Second training-block “School for good governance and participatory development” held in Kutina
During 28 February and 1 March 2019, second training-block “School for good governance and participatory development” was successfully held in Kutina. Around 25 representatives of civil and public sector from Kutina had an opportunity to learn more about local development planning, elements of the strategic plan, the importance of assessing community needs, forms of civic participation and ways of informing citizens about the work of NGOs.
This training is the second of four blocks of modular training programs for key local stakeholders on good governance principles, participatory planning methods and implementation of local development plans and policy analysis.
The training was organized by ODRAZ, which participates in the project “Tik-tak, time for culture” as a partner.
At the beginning of the workshop, ODRAZ Director Lidija Pavić-Rogošić, talked with participants about the topics that were processed during the first block and presented the goals and program of the second workshop. In the first block, the participants had an opportunity to learn more about the importance of sustainable development for society, the principles of good governance and the roles of sectors in local sustainable development, with an emphasis on their contribution to culture.
During the first day, participants learned about the planning process, levels and types of planning. They shared ideas on the current challenges of strategic planning in Croatia, and highlighted the lack of professional and quality staff in the relevant institutions as a major challenge, as well as the poor response of stakeholders to the process of strategic planning of the community. Through group work, participants defined their ideal community and highlighted the most important values that society as a whole should have. For participants, the most important values are cooperation, tolerance, proactivity and responsibility. After defining an ideal community, participants learned about the preparation of data for a strategic plan and elements for community analysis.
During the second day, Marko Stančec from ODRAZ explained the steps in the preparation of the strategic plan. The participants through group work defined the most important problems in society: unemployment, lack of funding, insufficient municipal and transport infrastructure and low level of education.
In the second part of the second day, Elizabet Gašparov from ODRAZ explained how citizens can participate in the community and cite examples of good practice that can serve as ideas for future project activities. It was concluded that for active participation in decision-making processes, citizens must be informed and have the ability and knowledge to use this information.