Drenovski list 18.
MoD Drenova - an example of successful local self-government
Although sometimes it seems that we are very often in a "conflict" with the city administration – it turns out that our argumented performance and struggle for a better position of local self-government and respect for local boards still meets with approval, MO Drenova will be an example of successful local self-government (letter from the Directorate for Administration and Self-Government):
"We also proposed VMO Drenova regarding the awards received for the Naj- Online and the best Local Committee Day, but also as an example of good practice, (the organization and working methods of council working bodies, division of tasks and activities to define the problems and needs of citizens to the way of realizing problems and needs through programs and activities to improve the living conditions of citizens in the area of MO through the establishment of priorities in interventions on municipal infrastructure facilities and devices - small municipal actions, through ecological actions, actions of the most beautiful garden, balcony and window, through the project of local partnership - arrangement of the promenade, continuous monitoring and reporting of the state of municipal disorder and damage to municipal infrastructure facilities, participation in discussions on urban planning plans, etc., as well as through the development of programs in the field of culture, sports and recreation , health and social care, childcare, and ways of informing citizens about the work of VMO through Citizens' Choirs, informative Journals and WEB site MO) to practically present the level of development of the local self-government in the city of Rijeka at the upcoming meeting of cities. ‘
Practically from the number in the number of the Drenovski list you can read about the doubts that I personally and other councillors have regarding the work we do. We often wonder if all this makes sense and are dissatisfied with the insufficient influence of the MO on some decisions important for the residents of the part of the city we represent. However, the fact remains that the effort pays off and that qualitative improvements can be made with constructive work. It is not unimportant that we are very often (perhaps) and too critical of our own work – especially when compared to other environments (it is enough to look at the websites of other cities and make sure that Rijeka is far ahead of everyone else), but we are encouraged by a more advanced EU environment and we should strive for these standards. Unfortunately, and this is also the situation in the whole of society, the requested moves are too slow and the question is always whether we will welcome these "better days". However, I believe that this meeting of cities on the topic of local self-government will be a great opportunity to exchange experiences with others and to promote results in the development of local self-government in the City of Rijeka and provide all the necessary information to colleagues from other cities.
Volunteer work and how to help the community in the age of rebalancing
In recent months, the word rebalancing has become almost a catchphrase in everyday speech. The current economic crisis creates the need to reduce plans and postpone certain projects for better times. There seems to be a need for new reflection on what the priorities are and what alternative methods of financing projects can be found. The fact is that a good part of the activities/projects carried out in the communities have a significant share of human work and there could be great benefits for the local community with proper citizen motivation.
And now we come to what would greatly benefit us – volunteering. Although we have already written about it, let us remind ourselves of a few facts:
What (or who) is a volunteer?
The Act on Volunteering in Croatia defines volunteering as "voluntary investment of personal time, effort, knowledge and skills by which services and activities are performed for the benefit of another person or for the general well-being...without the existence of conditions for payment of a cash prize" (Official Gazette, 58/2007).
Why would anyone volunteer?
The motivations are different – for some people volunteering is an occasional contribution to society, while for others it is a way of life. There are many reasons for volunteering in the community – helping the community in which they live, raising my level of satisfaction with doing something useful in life, improving social relationships and making new friends, improving my skills or gaining new work experience that can later help with employment...
Where do you volunteer most often?
Volunteers can make the biggest difference in their community. They affect the lives of others and change them in a positive way. In today's age of total alienation and self-closure – working together on a project can help many to find themselves and learn how to work together and engage in dialogue. Volunteer work extends through many segments of life: arts, community development and youth work, peacekeeping and human rights protection, education, humanitarian emergency response, sport and recreation, tourism and environmental conservation and cleaning.
A large number of those who change the world around them agree in one “you can get much more from what you can give by volunteering” – satisfaction after a successful job can hardly be measured with anything. If you have decided to enrich your life with volunteer experience, think about basic education that will improve your understanding and knowledge of volunteerism, civil society, volunteering opportunities .... these skills contribute to a more successful inclusion in the organization that needs you and helps you to design and implement projects yourself. Volunteer Centre “VOLONTER – RIJEKA” conducts trainings on the topic of Being a volunteer for individuals/incidents who want to make a volunteer contribution to the community in which they live.
What is the financial contribution?
In fact, it is unbelievable that volunteering is most developed in the richest countries (someone will say – that is why they are the richest because they "grow" a culture of work and help). Richer society = more volunteers. In America, Scandinavian countries, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Japan and the Netherlands, voluntary or community service (as it is called) is a very important item for the country itself.
According to some calculations in England, this form of engagement, when converted into money, ranks third in savings in the national economy. In the United States 49% the population volunteers in a variety of ways, a similar percentage is in Scandinavian countries, while volunteers in Germany are around 35%.
It is also interesting that most volunteers are represented by pupils, students, employees and pensioners, while the share of unemployed is very small.
