ACTIVITIES

There have been over 800 European citizens from more than 13 countries participating on four events (they took place in Germany, Greece, Slovenia and Italy) organised in the framework of this project. More than 1200 citizens attended local events in the countries of the partners of the project. The events focused on different possibilities of an active citizens' integration and on the sole participation throughout different parts of ones' lifetime. We also collected over 1000 opinions of European citizens with the help of an online questionnaire which was translated to the languages of 13 European countries. Please read a brief summary of the project and its activities here. 



30. 9. - 1. 10. 2015 Design and management of regional development concepts, emphasizing visibility and public relations. 

Between September 30 and October 1 2015, CRLDS from Albania as Lead Facilitator, together with Mr Manfred Ziewers in his capacity as Local Economic Development and TVET Expert had organized a local event addressed “Design and management of regional development concepts emphasizing visibility and Public Relations”.
Albania is in an on-going decentralization process. More and more responsibilities are being shifted to regional and local levels. Public and private actors engaged in regional economic development are subsequently required to systematically improve their specialist knowledge, methodological, social and personal skills and competencies to be able to make a substantial contribution to growth and prosperity in their home regions.
This is of particular importance for civil servants working in local administrations over the country, who are still the main actors in managing local and regional development concepts.

15. 9. 2015 Active Citizenship and Education of Volunteering 
CRLDS Albania in cooperation with Vlora Youth Centre on 15/9 2015 in Vlora, under the project DOCPIE organised local activity with the theme: "Active Citizenship and Education of Volunteering". After the presentation of Dr. Luiza Hoxhaj, we had an active discussion with the participants on the subject in reference. Youth brought their experiences, success stories were told and needs to expand and promote volunteerism. Interventions of Mr. Ilir Nikaj, Executive Director of Vlora Youth Centre helped in guiding the discussion on local terrain. It also highlighted the need of the clear access to a model of volunteering. 

24.9.2015 Dissemination booklet - 1st edition issued

27. 8. 2015 Workshop and round table in Breznički Hum
The city council of Breznički Hum and Association for rural development LAZ had on Thursday 27^th of August 2015 organized a workshop and a round table in the fire station in Breznički Hum. The event was organized within the project DOCPIE and it was attended by approximately 50 people. Among participants dominated elderly people and representatives of the Red Cross and Fireman’s.

All gathered were welcomed by mayor of Breznički Hum Zoran Hegedič and then the President of Regional Committee of the Red Cross and Nada Liber and the president of Association for rural development LAZ Gabrijela Babič were spoken. With inclusion in a discussion the participants were encourage to express an idea for future of Europe and exchange their opinions.

20. 8. 2015 Workshop and semianr in Kistarcsa, Hungary
On August 20, 2015 Europe for Citizens Programme project dubbed DOCPIE (Democratic Ownership and Civic Participation in Europe) hosted a local seminar and workshop in Kistarcsa, HU. Opening and welcoming remarks were delivered by Mayor Sandor Solymosi, who also welcomed the members of delegation from Olesnica, Poland. Following Mr. Solymosi's introductory words, Mr. Bela Gergely, Program Manager at the Municipality of Kistarcsa briefly described the main goals, architecture, and funding opportunities of the Europe for Citizens Programme to the employees of the local government and the guests.

Then, Mr. Piotr Michalowski, Program director at the CVultural Center of Olesnica, delivered a PowerPoint presentation on citizens of Olesnica, Polaand participate in community life and why volunteering is important to them, in particular the ways in which it effectively strengthen citizens' commitment to their society and to its political life. The presentations were followed by a town hall style discussion during which the participants debated questions pertaining to the future of the European Union such as "How to strengthen the European identity of citizens for democratic engagement and civic involvement?", "What would happen if there were no European Union?", "How would Hungary and/or Poland fair on their own?", "What do you think were the reason behind the dismal turnout rate of Central and Eastern European EU member states at the elections to the European Parliament and what are the future implications of that?". 

8. 8. 2015
The Serbian DOCPIE info event took place in Bačka Topola, on 8th of August 2015 in the evening. 
The event was held on the main square of the town, as part of the Origo Open Fest, a festival of urban culture, which is organized every year by young local activists. 

60 participants attended the info event, where main informations were presented by the projects, and a presentation was held about volunteering possibilities in the EU. The whole event took place in a very attractive ambience because we used the technical background of the open cinema which  worked during the festival. The reactions were very positive.

30. 7. 2015 meeting of the Board of NGO
At the Board meeting of non-governmental supporting organizations, the project DOCPIE manager Gabriel Babič presented the project DOCPIE and invited the heads of regional Intersections of NGOs to actively participate in the event in Ljubljana on September 24 . Advocacy and the promotion of civil dialogue is one of the key tasks of the Intersecting points, therefore, cooperation of Intersecting points in the conference and gathering opinions about the participation of citizens is valuable for the project.

