Program: organising a local community and combating poverty and social exclusion

Geographical area of project implementation: Republic of Croatia (Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun, Banija, Western and Eastern Slavonia)
Partners in project implementation: Serb National Minority councils, the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia (SPC), the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana, the Church Municipality of Zagreb, local and regional governments, and other government and non-government institutions
Problems to be solved:
A large number of the Serb national minority members live in economically undeveloped and subsidized areas of Croatia. Also, most of them live in rural, isolated and infrastructurally underdeveloped areas. Such living conditions increase exposure to poverty and social exclusion. Unemployment and social isolation, lack of health and social care, educational, traffic and other services are the chief manifestations of social exclusion in a community. High unemployment among Serbs has mainly been caused by economic and demographic devastation during and after the war, but also by a disregard for the concept of positive discrimination and the absence of legal mechanisms for the implementation of provisions that guarantee minority members the right to employment in public services. In addition, when it comes to finding employment, as well as exercising their other rights, discrimination based on ethnicity is one of the biggest problems members of minorities face. Apart from these issues, Serbs are faced with the problem of an ageing population. The median age of Serbs in Croatia, according to the 2011 Census, is 50.3 years which is 11.3 years above the median age of Croatia (41.7 years; 44.3 according to the 2021 Census).
The field work conducted by SNC’s associates facilitates self-organisation, passing of information and forging of links between members of the Serbian community and councils. All of this facilitates the affirmation and realisation of national, cultural, educational, social, economic and all other rights and interests of Serbs.
Thus far, the involvement and presence of SNC’s field associates in the Serbian community has enabled better fulfilment and implementation of the activities of the Serb National Council.

Its main objectives are:

• To reduce social exclusion of Serbs in Croatia
• To improve the quality of life and social position of Serbs in Croatia
• To create equal opportunities for Serbs in Croatia
• To decrease discrimination and enhance integration into the local community

The program’s activities:

The project “From Door to Door” – providing services for dignified living in old age.
Social planning and community organising – devising and executing projects for community development and organisation with the aim of fostering employment and developing social and other services for different vulnerable groups (transport and escort for elderly and disabled persons, introduction of a psychosocial and health care mobile team, organising hot meals in schools and meals for the elderly in remote areas, etc.).
Analysis and advocacy of social policies (family, housing and tax policies, as well as employment and educational policies) with the aim of improving the legal framework and implementation of human rights.

Fight against discrimination and stigmatisation

• Initiating projects and campaigns designed to raise awareness in society, empower vulnerable groups and develop social activism
• Connecting with other civil society organisations and activists

Advisory activities

• Informing beneficiaries of their social rights and providing expert assistance to facilitate exercising these rights in cooperation with governmental and nongovernmental institutions

Humanitarian work

• Providing various forms of material assistance in order to reduce material deprivation and curb the negative effects of poverty afflicting destitute persons, children and families
• This activity is carried out through field work and in cooperation with Serb national minority councils and other organisations working to alleviate poverty
• Initiating humanitarian actions and charity events
• Conducting needs assessments and recording the social state of affairs of Serbs in Croatia – documenting beneficiaries, monitoring vulnerable groups, mapping services and needs at local and regional level in coordination with Serbian minority councils
• Cooperating with national and international institutions with the aim of receiving and providing various forms of humanitarian aid
• “Banija is our house”
• Donating containers for temporary housing after the earthquake in Banija in cooperation with the Serbian Orthodox Church, and particularly the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana, the Republic of Serbia and other sponsors
• Donating and constructing prefabricated houses after the earthquake in Banija in cooperation with the Government of Republic of Srpska and the Government of the Republic of Croatia
• Providing humanitarian aid in cooperation with the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC)
• Providing material humanitarian aid in cooperation with the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia (KIRS)

Direct beneficiaries: underprivileged adults, children, youth, families, elderly and unemployed persons, women and persons with disabilities.

Program: promoting minority education in the Serbian language and Cyrillic script

Geographic area of project implementation: the City of Zagreb
Implementing partners: the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia (SPC), the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana, the Church Municipality of Zagreb, and the ‘Kantakuzina Katarina Branković’ Serbian Orthodox Secondary School (SPOG).

