Aims and Objectives

Approach

Although the communities are the final target point, our approach is based on working with community leaders. In this capacity we will concentrate on developing their knowledge, skills and attitudes, values and other aspects of personal development which are relevant to their work as community leaders. Supporting networking among community leaders within the Central and Eastern European region is another important component of our approach. Finally, it is important to note that in order to strengthen the impact on the community and facilitate transfer of experience and competences we will invite one of each community leader’s team members to take part in one meeting.

Community leaders are active part of their local community and the program supports positive changes in their local communities as well. That is also a reason why we provide participants with community grants to cause direct impact in their local communities.

General goals and specific objectives

There are two separate sets of goals, the first focusing on local communities and the second on local community leaders. Likewise, specific objectives differ slightly for each set of goals. For local community leaders the specific objectives concentrate on development of competences (knowledge, skills and attitudes) while the community objectives are two-fold: some of them are more project-based and serve the development of the local community, others are more learning-based and support the development of local community leaders and team members invited to take part in the program.

Local community leaders: general goals

We aim to help participants become confident local community leaders who:

understand their local communities
take part in their local communities’ development
are capable of adapting and changing
continually strengthen their abilities as local community leaders
perceive their local community development in the context of the CEE region

Local community leaders: specific objectives

We want local community leaders to:

become more conscious of their own values and attitudes as local community leaders in their work within their communities
become more consciously aware of and further practice their own leadership style, become aware of their own capacity and limits, including the ability to balance work and personal life
better understand their own communication style, be able to use different approaches, styles and tools according to specific as well as challenging situations
be able to understand what skills, roles and tasks are needed in their team and how to plan and cooperate effectively in their communities
be better prepared to transfer their experience, knowledge, skills and attitudes to their teams

Local communities: general goals

We aim to:

Strengthen the viability of the local community
Strengthen local communities to become more resilient based on the concept of: Building Resilient Communities: A Preliminary Framework for Assessment (Longstaff, Patricia H.)

Local communities: specific objectives

we want communities to:

At least 60% of participants´ local communities change in at least 3 attributes out of 7 according to Gardner ([1] J.W.Gardner: Building Community) (attributes: wholeness incorporating diversity; shared culture; participation and sharing leadership tasks; fragmentation and common ground; good internal communication; caring, trust and teamwork; links with the outside world)
At least 20% of participants´ local communities become more resilient concentrating on their resources robustness – they improve in at least one of the three parts of resource robustness (resource diversity, performance or redundancy)
At least 10% of participants´local communities become more resilient within the adaptive capacity context at least in one of its areas (institutional memory, innovative learning, connectedness).

As mentioned above, we plan on involving an additional team member from each local community in part of the program. The following objectives, even though they concentrate on team members, also refer to and will be addressed with the local community leaders during other parts of the program.

The specific objectives for this aspect are to:

strengthen transfer of know how/experience to the local community
help the project team understand various concepts of engaged communities and reflect on their local community, its needs, challenges and opportunities and to find tools to work with it (i.e. community mapping)
influence local communities (based on the principles of communication and cooperation, openness, identity, participation of local community members in community affairs, use of local resources) to increase their sustainability and resilience through support of community leaders (including an additional team member)
help the project team become more prepared to communicate effectively with the public, analyze ways of communicating and be able to use tools suitable to their particular situation and context (including an additional team member)
help the project team become more aware of the importance of impact assessment and to be able to apply some impact assessment tools in their local community
help the team become more aware of the wider context both within the CEE region and the current socio-geo-political situation (including an additional team member)

Approach

Community leaders are active part of their local community and the program supports positive changes in their local communities as well. That is also a reason why we provide participants with community grants to cause direct impact in their local communities.

General goals and specific objectives

Local community leaders: general goals

We aim to help participants become confident local community leaders who:

understand their local communities

take part in their local communities’ development

are capable of adapting and changing

continually strengthen their abilities as local community leaders

perceive their local community development in the context of the CEE region

Local community leaders: specific objectives

We want local community leaders to:

become more conscious of their own values and attitudes as local community leaders in their work within their communities

become more consciously aware of and further practice their own leadership style, become aware of their own capacity and limits, including the ability to balance work and personal life

better understand their own communication style, be able to use different approaches, styles and tools according to specific as well as challenging situations

be able to understand what skills, roles and tasks are needed in their team and how to plan and cooperate effectively in their communities

be better prepared to transfer their experience, knowledge, skills and attitudes to their teams

Local communities: general goals

We aim to:

Strengthen the viability of the local community

Strengthen local communities to become more resilient based on the concept of: Building Resilient Communities: A Preliminary Framework for Assessment (Longstaff, Patricia H.)

Local communities: specific objectives

we want communities to:

At least 20% of participants´ local communities become more resilient concentrating on their resources robustness – they improve in at least one of the three parts of resource robustness (resource diversity, performance or redundancy)

At least 10% of participants´local communities become more resilient within the adaptive capacity context at least in one of its areas (institutional memory, innovative learning, connectedness).

As mentioned above, we plan on involving an additional team member from each local community in part of the program. The following objectives, even though they concentrate on team members, also refer to and will be addressed with the local community leaders during other parts of the program.

The specific objectives for this aspect are to:

strengthen transfer of know how/experience to the local community

help the project team understand various concepts of engaged communities and reflect on their local community, its needs, challenges and opportunities and to find tools to work with it (i.e. community mapping)

help the project team become more prepared to communicate effectively with the public, analyze ways of communicating and be able to use tools suitable to their particular situation and context (including an additional team member)

help the project team become more aware of the importance of impact assessment and to be able to apply some impact assessment tools in their local community

help the team become more aware of the wider context both within the CEE region and the current socio-geo-political situation (including an additional team member)