The project team of the LAZ association was in a hurry in Bansko, Bulgaria, between October 15 and 20. The final meeting took place there as part of the ECRC project. As part of the meeting, we presented all the activities that the association carried out in 2013. A total of 3 workshops and one open day were held as part of the project.
In Bansko, Bulgaria, we attended a meeting of partners, where we reported on the activities carried out. During the project, the ECCD office, a practical manual for developing and managing projects offered by the ‘Europe for Citizens’ program, was created, the website http://ecrc-si.com/, promotional material and manual for moderators. For better recognition of the Europe for Citizens program, as well as our consulting office at Ponoviška 12, we held 3 workshops, which included different rates for applications for tenders. In the first workshop, which we held in May in Trzin, we introduced the participants to the actions and podacles of the Europe for Citizens program and examples of good practices of current and already implemented projects. In July, a two-day workshop in Tolmin and its surroundings followed, where we focused on active citizenship in terms of initiatives. All actions of the EZD program encourage very active citizenship and the integration of citizens. At the workshop, the participants wrote initiatives that will be presented to the local authorities in the future. The topic of the last September workshop was the creation of good project applications. When the potential applicant has all the information about the program, the motive why the project would write in the first place is also absolutely necessary to know how to write a project that will convince the evaluators. In September, we also held an open day in the center of Ljubljana, where we informed passers-by about the project, the EZD program and our consulting office. Since we started implementing the project, we have advised several organizations and municipalities. The European Commission positively evaluated two projects for which we advised.
We used the last day of the meeting in Bansko to plan new activities within the framework of the advanced project. In 2014, offices like ours will be established in 7 partner countries, and the network of partner organizations will also increase. Slovenia is still not the most skilled at drawing European funds, which also applies to the Europe for Citizens program. In 2014, we still have a lot of work to do, and new changes are also coming in the framework of the 2014-2020 financial plan. Join our partner network and secure European funds with a good partnership.