Involving citizens in the civil dialogue, if they are active in NGOs it seems to be more accessible. However, NGOs are facing with disinterestedness of membership to solve problems which are beyond local meaning and that people don’t feel such a direct impact on their lives.

Promoting civil dialogue by the Intersection of NGOs in particular by encouraging NGOs to identify current local problems and connect with one another and with the other two sectors - public and economic to solve these problems. Participation in decision-making processes at all levels is dropping with the level of decision-making. At the national level in Slovenia are few empowerment NGOs that are competent interlocutors of governments, the involvement of NGOs at the regional level is currently only technical, because they have half the votes as mayors. At the local level, it seems that the involvement varies by municipalities and depending on the occupied individuals. The involvement of NGOs in the decision making processes of the EU, it seems that the is domain of individual NGOs, that’s way we would like with project DOCPIE contribute to increasing awareness that the "European agenda" are our topics that effect on our lives.
 

30.6.-1.7. 2015 Event in Serres Greece
From 30/6 to 1/7 2015 was in Serres Greece second event within the project DOCPIE. The title of the event was ”Development of regions and cities through civic participation in the framework of the European Union”. The event involved 183 citizens from 13 countries and was organized by the Municipality of Serres and Club UNESCO Serres.

The aim of the event was to:

• Strengthen transnational ties among the participating countries/regions
• Showcase the interconnection between active citizenship and city/regional development
• Explore local solutions and encourage the exchange of good practices and know how among      partners
• Inform on EU regional cooperation initiatives and policies

The conference was opened by the Mayor of Serres, and was attended by 16 speakers from various sectors, including Ministries, Higher education, Municipalities, Europe Direct, NGO’s and Managing Authorities of European Territorial Cooperation Programmes. They were talking about how European Union works, about programs for regional development, Europe for citizens program, which co-financed project DOCPIE. They were also talking about interesting experiences in successful projects, such as global project or movement “Love your block” and the “European youth capital Thessaloniki 2014”. All the speakers presented a multi-disciplinary overview of their topics. On that way, all the participants were familiarized with EU decision making process, they were introduced to new ideas of cooperation, exchanged know-how and good practices, they felt connected to the other cities and regions of EU and exchanged ideas on how civic participation can transform the face of a city.

During the event there was also a partner meeting, where partners reviewed the previous project activities, and found that the project is progressing according to plan. During the summer the project activities will focused primarily on gathering public opinion through survey. At the meeting the Association LAZ as organizer of the next event prepared a short presentation of the event entitled "Civil Society Open University" which will be hold on 24/9/ 2015 in Ljubljana and Šmartno pri Litiji.

27.6.2015 PRESENTATION OF PROJECT DOCPIE ON FESTIVAL OF TATA IN HUNGARY
On June 27, 2015 was Bela Zsolt Gergely invited to speak at a conference in Tata, HU on his favorite topic - Europe for citizens, funding opportunities, best practice, lessons learned.., . The event was organized as part of the Water, Music, Flower Festival of TATA‬, lost of folk costumes, heritage shows, etc. so the audience was mostly folk performers from the neighboring small communities and some groups from Slovakia and Poland.
Mr. Bela presented the project DOCPIE, and talked at lengths about the international events, objectives and result of the project and the survey. Generated lots of interest, people asked him to send them the survey once it goes live online. He met the Mayor of Tata, too, and he expressed his supports project partnership initiative.

23.6.2015: DOCPIE - a "sweet" piese for the generation in 3rd age
On 23. 6. 2015 DOCPIE project partner - Association Civil Center for Sustainable Development EGRI from Kriva Palanka, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia shared a piece of DOCPIE among the club of women pensioners volunteers under RED Cross Organization in Kriva Palanka. 
On the joint event they were informed about the project goals, project activities and the proposed expectations and outputs for the local community.
The participants were informed also about the volunteering in European Union and the volunteers from the club presented their current volunteering activites on local level as type of civil activism. 
The volunteers from the club expresss their strong support to the project action with sharing of piece of DOC-CAKE for the every participants. 
 

11.6.2015: ASSOCIATION LAZ ABOUT THE POSSIBILITIES OFFERED BY VOLUNTEERING
On Thursday 11 of June 2015, the Association for Rural Development LAZ organized presentation on volunteering at the primary school of Šmartno pri Litiji.
We presented the ninth classes’ opportunities that volunteering offers to young people. Firstly we presented our project DOCPIE and the role of volunteering in active citizenship on understandable and interesting way. We talked with pupils who actually is a volunteer, how is volunteering in Slovenia arranged, and what options have kids in secondary school in volunteering. Students have realized that they can do a compulsory school practice as a volunteer in Association, they learn about the program EVS, Youthpass certificate program and international recognition for young people.

