Odraz is a non profit organization gathering professionals from various fields who design and apply the sustainable development concept for the local community benefit.
ODRAZ mission is to motivate and strengthen initiatives in local communities through partnership in order to develop practical and appropriate ways for improving the local economy and environment.
 Training programme for local community development - development through knowledge
The training objective is the education of twenty representatives from public, economic and civil sectors once a year who will initiate positive changes in their l communities.
The participants acquire specific knowledge and skills for the community development through project design and management. During 8 months there are 6 three day training blocks. Between the blocks the participants have to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in practice (p.ex. community needs assesment, project design).
At the end of the training the participants obtain the certificate of "community organizer".
So far, 35 participants from various communities have been educated within this project during 2003. and 2004., and at the moment 21 are currently in programme. <read more...>
Education for local management and development
For the first time in Croatia, the education of local self government professionals has been initiated focused on building of their capacities.
In June and October 2004, twenty participants learned about:
 local self government legal framework |
| decentralisation |
| partnership building |
| practical questions of local government |
| budget management, local project financing |
| planning of sustainable development at a local level |
| transparency and public participation |
| procedure from vision and strategy to project and action plans |
Support and education
for environment and sustainable development
POZOR is a program that implements education for environment and sustainable development for different levels and needs. Additionally, practical tools for local implementation of best practices in environment and sustainability are developed.
Achievements in the scope of this program include:
- University level course "Environmental protection and Sustainable Development" (50 students educated in 2004)
- Guidelines "Sustainable Development of a Municipality", example of public participation in drawing guidelines for their own development
- Manual for appropriate waste management - practical application of separate waste collection, recycling, composting and waste AVOIDANCE
- Composting biodegradable waste leaflet
- Three local and 1 national Congress on Sustainable Development
- Collection of best practice in the field of Sustainable Development (conservation of natural and cultural heritage, energy efficiency, waste management, spatial planning, cross-sectoral cooperation, etc.)
- Mediterranean house - stone house construction and reconstruction techniques is the most recent publication that marks the beginning of sustainable construction promotion
Professional and technical assistance
Models of quality management of donor's resources (so called re-granting models) for the more effective channeling of grants aimed at local development - assistance in donor strategy design; target group needs research; establishment of competition and project selection procedures; monitoring and technical assistance to grantees
Local community financing model is an integral research on existing financing sources and possibilities of local community foundations in test communities
Local community activity encouragement and inclusion of public into decision-making processes and local development design
Civil society reflections - work with media
More than 20 radio and TV broadcasts have ensured better media coverage of topics relating to civil society and sustainable development in cooperation with Crotia
n Radio Television, Fade In, Novi list and other media.
Our community our responsibility |
Manual for successfully local community organizing |
| NGO Manual - NGO Cookbook |
First publication in Croatia covering community
activity topics |
Paulo Freire
"Pedagogy of the Opressed" |
Obligatory literature for those linking education with social changes |
Manual "Guidelines to effective local community work" |
Development depends on you! |
| Avoid, Minimaze, Separate |
Waste Management Manual |
MEDITERRANEAN HOUSE
|
Stone house construction and reconstruction techniques |
Community Philanthropy in Central/Eastern Europe |
Ideas and successful examples of local community work |
| Study "Possibilities of Community Foundations Development in Croatia |
Inform and educate about local community foundations concept |
Agenda 21 implementation overview and evaluation of progress in Croatia |
Summary of conditions and barriers to overcome on the way towards sustainable development |
Report "Sustainable Development Guidelines for Jelsa Municipality" |
Together we succeed,
divided we fail. |
 Many years of design and implementation of effective grant model - from guideline and forms to management and monitoring (basis of AED grants, REC grants and partially Government of Croatia NGO Office grants)
Priority needs assessment in 2002 among ministries and bodies of state government commissioned by NGO Office within Croatian Government
Implementation of USAID's NGO Development Programme at a local level (contract with AED) until 2001
Within the programme the following has been achieved:
- 17 trainers trained ; they organized in three NGO's
- three regional NGO support centers founded
- education/consulting for more than 40 NGO's around Croatia
NGO Manual - NGO Cookbook and the manual Guidelines for Effective Local Community Work have been published (first manuals of the type in Croatian)
Workshop "Social capital as development imperative of Croatia", Zagreb, 2002 (in partnership with World Bank)
Survey on existing opportunities for the citizen participation in decision-making at a local leve l for World Bank within the project "Local community empowerment" and preparation of the report for the regional World Bank Institute in Budapest
ODRAZ staff members are co-authors of the Environmental Protection Strategy within "21st Century Environmental Protection Strategy" and "Public Participation Manual" for decision making on environmental protection published by REC
Giving support to the foundation of CIMA (Center for youth initiatives) in Stari Grad, Hvar, Jelsa and Vrboska on the island of Hvar
Establishment of partnership with ZUNH in order to institutionally strengthen the communities through education and professional help for the improvement of life quality
Meeting "What Civil Sector Could Do for the Development of Croatia?" , Zagreb, 2003 (cooperation with Ceraneo)
Meeting "Companies' Social Responsibility" , Zagreb, 2004 (cooperation with Croatian Chamber of Commerce and Ceraneo)
ODRAZ staff are professionals from various fields (physical planning, environmental protection, sustainable development, economy, civil society and non profit sector, social work) who have achieved significant results as activists, state government employees, public organisations workers or international organisations' employees.
ODRAZ - Sustainable Community Development
Ljudevita Posavskog 2/4, 10000 Zagreb
tel 01 4655 202; 203
fax 01 4655 200
e-mail: odraz@zg.htnet.hr
www.odraz.hr |
