Leader: Udruga Bacači Sjenki (Association Shadow Casters)

Partners: Local Democracy Agency Sisak, Association for promotion of healthy life style and quality life improvement Luč

Duration: 1 January – 31 December 2022

Contract no: UP.04.2.1.11.0217

Call for proposals: Strengthening Capacities of Civil Society Organisations for Answering the Needs of Local Communities (UP.04.2.1.11)

Grant value: 488.565,53 HRK

EU co-funding: 415.280,70 HRK

Project summary:

The projects „Community Constellations“ is a kind of a hybrid, pilot project of the community „healing“ by strategic planning and community activation through psychotherapeutic and artistic-creative tools in a time of crisis.

The purpose is to strengthen the civil society organisation’s (CSOs) capacities in the area of the Sisak-Moslavina County (SMC) for the community work by development of the innovative tools and methods for working in the time of crisis. Its starting ground is junction of art, creative work methods and encouragement and revelling resources and knowledge of the local people.

The main problem is current insufficient capacities of the local CSOs to offer activities corresponding to the needs of people living in towns Sisak, Petrinja and Glina, related to the crises caused by the earthquake but by other actual crises as well, as pandemic, global economic crises and depopulation.

The first step in solving this problem is support to CSOs in SMC in the strategic planning process and creation of the most suitable activities for their beneficiaries. Further on, strengthening for advocacy in crises situation, especially lobbing and negotiation for securing direct support for new CSOs activities by the local, national and EU funding.

We are focusing on the CSOs from Sisak, Petrinja and Glina working with people in the social risk, such as youth, elderly people, women, people with disabilities, etc. We want to move people from their current traumatic situation and jointly create and implement diverse creative and psycho-social interventions for their beneficiaries, finding the best solutions for work in the crises. These will be done through cooperation, knowledge exchange, peer learning and implementation of different theatre and other performing methods having and therapeutic effect (verbatim, theatre of oppressed, psycho-drama).

The second problem the project is focusing at, is the lack of tailored-made psychosocial support to the CSOs beneficiaries, also one of the project target groups.

In cooperation with the CSOs, we will organise creative psychosocial workshops of the expressive art-therapy offered to their beneficiaries. These methods are proven as efficient in in working with trauma in general, but especially in traumas related to catastrophes, such as the earthquake. The organisations will be encouraged to create new activities through experiential work at the creative workshops, networking with the other CSOs and answering to their beneficiaries’ needs. This innovative process present gradual “healing”, better connection between CSOs and beneficiaries but strengthening the whole community as well.

Objectives and expected results of the project:

The project objective is building capacities and strengthening the CSOs for implementation of activities in accordance to new realities and needs of their beneficiaries, using innovative tools and methods of the community work during the crises, connecting art, creative community healing methods and knowledge and skills on the people living in the SMC.

Based on the research of the local CSOs needs, the six of them will go through the strategical planning process and create their strategic plans, same as the project ideas database.

People of the SMC will have the opportunity to get involved in creative and art workshops, art therapy and psycho-social counselling and individual psycho-social support for the ones suffering trauma, stress and/or lost in the crises situation.

Contacts:

Jelena Mihalj, project coordinator in the Shadow Casters; jelena.bacacisjenki@gmail.com; Mob: +385 (0)91 9727 827

Paula Raužan, project coordinator in the LDA Sisak, Ldesk-si@sk.t-com.hr, mob: +385 (0)99 230 92 61

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The project is co-funded by the European Union from the European Social Fund.

The project is co-funded by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.

More information of the EU funds, see www.esf.hr and www.strukturnifondovi.hr

The views expressed in this text are the sole responsibility of the Local Democracy Agency Sisak.