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Nyomtatóbarát változat
Cím:
A VoKA bemutatása
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A kiadás éve:
2003
Kiadó:
VOKA
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Nyelv:
angol
Tárgyszavak:
VOKA
Állomány:
Közösségfejlesztési partnerségépítés Közép-Kelet Európában
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E

HELPING RURAL PEOPLE BUILD BETTER LIVES

Rural Organization for Community Activities
VOKA
Nám. ©tefana Moyzesa 4
974 01 Banská Bystrica
+421-48-4151691
voka@voka.sk
www.voka.sk
SLOVAKIA

· In 1989 Czechs and Slovaks became participants in the political changes sweeping Eastern Europe ending in the :Velvet Revolution:. But the new Czech and Slovak Federative Republic fell victim to the overriding national ambitions of its new leaders and the country divided in 1993. Slovakia became an independent nation on January 1, 1993.

· After 1989 one of the most significant tasks for Slovakia‘s rural areas was the return to local self-government or “home-rule“. Rural societies were accustomed to obeying orders from the “top-down“. Even though new, democratic local government legislation was approved, in practice, acceptance and adaptation has been a slow process. The worsening economic situation and collapse of the central planning system has left local governments to fend for themselves in securing basic needs for residents. And the current transformation to a market economy is accompanied by a more complex societal move towards democratic systems and new ways of thinking.

(Tradition and Transition / Life in Rural Slovakia Today by Elizabeth Yenchko)


The Public Sector in the Village

- Municipal councils, presided over by a mayor, are elected every four years. Generally the mayor is a part-time or full-time employee, and is responsible for all of the paperwork necessary for the administration of the village. In some cases, the village hall may have paid employees staffing several departments, depending on the size and financial resources of the village. Local government legislation adopted after the 1989 revolution has made municipalities much more independent of the state. However, at the same time very few state resources are actually delivered to local government and certain laws make the state‘s power much greater than local municipalities. Slovakia is suffering a serious economic crisis and is not in a position to provide resources to small villages. But villages are legally restricted from raising their own taxes.

- In the past, the socialist government granted appropriations to the municipal governments, which were little more than the state personified on a local level. Profits from state-owned industry provided the needed money for every aspect of life (schools, infrastructure, health-care, research and development, etc…)

- With privatization and transformation to the market system, the state government has lost its greatest source of income and has little money to appropriate to the local level. Municipalities now have to find alternate sources of revenue…or, as many have, sell assets to pay current bills. Some operate municipal businesses, which provide necessary products and services for their residents, in turn creating local jobs and some income for the village.

NGO development in Slovakia
NGO development started in early 1990s. First years of existence :
– opposition from the Government
– lack of awareness and understanding from the people whom NGOs were trying to assist What helped:
- foreign funds
- know-how
- experts from abroad
- public information campaigns
- “Breaking the ice“ – elections in 1998 – OK 98 Campaign for Free Election.

What is VOKA?
Established in 1998, the Vidiecka organizacia pre komunitne aktivity is registered as a civic association. Serving members and non-members alike, VOKA‘s aim is to help Slovak villagers mobilize in order to improve the quality of their lives. (Approximately 43% of Slovakia‘s population lives in rural villages.)

Our Mission:

· to activate local potential and to support, through technical assistance, the sustainable and democratic development of communities for the improvement of the quality of life of rural people.