Problem to be solved:
The founder of SPOG, an accredited private educational institution, was the SPC, the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana. The school is located in Zagreb and its activities encompass education and training for the youth and adults designed towards earn a high school degree and acquiring knowledge and skills required for finding employment or continuing their schooling in institutions of tertiary education, in accordance with the 2005 Decision of the Ministry of Sciences, Education and Sports. The program is four years long and provides pupils with knowledge and skills within the national curriculum framework for secondary schools, according to the model A. The latter refers to classes being organised in the Serbian language and Cyrillic script.
Currently, the gymnasium has 83 enrolled students from all parts of Croatia. However, most of them come from rural and socially and economically underdeveloped areas where members of the Serbian minority live. In the school year 2023-24, as it has done since the school’s founding, the SPC continues to provide scholarships for students aimed at covering the costs of dorm accommodation, textbooks, excursions, and visits to theatres, exhibitions, museums, film festivals, book fairs …
The educational advantages of this school are the cultivation of the Orthodox spirituality and national-cultural identity and tradition, advancing multiculturalism and multi-confessionalism, as well as an individualised teaching approach. Since the costs of this kind of educational work and activity are extremely high, additional financial aid and support from the SNC are essential for the gymnasium’s continued operation and efficient functioning. Additional help in needed in order to preserve and advance the organisational requirements and to co-fund student education costs, as well as to support the implementation of the curriculum in the Serbian language and Cyrillic script.

Objective: to protect and advance the national and cultural, educational, linguistic and religious identity of Serbs in Croatia by raising accessibility to education in the Serbian language and Cyrillic script.

Direct beneficiaries: children and youth attending the ‘Kantakuzina Katarina Branković’ Serbian Orthodox Secondary School (SPOG).

Program: education and advocacy

Geographical area of the project implementation: Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Lika-Senj, Sisak-Moslavina, Požega-Slavonia and Virovitica-Podravina counties, the City of Zagreb.
Partners in project implementation: Serb National Minority councils of Požega-Slavonia, Šibenik-Knin, Sisak-Moslavina and Virovitica-Podravina counties, and regional self-government units of Požega-Slavonia, Sisak-Moslavina and Šibenik-Knin counties are engaged in finding participants and securing premises for hosting the program. Other partners are the Croatian Network for the Homeless, the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, the Study Centre for Social Work, the City of Zagreb, and various organisations dedicated to fighting poverty. These partners would be engaged to carry out education, training and round tables, and to invite proficient and seasoned lecturers.
Problem to be solved: since poverty is a phenomenon that manifests not only in material (economic) aspects of life, but is a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing material and social, cultural and mental aspects of life, we should look at all of these aspects and consequences. Belonging to an ethnic minority in itself increases vulnerability, leading to destitution and social exclusion, to unemployment and marginalisation, while being exposed to discrimination against national minorities greatly contributes to all of these. Moreover, a substantial part of the Serb minority lives in subsidised areas with a low economic index, undeveloped infrastructure, and insufficiently developed and inaccessible social services, traffic, educational and other services and facilities in the community. In addition, the high unemployment rate of Serbs in Croatia remains a considerable problem, largely caused by economic and demographic devastation during and after the war, by a disregard for the concept of positive discrimination, and the absence of legal mechanisms to implement the law guaranteeing the right to employment of members of minorities in public services.

The program’s activities are:

1. Education on community organisation and social planning
2. Advancing social skills
3. A round table “Addressing the problem of poverty and social exclusion in Croatia”, analysis of laws regulating social activities and social policy
4. Education on social entrepreneurship and self-employment, and applying to EU projects

Main objectives:

• To direct and strengthen capacities of experts, aides and activists working on the development and advancement of social and other services in local communities
• To advance communication and social skills of experts, aides and activists in specific areas of activity, and in working with particular vulnerable social groups
• To advance the knowledge and skills of the unemployed, youth and women in the area of social entrepreneurship
• To enhance opportunities for self-employment of the unemployed, youth and women
• To improve the legal framework and advocacy for rights of vulnerable groups to which members of the Serbian national minority also belong
• To connect various organisations and work sectors in order to enhance their cooperation in tackling specific social issues

Direct beneficiaries of those activities:

• Instructions on community organising and social planning; social skills training and the round table are intended for experts and aides with different education backgrounds who are employed in public institutions and work in social welfare, public health, judiciary and educational systems, in civil society and local and regional self-government, and also for activists working with different vulnerable groups such as elderly people, underprivileged and poverty-stricken persons and families with children, women, members of national minorities and others
• Instructions on social entrepreneurship and self-employment are intended for the unemployed, youth and women living in economically and demographically less developed regions – where members of the Serbian national minority live

Aleksandar Vrcelj, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Nikola Veselinović, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Mane Prijić, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Miroslav Ergić, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Dušan Đukić, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Valentino Kuprešanin, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Milan Ivanić, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Ljuba Vrga, humanitarian aid field assistant;
Danijela Kukoleča, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Vladimir Vujčić, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65;
Slavoljub Kovačić, field assistant on the project/program “From Door to Door”, implementer of the transport and escort social service for people over the age of 65.

Contact

Tatjana Dragičević
tatjana.dragicevic@snv.hr