The Overall Objective of the project was: To ensure sustainable platform for the young population at geographically isolated / remote Croatian islands aimed at advocating their interest with a special focus on their employability and social inclusion.
The project intended to establish a pilot-network/pilot-coalition of Croatian NGOs that can act on various levels (i.e. grassroot, regional national and, where applicable, EU level) and that is focused on the issue of employability and associated social inclusion of young population from the geographically isolated / remote islands in Croatia. It is envisaged that pilot-network/pilot-coalition will employ 4 (four) building blocks that will help bring this change about:
- Network/coalition building – to work/cooperate closely
with relevant NGOs and other strategic partners (e.g. educational institutions)
with a view to tackling issues of employability and social inclusion of young
population at geographically isolated / remote Croatian islands
- Advocacy work at the grass-root, regional, national and (where applicable) EU level for establishing supportive policies and measures on employability and social inclusion that fit the actual situation of young islanders / that fully recognize the specific characteristics of geographically isolated / remote Croatian islands
- Public awareness raising – campaigning to raise awareness of a wider audience / shape the public debate on the issues related to the employability and social inclusion of the young population at geographically isolated / remote Croatian islands
- Knowledge building and sharing – co-operation to exchange experiences and ideas with the NGOs active at the grass-root, regional, national and (where applicable) EU level respectively, including targeted co-operation to develop multilateral projects that could be funded by the EU programmes and national funding measures.
Throughout the project we have been promoting relevant issues of young islanders at the national, regional and grass root level by launching pilot self-advocacy and awareness raising campaigns. In doing so, the project directly mobilise young people that have actively participate in society and become agents in their own lives as well as equal and respected citizens. Hence, the target groups that have been addressed are the following:
- Secondary target group: young representatives of the
local communities at the islands of Korčula, Mljet, Vis and Rava who have
participated in the direct advocacy activities groups (self-advocacy);
- Tertiary target group: the decision / policy-makers at the national and regional who have been addressed by the self-advocacy activities of young islanders
- General public as target group – the general public in other parts of Croatia.
The result have been accomplished through the following activity: Awareness raising campaign – discussion on / dissemination of employability-oriented case-studies of young islanders (students, employed, unemployed, existing entrepreneurs, etc.).
- web portal for lobbying efforts and public campaigns – (http://www.mojotokvis.com/) continuously covered the regional (Dalmatia) issues of many islands that covered the employability issues of young islanders;
- established and continuously managed relevant Facebook group for lobbying efforts and public campaigns – https://www.facebook.com/groups/664980736888418/
- young islanders included in discussions related to living on the islands on the Facebook group (Promicanje zapošljivosti mlade populacije na geografski izoliranim otocima) containing 575 members. ]
- A specialized PR/film production company in order to enable “Video Advocacy/Campaigning”, produced a short video clips that “tells the stories” of young islanders. The short video clips with personalized individual case-studies / with a concrete message of young islanders disseminated by means of the local/regional televisions, web-portals, the specialized Facebook page, YouTube, etc. – [ 29 young islanders participated in “Video Advocacy/Campaigning” in production of short video clips with personalized individual case-studies / with a concrete message. ] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQqpke4StmfvKKpKIpk38nIXKrqlSf7a0
- A specialized advocacy/campaign post-cards was produced. In addition to the overall logo of the awareness raising campaign, they contain short messages that “voice”/outline the key hopes and main concerns of young islanders with regards to their employability and associated social inclusion at geographically isolated/remote Croatian islands. The postcards have been sent (mailed) (Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, President of Croatia, Members of Croatian Parliament, Regional development agencies, Central Bureau of Statistics and all the relevant institutions, Boards and Committee of Croatian Parliament, universities and many other key stakeholders’ representatives in Croatia
The establishment of the pilot-network/pilot- coalition of the NGOs and their associate members is important element of the project’s impact. Thus, the new network/coalition of the NGOs and their associate members will serve as an additional linking/supporting element for young islanders with regards to their employability and social inclusion. The new network/coalition of the NGOs will also mark a significant step towards more structured sharing of NGOs’ resources as well as a step towards better utilisation of the EU-funding, most notably under the European Social Fund.
The study visit to European Small Islands Federation as well as contacts with European experts established under the peer review activity will also have significant impact on further development of the NGOs involved in this project, in terms of (i) possibilities for further sharing of resources/know-how as well as possibilities for designing transnational/multilateral project that could be funded by the INTERREG-type of EU funding or by the new generation of the EU Programmes, such as Erasmus +, Horizon 2020, etc.
Young islanders will continue to be reached and benefit post-project through the established learning hubs and on-line advocacy/campaigning networks. The deployed Video advocacy/campaigning is proved to be an effective advocacy tool. Hence it is likely to have a considerable impact in terms of Influencing policy changes, Influencing the general public’s behaviour and attitudes; engage youth islanders to create change themselves.
Find out more on: http://desa-dubrovnik.hr/projekti/obrazovni-projekti/promicanje-zaposljivosti-mlade-populacije-na-geografski-izoliranim-udaljenim-otocima/eu-projekt/