Dokumentumok
Nyomtatóbarát változat
Cím:
Association for Community Development
Report on the organisation’s main activities in 1997
Szerző:
Ország:
A kiadás helye:
Budapest
A kiadás éve:
1998
Kiadó:
Közösségfejlesztők Egyesülete
Terjedelem:
Nyelv:
angol
Tárgyszavak:
éves jelentés, HACD
Állomány:
Közösségfejlesztők Egyesülete alapdokumentumok
Forditas:
Megjegyzés:
Annotáció:
Leltár:
Raktári jelzet:
E


Association for Community Development
Report on the organisation’s main activities in 1997

The association, which has had 9 years of history, has had a sucessful year, even though most of its activities targeted fund-raising. The year of 1997 saw a rich scale of professional activities, some significant conferences, and effective international work. However, the greatest event of the year was the launching of Civil College, the training institution of community development in Hungary.

Hopefully, the Non-profit Act of 1997 and the preparation for European integration will further strengthen the association’s professional reputation and social role.

Practical Activities Developing New Methods

· The association developed small regional projects in small villages in the Small Region of Mecsekalja (Cserkút, Kővágótöttös, Boda, Bicsérd) in co-operation with local people, while making use of available local resources.
· Upon the request of the local government and the National Methodological Institute for Creches two neighbourhood development programmes were continued under the leadership of the association in Kőbánya, the 10th District of Budapest. The Association of Kőbánya Parents was founded during the neighbourhood programme titled ”Alternative services for families with small children”.
· The association continued a community development programme in co-operation with the Family Support Service and the Leisure Centre in Szilas Park, one of the neighbourhoods of the 15th District of Budapest. The framework of the local people’s action was again the establishment of an association which initiates local changes.
· We started working on a small regional development program involving six villages of the Felső-Kiskunság. The programme puts the emphasis on youth work and the community ways of economic development.
· As advisors and helpers we also took part in the community development activities of our regional organisations and small regional partners (in the Counties of Komárom, Békés, Csongrád, Hajdu, Nógrád, Baranya, Somogy, Zala, Vas, Tolna, Bács-Kiskun, and Szabolcs-Szatmár).

Seminars, Consultations & Conferences:

· 30 January - "The Professional Profile of Community Development" - Meeting and exchanging information with 31 tutors who teach community development and community work at higher-educational institutions.
· 2 seminars were organised in Civil College’s residential training centre in Kunszentmiklós - Kunbábony · In April we participated in and gave a lecture on citizen participation during a workshop in East Hant in the South of England. The workshop was organised by PARTNERSHIP ACTION, an international organisation which has its headquarters in England, and which promotes the improvement of relations between local authorities and citizens.
· The association co-operated in organising the CIVICUS World Conference (a worldwide union of NGOs) in Hungary.
· We participated in the Non-profit Expo.
· The association co-operated in organising an international conference on voluntary work in Szentendre. The conference was held on the initiative of the Network for Democracy Programme.
· In the framework of a PHARE Partnership grant obtained in co-operation with CECOOP (the organisation of European co-operative development agencies) in the region of Felső-Kiskunság we established the first Hungarian service supporting community enterprises.
· The association supported the work of the KÖZ-TÉR (Common Sphere) Association of Pécs in creating a demand for their activities in the County of Baranya.

Laymen’s or Civil Training

The training of local communities and the volunteers of NGOs is a new field of community development in Hungary, which has a bright future. This work is performed in the framework of Civil College, the training institution initiated and established by HACD.
· We organised 9 model training courses with the support of the Westminster Foundation. The courses targeted the active members of local societies. Consequently, 3 courses dealt with the strengthening of the civil sphere locally, 3 were related to local media (paying special attention to how local newspapers are produced), and 3 courses introduced partnership-building techniques to elected representatives. The courses were attended by people from different parts of Hungary (from Budapest and from the Counties of Somogy, Zala, Baranya, Vas, Csongrád, Hajdú, Komárom).
· We trained volunteers in local projects who came from Szőny-Komárom and 6 other villages.
· The future tutors of the profession were being trained regularly, and they practiced teaching during workshops and courses. The course curricula were also being prepared.
· We organised a course for the people of Kunbábony which presented the ways of organising community enterprises. The course was sponsored by the Job Centre of the County of Bács - Kiskun.

Community Database

The Community Database was launched in 1992, when we started to collect and organise the written materials of community work and the pieces of information related to them. Later the data was made accessible through computers.
The objective of the database is to contribute to creating an equal access to information, and to help organisations obtain the knowledge needed for their daily routines.

Last year’s activities:
· Revealing the (training) literature of community development to a full extent.
· We launched the development of the so-called Electronic Library which contains community development literature.
· We produced the computer software called "This is the Minimum" which targets secondary school students, and their parents and teachers.


Developing Local Media

· We co-operated in the running of the Civil Radio, a Budapest radio station lauched by the association. In the framework of this activity we collaborated in establishing the Civil Radio Workshop, which co-ordinates meetings, training courses, and community development activities related to the radio.
· "How to prepare news on ourselves?" - Two training courses were organised for civil organisations in order to help them build better contacts with the media.
· We organised preparatory courses and exchanges of experiences for editors of local newspapers.
· We provided professional assistance in establishing and launching local community radios, and we organised experience exchanges at non-profit radio stations.


"Parola" (Handshake), the Newsletter of the Association:

The association regularly published its newsletter titled "Parola", which has been facing serious financial problems. Nevertheless, this newsletter is the only printed organ of community development in Hungary, and it is therefore crucial that it is kept alive.
The newsletter presents reports on field work, methodological studies, and the experiences of Hungarain and foreign practitioners.

International Relations

The association continued its co-operation with the following organisations:
· CREDIS (common issues: organisational life, tackling social problems locally),
· ANACEJ (children’s and youth councils, youth projects, the ivolvement of young people in making local decisions),
· the People’s College of Haute-Savoye, France (local democracy, local and regional development),
· Northern College, Barnsley (the partner organisation of Civil College),
· ICEA International Community Education Association. One of the secretaries of the association was chosen as Deputy Manager of the Centreal-Eastern European Region, on a voluntary basis. We have also taken part in an European project-network, namely in the Youth Café and Local Youth Council programmes.
· Combined European Bureau for Social Development: we continued our orientation in Europe and carried on building contacts. The coming board meeting, which will be held in October in Hungary, will be completed with a jointly organised seminar.

Dokumentumok