On Thursday, June 1, 2023, Ivan Trnski High School in Hrvatska Kostajnica organized an incredibly interesting volunteer action titled “Financial Literacy and Consumer Rights.” Behind this fantastic initiative stood a dedicated group of puipls from the school volunteer club “Srcem drugima,” who, together with their educational workers and club mentors, collaborated in recognizing the needs of people in their community and devising ways to contribute to solving a part of the identified issue.
Five incredibly motivated puipls decided to create a workshop aimed at addressing everyday problems related to financial literacy and the lack of information faced by retirees in Hrvatska Kostajnica. Through this workshop, they aimed to enrich the knowledge of older individuals and provide them with valuable information to better understand their consumer rights.
But that wasn’t the end of their efforts! In addition to helping retirees understand financial challenges, the volunteers also introduced them to the advantages and risks of online shopping and payment. They prepared educational materials tailored to the older population and even presented a short video on this topic, created by fourth-grade puipls, which highlights the most common forms of financial fraud.
The participants’ reactions to the workshop were exceptional! Attendees emphasized that the workshop was informative and dynamic, and they learned a wealth of valuable information that will benefit them in the future. This story reminds us that it is never too late to learn and that together we can bring about positive changes in our communities.
The volunteer action was carried out as part of the “Platform for Development of school volunteering” project by the Local Democracy Agency Sisak. Through this project, LDA Sisak aims to guide school volunteering towards better collaboration between puipls and educational workers who lead volunteer clubs as extracurricular activities. By encouraging learning about topics related to social justice, equality, and the inclusion through the practical implementation of volunteer activities, puipls are directed to think about their community’s needs and ways to raise awareness, both in themselves and in others, that these needs exist and, in some cases, to address them.
Platform consists of eight schools in partnership with civil society organizations. These schools are: Strukovna škola Sisak, OŠ Budaševo-Topolovac-Gušće, Srednja škola “Ivana Trnskoga” from Hrvatska Kostajnica, Srednja škola Glina, OŠ Viktorovac from Sisak, Srednja škola Viktorovac from Sisak, OŠ Mate Lovraka from Petrinja, and OŠ Zorke Sever from Popovača.
The project “Platform for Development of School Volunteering” is implemented by the Local Democracy Agency Sisak in collaboration with partners: Strukovna škola Sisak, Human Rights House Zagreb, and Norsensus Mediaforum Norway. The project is supported with a financial grant of €87,870.00 through the Active Citizenship Fund, funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway under the EEA Grants.
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The content in tis text is the sole responsibility of the Local Democracy Agency Sisak and does not necessarily reflect the views of the donor countries and the Fund Manager.
