Promotion: the local newspapers, media and on the internet platforms.
Phase 2: Start of workshops for different age groups (eg. digital skills, inclusion and tolerance, sustainability and self-sufficiency, introduction to local politics, making proposals for improvements in the community, meetings with local decision makers). All activities will take place in the villages, thus it will be easier to gain active participants, as the workshops will be held in the immediate vicinity of their residences.
Phase 3: Presentation and dissemination of project results: a digitally accessible brochure with a presentation of good practice for other organizations; presentation of the project results at the local level in order to lobby for the implementation of a participatory budget strategy in Cerknica and at national level in order to lobby for the start of the formation of a new profession, i.e. community educator; reporting to the financier.

- successful fundraising event,
- at least 100 people involved in the workshops and meetings of the project,
- at least 5 initiatives for local decision-makers by local villagers to improve their community,
- 15 workshops for acquiring key adult skills, including active citizenship skills,
- 5 meetings of villagers and immigrants of local environment,
- 5 meetings / workshops with local decision makers (eg. councilors) where we will democratically discuss improvements for each community,
- developed and implemented lobbying strategy for the implementation of a participatory budget strategy in the municipality of Cerknica,
- digital brochure with the presentation of project idea,
- formulation of a proposal for the establishment of a new professional profile - community educator.

Our project will help villagers to be actively involved in political and social processes by informing them about the structure of local policy-making. Together with them we will form initiatives for improving the rural communities and submit them to local decision makers. At the same time, we will strengthen the community as such, as the formation of initiatives will require the participation of all residents in each village. Through the project, we will also equip them with other skills important for social and political activation (eg. searching for verified information online, understanding and accepting differences within the community, active participation in the development of the community, skills for sustainable future, etc.).

We are running a multigenerational center (since 2016). During this time we realized that it is difficult to attract people of remote villages to join our programs. We have a lot of volunteers and two employees from the local area which are very passionate about improving the community for the better. Mrs. Perko has more than 20 years of experience in the field of the human resources sector. Ms. Smaić is a professor of pedagogy and andragogy. We know that improving the local community is not possible without involving the locals, so we aim to employ another person from the local area who also wants to improve the well-being of the community. Ms. Simčič, helps with the project ideas, due to various experiences of working with local people, she is familiar with the rural area problems.

Purchase of a used van: 15.000€ (7.000€ donors, 8.000€ Civic Europe)
Conversion of the van (electricity, Wifi, reorganization of the van space for the purpose of conducting workshops) : 5.000€
Vehicle equipment (tables, chairs, projector, etc.): 5.000€ (2.500€ donors, 2.500€ Civic Europe)
Personnel costs: 12.000 €
Promotion of the program: 1.000€
Office supply: 500€
Fuel and any additional costs for the van: 1.500€

We are open to all feedback, constructive criticism and suggestions for improving the Civic Action on Wheels project idea. Above all, we are interested whether our idea is well presented to the general public and in which segments it needs to be described in more detail. Thank you in advance.