The presentation was joined by representatives from the Youth center Litija, who have practical experience with the EVS program. Among them were two volunteer from Poland and Spain, which both impress pupils with their openness and willingness to talk.
Pupils leaved presentation full of new impressions and insights that will definitely come in handy.

 5.6.2015 FUN SESSION FOR YOUNG EUROPEANS
Club Serres for UNESCO held a fun interactive session with young Europeans in Greece! On 5/6/2015 students from Serres visited the Eco festival Demou Serron to celebrate the world Enviroment Day. DOCPIE wae there to play interactive and informative games about EU. 

4.6.2015 ASSOCIATION LAZ IN IDEAS CAROUSEL OF NGO'S
On 4 June 2015, Association LAZ in park Zvezda in Ljubljana attended the carousel NGOs - catching ideas. The event was a relaxed informal gathering, where members of NGO's and many passers-by had the opportunity to
debate on "debate blanket", the members of NGO's also have the opportunity to present their activities.
For this occasion Association LAZ prepared the topic in framework of the project DOCPIE entitled “Do we know what Brussels do for us”.
In our »discussion blanket« we collected public opinion, and talked about how to become an active citizen and the possibilities that offers us EU (citizens' initiative, the European dialogue, etc.). Representatives of Association LAZ get some feedback on what the citizens' opinion on the EU are, we get some completed survey, and presented the objectives of project DOCPIE to passers-by. 

8.5.2015 YOUNG EUROPEANS IN ACTION 
Volunteers from UNESCO Club of Serres visit local elementary schools and discuss about European Union and it's Values. 8/5/2015 

8-10.5.2015 1st EVENT - VOLUNTEER ACADEMY DRESDEN
Between 8 and 10 May, the second international event in the framework of the project DOCPIE entitled Volunteer Academy took place. The event was organized by the German project partner from Dresden, Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e. V.

During the event there was also two partner meeting, where the project partners agreed on the objectives and priorities of the project, the tasks of the partners, project progress, collecting public opinion through questionnaires, events and activities as well as the visibility and dissemination of result, which is mandatory for all partners. The representative of the Greek partner Club Serres for UNESCO presented the next event in the Greek Serres, where we will talk about the promotion of European regions and methods of integration.
On Saturday 9 th of May, the fair of volunteer "NEXT STEP" took place. The date of 9 May wasn’t chosen randomly, because in Europe on this day we celebrate the end of World War II. Visiting the city of Dresden was providing good opportunity to remember the common European past. During the final month of the 2. world war, city was completely destroyed by allied bombers as a part of the retaliation attacks against Nazi army.
The fair took place between 14:00 and 19.00 in the Deutsche Hygiene-Museum in the centre of Dresden, which provided a wonderful atmosphere for implementation. The fair topic was volunteering and volunteers practice in Germany and abroad. The non-governmental organizations offer information about volunteer opportunities in Germany and abroad, the speech was about the possibilities offered by the volunteer and about the project DOCPIE within which the fair took place. The fair was very well attended, which indicates that the young German citizens are really interest in volunteering.
Project partner who have hosted the event in the fair made a presentation of the project called Remembrance, which is also like a project DOCPIE part of the Europe for Citizens program and supports sharing stories of our common past and experiences of young people involved in this project to build a common future. After the presentation there was a visit to the gorgeous temporary exhibition in the Deutsche Hygiene Museumu entitled "Friendship"
 

 

20. 3. 2015 Local introduction of project DOCPIE
On the association LAZ membership meeting was DOCPIE project presented in details, Members committed to help with the project implementation. Project manager Gabrijela Babič introduced the audience in the understanding of civic participation, as well.   

PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES

6-7.2.2015 KICK OFF MEETING, , Kistarcsa, Hungary

On February 6 and 7 2015 was in the Town Hall of Kistarcsa, Hungary, the kick-off meeting of the representatives of the Partners under the project Democratic Ownership and Civic Participation in Europe.
On the first day the participants arrived in Kistarcsa and attended an official dinner organised by the Municipality of Kistarcsa. The partners had the opportunity to present themselves, familiarize with the consortium and discuss the general outlines of the project.
The next day the kick-off meeting take place. The participants discussed according to the agenda, the overview of the project, the detailed presentation of activities, the break-down of responsibilities per partner, the financial conditions and the communication strategy. The following was discussed and agreed

Preparatory activities:
- to determine key elements of the project
- set up standards for facilitating the meetings/events
- organize data collection for survey
- develop advocacy strategies
- develop monitoring and evaluation strategies
- elaborate expected follow-up