Within the project Follow my Steps – Youth for a Sustainable Community Sponsored by the Local Democracy Agency Sisak, volunteer clubs are planned to be set up in January / February 2020 at partner schools in Sisak Gimnasium High School and High School Ivana Trnskoga in Hrvatska Kostajnica.
One of the most important activities before setting up volunteer clubs are needs assessment and fedback from teachers and student. Therefore, from the beginning, it is planned to conduct research on the schools involved in the project. The research wanted to find out what kind of volunteer activities students prefer, or what volunteer programs they would like to spend in newly established clubs, and wanted to examine the level of awareness of the goals of sustainable development.
The focus group meeting at High School Ivana Trnskoga in Hrvatska Kostajnica was held on October 29, 2019. During the discussion, participants outlined interesting and useful activities that could be carried out within the school volunteer club. There are proposals to hold a ball under the mask, to hold various sports activities, whereby students with experience in certain sports will help those who do not have as much experience, humanitarian activities related to some holidays and others. Participants expressed a desire to be involved in the work of a future volunteer club and the need to further educate students on the goals of sustainable development.
The focus group meeting at Gymnasium High School in Sisak was held on Monday, November 4, 2019. Talking about potential volunteer activities within the volunteer club, students pointed out that many ideas related to the needs of the school and the students come up at the Student Council meetings, but are rarely realized. They see the Volunteer Club as a solution and an opportunity to realize these ideas, a tool to encourage students to activism and to implement initiatives through the joint actions of students and teachers of the school. They suggested volunteer actions such as aesthetically decorating the school, painting and decorating pallet furniture, organizing workshops on volunteering and sustainable development, and more. According to the assessment of the school representatives, the majority of students were first introduced to the concept of sustainable development, which is why more work is needed to inform students about it.
The project “Follow My Steps! – Youth for a Sustainable Community” is Co-financed by the Office for NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia through the Swiss-Croatian Cooperation Program. The leader of the project is the Local Democracy Agency Sisak, and the partners are Sisak Gymnasium High School, High School Ivan Trnski Hrvatska Kostajnica and Sisak-Moslavina County. The aim of the project is to contribute to the promotion of partnership between civil society organizations and educational institutions in the field of volunteerism, which contributes to social and economic cohesion and sustainable development in the Sisak – Moslavina County.
Programme is co-financed by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
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The views expressed in this text are the sole responsibility of the Local Democracy Agency Sisak and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Govermnent Office for Cooperation with NGOs.