In these countries, the system of symbolic rewards is also more developed. Caps and badges, thank you cards with enrolled hours of volunteer work are worn with pride, but they also have a concrete “benefit” because in various competitions engaged volunteers get a job beforehand. It is on this track that the Directorate for Local Self-Government is preparing some projects, but soon.
How is it with us – unfortunately, we like to "volunteer" in cafés and sportsbooks. We are even witnessing comments from highly educated fellow citizens (on the suggestion that they organize a cleaning action around their facilities where the MO will help with fairy tales with equipment and food for participants) – ‘why would we do this, so there are services that are paid for it’.
This comment shows the essence of the misunderstanding of the whole problem and the reluctance to help the community in which they live and settle the situation around the building in which they themselves live. By that logic we should do even less before mentioned Scandinavians or Germans because they are richer ?! In addition, a good number of fellow citizens behave exactly the opposite and "volunteer" to destroy municipal equipment or create pollution that "someone else" then has to deal with.
International Volunteer Day was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1985. Since then, governments, the UN and civil society have carried out individual or joint actions to mark the International Volunteer Day in order to make all activities involving volunteering and volunteers more visible at the local, national and international levels.
Our MO will be involved over the next two months in promoting volunteer work with lectures and proposals of interesting projects that could be realized and thus help to see the light of day even in times of friction.
Security, jurisdiction, opinions, traffic lights...
The re-start of the school year has once again updated the issue of crossroads safety at elementary school. Fran Frankovic. This has been a constant topic in recent years and the council has taken several measures that still (and unfortunately) did not solve the problem of the safety of our little ones on their way to school.
The main problem is extreme traffic non-culture and non-compliance with regulations by a part of the citizens, which directly endangers the lives of children. We are constantly witnessing rampage and chasing on the mentioned road, which cannot be prevented either by lanes (lying policemen) in front of the pedestrian crossing, installed speed meters and certainly not by real policemen who, according to their abilities, periodically monitor traffic.
The only solution is to install a traffic light, but previous attempts have failed because the traffic light was rejected on the grounds that it was not ‘traffic-justified’. This may be possible, but what about the "safety justification" – what is the life or health of the child worth?
They would ask the same question to citizens who are divided into two groups – those for (mostly parents of schoolchildren and especially first graders) and those against whom they claim that setting traffic lights will only create traffic jams and slow down traffic on the main Drenov road.
It is certain that today there are correct technical solutions ("intelligent traffic lights") – after all, the City of Rijeka boasts the most advanced traffic management in Croatia – which would enable an optimal traffic solution and maximize safety.
It is clear that today, in times of crisis, the investment in traffic lights is not a small item (and certainly other MOs have similar requirements), but the Council of MO Drenov believes that safety is always in the first place, and even this way we appeal to all competent services (and especially to avoid mutual switching of problems) to approach this problem in a structured way (other MOs also see it) and to launch development projects that would solve this issue in the long term.
Is it easier to organize a circus with television than to invite a local committee?
The "incident" we witnessed a few weeks ago saddened us at least as councillors who invested so much effort in the transparency of our work in the past period - we inform citizens about everything through the list you read, the WEB pages of our MO, not to say that our valuable secretary Dolores is always available to citizens for any information.
And then we experience that a group of citizens, without having previously informed themselves or contacted the MO, call the local TV channel KanalRi and attack the MO not to take care of the needs of the inhabitants of Gornja Drenova, and especially children and youth - in this particular case, the arrangement of the playground in Put ulica to the playground. So then it is supposed to take self-organization to do anything. That our fellow citizens have invested only 5% efforts and verified some of the above sources of information would see that the arrangement of this playground was repeatedly the topic at the sessions of the MO Council, that the councilors supported the activities on the arrangement and that by the decision of the Council last year (!) was included in the list of priorities for this year with planned funds in the amount of HRK 20,000 (Item 16 Additional landscaping of the playground in Put k street) and that the project will be realized when the necessary preparations are made or contracts are concluded with the contractors.
In any case, it is a little unusual that citizens – actually children – have so self-organised and carried out the whole operation, but we can accept this as part of our local "political outsmarts". But as this is indeed the case, let these same "political points" be collected on positive and constructive projects in cooperation with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, and not on cheap politicking, which is too much in everyday life and which constantly overwhelms us with the media.
Drenova on Wikipedia!
Nowadays, when you need some information, the easiest way is to go to the Internet and "google" (for those who are not adept at modern technologies, it is using the most popular internet search engine Google). Today they say if there is no data on the Internet then it is not relevant. Great progress has been made by the presence of MO Drenova on the website of the City of Rijeka, but if we want an encyclopedic presentation of data and facts, then there are specialized services such as Wikipedia for these purposes. Wikipedia is a public online encyclopedia based on free volunteer work created by websites and information.
It turned out that there is very little information about Drenova and important historical figures from our region. Prompted by this fact, we decided to open special pages about Drenova on Wikipedia, where we will try to systematically publish all the data at our disposal.
What it looks like you can look at
http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drenova
or in the English version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drenova
Of course, the work is only at the beginning, so we hereby invite all Drenovka and Drenovka to engage in collecting and upgrading our pages.
English