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Strengthening the Community through Bee-Keeping |
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Delnice is small city located in the mountainous and
forested region of Gorski kotar, where the local economy relies heavily on
agriculture. Many young people leave the area after high school to look
for work, and a large percentage of Delinice's population of 6,858 are
elderly.
The "Medun" Association of Bee-Keepers has been active in the
Delnice area for 30 years and promotes honey production as a viable rural
economic activity through educational programs and exhibitions.
In
September 2003, with a CroNGO Small Grant, "Medun" organized a bee-keeping
exhibition to present its achievements and promote bee-keeping as an
income generation activity. In organizing this event, this NGO established
new ties with a local school that helped conduct an educational component
on bee-keeping for 200 participants, including school children. "Medun"
also improved its cooperation with a local Croatian Army Center that
provided space and logistical assistance for the exhibition. The forestry
institution ("Hrvatske šume") provided small financial and in-kind
assistance.
"Medun" used the CroNGO Small Grant to increase its
visibility in the community, resulting in raised awareness of the economic
benefits of bee-keeping. The NGO's leader, Mr. Jurčić emphasized that:
"Bee-keepers' associations should be more open for ordinary citizens and
inform them about the advantages of bee-keeping." One immediately result
was that the local youth began to see this as an opportunity to earn
income and create a future life in the Delnice area. It also resulted in
additional assistance from local citizens, government authorities and
businesses. Due to the general lack of initiatives in the Delnice area,
"Medun's" positive and highly visible exhibition had the added benefit of
bringing people together. Through the local radio the NGO invited citizens
to participate actively in the exhibition by bringing their old
bee-keeping equipment, photos and other items related to bee-keeping and
honey production. Citizens began calling the NGO every day to see how they
might participate in the exhibition. As Mr. Grbac, the NGO's secretary
said: "This exhibition moved us closer to the community."
By focusing
their grant-funded activities on establishing favorable conditions for
future work, "Medun" ensured continued support from the local community.
The NGO created a web page to provide people interested in bee-keeping
with valuable information - www.medun.hr. Also, the organization started
to promote its work among local and national businesses by offering the
opportunity to cooperate in areas of common interest. One of the largest
Croatian companies "Pliva" expressed interest in learning more about
"Medun" and in investigating possible areas of cooperation.
The
USAID-funded CroNGO Small Grants Program (SGP) implemented by the Academy
for Education Development (AED) is providing a total of $1.85 million in
grants of up to $25,000 each to community-based NGOs and informal local
citizens' initiatives throughout Croatia. Supported projects are focused
on meeting identified local needs and include significant citizen and
community participation and support from a variety of local sources such
as government and business.
Story provided by AED
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