Delivery Mechanism – Programs

- Community Development
- Rural NGO Advising
- Small Business Assistance
- Rural Women‘s Leadership Network
- Micro-credit Program


VOKA Goals

· Encourage and support local democracy
· Promote sustainable community and economic development; and
· Build a strong network of individuals, organizations and communities for active cooperation
Community Development Triangle






















THE DEVELOPMENT CONTINUUM

Individual and community movement along a conitinuum of:



Sleepers > Dreamers > Planners > Implementers >

Dreamers: communities with a vision and some leadership, but do not understand the process of turning their dreams into reality

Planners: those communities who have a vision and a plan, but do not know HOW to implement the plan

Implementers: Slovak NGOs and small businesses, working in rural and community development

*****************************************************************

Community Participatory Needs Assessment – Listening Project

- WHAT? A community survey that encourages communication between people who live in the same village listen to each other and voice their opinion
- WHY? Because under socialism, people were not encouraged to share their ideas
- WHO? Village people

LISTENING PROJECT

· provides information about the needs of local people
· a forum to bring people together to ask what they think should be the future of their village – what they want to happen
· a way to involve citizens from the very beginning in planning and decision making

The Listening Project encourages neighbors to talk to neighbors about community needs and opportunities – a first step toward regional planning for future development. The Listening Project is a community survery carried out by teams of two who visit individual households and ask questions about what they like in their community and what they would like to see changed. Not only is the information gathered usefull – in providing community leaders with a better sense of resident needs and desires, the process of gathering information itself broadens the leadership base and encourages public discourse. Listening teams are composed of volunteers who may target questions to specific community goals {e.g. how to encourage recycling in the community}. Volunteers receive training in how to set goals, ask open-ended questions and listen actively, identify resources needed to complete the project and make commitments to complete tasks, how to design and implement a survey, and how to summarize results and use them to mobilize community action. Villagers create a new form of communication in the village when they overcome cultural berriers to knock on neighbors‘ doors {outside of family networks} and listen to their opinions about community issues {rather than simply engaging in exchange of complaints}. This communication is quite different from the top-down channel of information, still represented by the loudspeaker system present in every village. {they still use it almost every day}.

OUTCOMES
In one microregion of 6 villages, the mayors realized the need to engage residents in debates about regional goals, and used the listening project to broaden public support and engagement in their projects.

In another area, a listening project was used to mobilize resident opposition to a large dam which threatened to displace villages.

In several villages the listening projects were used to discuss employment creation options, the possibility of creating a community association or ideas to develop a municipal plan.

In many cases, listening projects were initiated by the mayor to enhance citizen involvement in community decision making. Recognition of the need to solicit citizen input for community planning is itself a one of major accomplishment on our way to build a civil society.
Statistical outputs:

Year 2000
# of villages# of volunteers# of pairs# of questionnaires returned
10 + 276381019






Year 2001
# of villages# of volunteers# of pairs# of questionnaires returned
28 (18)170851477

Year 2002
# of villages# of volunteers# of pairs# of questionnaires returned
88943396

COMMUNITY MINI-GRANT PROGRAM

GOAL
· to “strengthen democracy through the enhancement of civic discourse, delivery of skills for community development and granting modest financial support to implement those skills in practice“.

Rural communities and their mayors are used to depending on the national government for economic and political support. Recognizing the need and potential for community self development is a new concept. Many rural villages are characterized by the paralyzing despair due to lack of employment opportunities and a decline in government services decline.

PHASE I
- formation of Steering Committee
- Public Meetings {5}
- Committee develops calendar, arranges for meeting space etc.
- Sets time for final celebration

PHASE II
- 3-4-5 rule
- no salaries
- project must benefit the whole community
- accomplished in 6 months
- no political or religious oriented projects

While most communities have not awakened to the new reality, some are dreaming of alternative futures but have no experience in engaging the broader public in planning or implementing development projects.
The minigrant program was designed to take a community from the dreamer to the implementation stage.

6 COMPONENTS OF CMP

1. Local Management and Cross Community Collaboration
2. Encouragement of Broad Public Involvement
3. Training in Budget Development and Fundraising
4. Transparency in Resource Allocation
5. Implementation of Projects
6. Evaluation and Follow up

Component 1/
Three people from each participating village form a Steering Committee to plan the public hearings {public meetings} to advertise the program and arrange transportation to the meetings.

