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

Geographical area of the project implementation: the Republic of Croatia (Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun, Banija, Western and Eastern Slavonia)
Partners in the 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 self-government, and other government and nongovernment 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 infrastructural undeveloped areas. Such life conditions increase exposure to poverty and social exclusion. Unemployment and social isolation, lack of health and social, educational and traffic and other services are the chief manifestations of social exclusion in a community. High unemployment among Serbs has been mainly 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 to implement the law which guarantees employment of minor members in public services. In addition, discrimination based on ethnicity is one of the most important problems in employment of members of minorities, as well as in exercising their other rights.
Apart from these issues, Serbs are facing 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 in Croatia (41.7 years; 44.3 according to the 2021 Census).
Field work of SNC‘s associates facilitates organizing, informing and forging links between members of the Serbian community and councils. And in this way national and cultural, educational and social, economic and all other rights and interests of Serbs are affirmed and realized.
Engagement and presence of the SNC’s field associates in Serbian community so far has enabled that activities of the Serb National Council were better fulfilled and completed.

Main objectives:

• To reduce social exclusion of Serbs in Croatia
• To improve 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 local community

The program’s activities:

Project “From Door to Door” – available services for dignified life of third age people.
Social planning and community organizing – devising and executing of projects for development and organizing of community with the aim to foster employment and to build up social and other services for different vulnerable groups (transport and escort for elderly and disabled persons, psychosocial and health care mobile team, organizing hot school meals and meals for elderly persons in remote areas …).
Analysis and advocacy of social policies (family, housing and tax policies as well as employment and educational policies) aiming to improve legal framework and implement human rights.

Fight against discrimination and stigmatization

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

Advisory activities

• Informing beneficiaries about their social rights and providing expert assistance to exercise them in cooperation with governmental and nongovernmental institutions.

Humanitarian work

• Providing various forms of material assistance to reduce material deprivation and curb negative effects of poverty from which destitute persons, children and families suffer
• 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
• The needs assessment and depicting social situation of Serbs in Croatia – recording of beneficiaries, monitoring of vulnerable groups, mapping services and needs at local and regional level in coordination with Serbian minority councils
• Cooperation with national and international institutions with the aim to receipt and provide various forms of humanitarian aid
• “Banija is our house”
• Donation of 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 donators
• Donation and construction of 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: destitute adults, children, youth and families, elderly and unemployed persons, women and persons with disabilities.

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

Geographical area of the 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:
Founder of the SPOG, institution with the right of publicity, was the SPC, the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana. School is situated in Zagreb and its activities encompass education and training for youth and adults to earn a high school diploma and acquire knowledge and skills required for work or continuation of education, in accordance with the Decision of the Ministry of Sciences, Education and Sports from 2005. Education lasts four years and provides students with knowledge and skills in the national curriculum framework for the secondary schools, according to the model A. The latter refers to classes organized in Serbian language and Cyrillic script.

The gymnasium currently attends 83 students from all parts of Croatia. However, most of them came from rural, social and economic undeveloped areas where members of Serbian minority are living. In the school year 2023 — 24, as in previous years from the establishment of the school, the SPC continues to provide scholarships for students aimed to cover the costs of dorms, textbooks, excursions and visits to theaters, exhibitions, museums, film festivals, book fairs …

Educational advantages of this school are cultivation of the Orthodox spirituality and national-cultural identity and tradition, advancing multiculturalism and multiconfessionalism, as well as individualized teaching approach. Since the costs of this kind of educational work and operation are extremely high, additional financial help and support from the SNC is essential for the gymnasium to persist and to function efficiently. Additional help in needed in order to preserve and advance the organizational requirements and to co-fund student educational costs, as well as to support implementation of the curriculum in Serbian language and Cyrillic script.

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

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

Program: education and advocacy program

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 the 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 Social Work Study Center, the City of Zagreb and organization 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 isn’t a phenomenon that manifests only in material (economic) dimension of life, but is a multidimensional phenomenon which encompass material and social, cultural and mental aspects of life, we should look at all its aspects and consequences. Belonging to ethnic minority by itself increase vulnerability to destitution and social exclusion, to unemployment and marginalization, and discrimination against national minorities greatly contributes to all that. Moreover, substantial part of Serb minority is living in subsidized areas which have low economic index, undeveloped infrastructure, and insufficiently developed and inaccessible social and traffic, educational and other services and facilities in the community. In addition, high unemployment 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 which guarantees employment of minority members in public services.

The program’s activities:

1. Education on communal organization and social planning
2. Honing of social skills
3. 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 how to apply to the EU projects

Main objectives:

• To direct and strengthen capacities of experts, aides and activists working on development and advancement of social and other services in local communities
• To advance communicative and social skills of experts, aides and activists in concrete areas activities, and for working with particular vulnerable social groups
• To advance 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 legal framework and advocacy for rights of vulnerable groups to which members of the Serbian national minority also belong
• To connect various organizations and work sectors in order to enhance their cooperation in tackling specific social issues

Direct beneficiaries of those activities:

• Instructions on community organizing and social planning; social skills training and the round table are intended for experts and aides with different education backgrounds which 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, destitute 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 less developed regions – economically and demographically – where members of the Serbian national minority are living

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