Projects

Trainings and Human Resources Development,Strategies and development programmes,

Capacity building and grants to civil society organisations in social services - Croatia

Croatia

Delegation of the European Commission to the Republic of Croatia / CFCU

- Ministry of Family, War-veterans and Intergeneration Solidarity, - Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, - Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, - NGOs, - local and regional authorities/local self governments, - local community members socially excluded and other vulnerable groups

The overall objective of the project is to enhance the overall quality of social services in line with the national best-practice examples and relevant EU standards. The specific objective of this project is to reinforce the innovative capacities of NGOs to establish a coherent partnership with the public institutions at the national/local level in provision of the targeted social services, in the areas where the third sector brings added value. The project will directly build on processes initiated and outcomes achieved in the frame of the technical assistance delivered under the EC CARDS 2002 SSD. The underlying principle of the Consultant’s experts’ intervention will be a mentoring or coaching approach that involves local reform actors and arranges for mutual learning and negotiation. They will assist local experts to undertake the necessary development work and disseminate their experience to others. The delivery of social service in three sectors (health, social welfare and education), in a structured and continuous way, is considered to be one of the most important elements to the success of any systemic reform effort in those sectors. Both NGOs and local authorities/local institutions will be constantly facing new challenges not only in terms of identifying relevant services, but also of the need for regular quality assurance and accountability, new forms of team work, liaison with external partners and project management activities, etc. Specific training activities shall be developed, capitalising on the work already undertaken in the frame of the EC CARDS 2002 SSD project. In line with local needs, a fully fledged training programme shall be developed incorporating both theoretical and practical training elements, best practice examples/lessons learned in transitional countries. Learning should be as closely related to the day-to-day work processes as possible with a view to develop ”action competence” of local authorities. A core group of Croatian specialists (from the existing pool of experts with the experience in EC grant schemes/sectoral issues by means of training/technical assistance) shall be selected as relevant trainers/project promoters. Through a study tour in a new member state country and structured guidance by the Consultant’s experts, the group shall be put in a position to promote relevant innovative models/potential projects. In the course of the project implementation (as well as upon the completion of the project), those experts will be used for relevant project animation, advisory and/or information tasks at regional scale. An additional tool in that respect will be a compendium of project ideas/concepts specifically prioritized which should itself initiate and inspire project idea development. The examples should provide readers with inspiration for new ideas, new ways of doing things and perhaps lead to new cooperation constellations that would not otherwise have come about as well as to assess projects in connection with the EC approval procedure. The cases should be selected so that they reflect the priorities and thoughts that administrators have made in respect of the projects that they would like to see in the coming period. The cases should to a great extent be from EU member state origin (new member state with similar circumstance/sectoral backgrounds in particular), where exciting and well-executed projects are to be found, which give inspiration for new project ideas.

Start date: 2006-06-01

End date: 2007-12-31