Component 2/
Public meetings are held in each village where groups of citizens discuss community development projects of interest. Each project has to be beneficial to the entire community and have at least three residents involved in its design and implementation.

Component 3/
Five training sessions of 4 hours each are held in a central location. Residents form teams for every project and are required to attend the trainings. {On average 150 people attend each training}. In the trainings the project teams learn about visioning and assets mapping of their communities and how to prepare a planned budget for their project {goals, objectives, beneficiaries, barriers, budget, activities, timetable, technical assistance needs} and progress reports.

Component 4/
A member of each team is selected to serve on the grant committee which evaluates the project proposals and decides how much funding each project will receive.

Component 5/
Projects have to be completed within six months with volunteer labour.

Component 6/
Completed projects are documented with photos and reports by the project teams and a final meeting is held to celebrate the results.

The physical improvements to communities supported by these minigrants {playgrounds, well covers, libraries, sports areas, bus stops…} are not the most important outcome although their presence leaves a permanent reminder of the program‘s achievement.

The primary outputs are: a/ citizen participation in community planning, b/ transparent decision making {not controlled by the mayor}, and c/ cross-community dialogue and cooperation.

Members of the communities continue to collaborate with other villages in micro-regions. They travel as “consultants“ to other communities to encourage local self development. Leaders developed through this process have run for local office and joined VOKA, because they now see a role for themselves beyond their community. Many communities have formed their own community associations to continue the development process.

Rural Women‘s Leadership Network

Nearly half (43%) of Slovakia‘s population lives in rural villages (defined as villages with populations of less than 5,000). Rural concerns have received little attention from the national government. At the same time rural areas suffer disproportionately from high unemployment, low income-levels, and lack of services. This is all the more problematic because of the collapse of the socialist state which provided employment and security but descouraged independent thought and action. Villagers are concerned with how to provide for their families in the face of a less secure economic and social environment. Many of them neither see the benefits of participating in activities that would improve community life nor trust individuals engaged in public and political life.

Under these conditions, rural women have often become leaders in their communities, willing to take the initiative to improve them despite the fact they receive little support for their efforts, and may even be ridiculed by those they are trying to assist. Their willingness to engage in public and political life is critical to the revitalization of their communities.

In the course of its work, it became clear to VOKA staff that there was a window of great opportunity to facilitate change by working with rural women leaders. These women {mayors, small business owners, NGO members, private citizens} were also eager to meet each other in order to exchange experiences, concerns and ideas and to provide each other support.






GOALS

· to identify rural women who are natural leaders and offer them special training and technical assistance to develop and enhance their effectiveness
· provide forum for exchange of ideas and best practice
· to help create conditions in rural communities that will assist women and their families with the economic transformation of those communities, using resources at hand

WOMEN ATTEND THESE MEETINGS BECAUSE:

- feel less alone in trying to effect change
- opportunity to meet women from other parts of Slovakia and compare experiences
- acquire skills
- have opportunity away from home to develop ideas
- go home reinvigorated

Within 2002 the following trainings, workshops and meetings were held:
- Community based Fundraising: 2 mtgs for 18, 21 participants
- Community Source Mapping: 2 mtgs for 23, 21 participants
- How to write a community projects, it’s management: 3 mtgs for 12, 10, 12 participants

- Basic English for B&B providers: 3 mtgs for 9, 8, 5 participants
- Public Speaking: 2 mtgs for 10, 13 participants
- quarterly informal meetings for the Network with focus on:
1. active policy of the National labour Office in relation to unemployed
2. “smart household“ – effective use of energy, water, household
devices, ....
3. women and their role in society – focus on rural areas

First time in history of the Network existence we organized a competition: “Rural woman of the year“. The competition was part of the national celebration of the “World Day of Rural Women“, October 15th.
We had 54 nominees and the committee has chosen 10 women a
The aim of such event is to remaind the society about the values that rural women represent for their villages, about their role, status and everyday initiatives to improve the conditions and move their communities further for better future.


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