A PLACE CALLED ROJC

Dušica Radojčić, B.Sc. Polit.Science

Head of the CoordinationPula City Associations'

Center"Rojc"

Maribor, 29.1.2010.

Ex barracks Karlo Rojc Location: Pula centre

The biggest building in the city: surface 16.739 m2 surrounding area 29.180 m2 (without the internal yard)

Military school under the Habsburg Empire, Italy and Yugoslavia

In 1976. transformed into army barracks. Abandoned by the Yugoslavian Army in 1991.

PASTDevastation

The building settled by war refugees at the beginning of 90-ies Refugees left in 1996: building completely abandoned, nobody takes the control, the devastations startsThe first squaters in

1997 – NGOs

Bad reputation period Frigtening huge,devastated, dirty, in hygienic and sanitary horrible situation, a place where addicts and homeless gatheter.

PASTThe beginning of restoration

Electriciy and water available Repairs, painting, furnishing of numerous premises Organizations use their ownmeans for repairs

Commom actions for hugehallways, extemal areas

Impressive creative energy

More squatters enter...

PASTNo interest of the formal owner of the building – Croatian Ministry of Defence

Un-legal control take-over of the City of Pula

1999. first un-legal contracts with organizations already settled

First public

announcements for

new "entrances"

Formalization of

the existent situation

PASTFirst public investments

Sanitary conditions improved

Day and night doorkeeper service

The place becomes safer

More and more people start to visit Rojc

In 2002 The Ministry of Defence

finally gives up

and tranfer the ownership

to the City of Pula.

Pre-condition:

The City of Pula sholud write

off all their debts (electricity,

water...)

PASTProblems created by the past Premises assigned with no criteria No evaluation of premises utilization ever conducted No assessment of the organizations' work and

contributions Additional local organizations pressing to settle in Rojc

No proper responsefrom the City of Pulacaused by the: lack of vision about the

desired future of Rojc lack of capacities

PASTMeritsWith the initiative of associations which un-legally squated

the barrakcs at the beginning and those who followed, one "lost" space in the city center has avoided the destiny of other similar public spaces which, due to the commercial policies of public authorities, are being transformed into private spaces.

It's non profitability is

it's biggest value.

The most important pre-

condition for the development:

BUILDING MAINTENANCE

PAID FROM THE CITY BUDGET

PRESENTUn-satisfaction with the management and decision-

making among NGOs – the 2008 initiative aimed to change the situation and establish a more effective management: a joint management proposed resulted with:

Rojc Council – founded in March 2008, 38 delegated representatives, voluntary membership (today it counts 70 members out od 104), meets once in 3 months, proposes topics for the Coordination

Rojc Coordination - founded in April 2008, 3 Rojc + 3 City representatives, meets once monthly, mandate to decide about management and expenditures control

Many difficulties with the Coordination work: obstructions by the City representatives, no willingness to share the decision-making power, Coordination seen only as legitimizing device for decisions already taken by the City of Pula

PRESENT

February 2009 - revolt of Rojc associations Press conference: announcement of the reasons - bad financial management, bad communication between the City and users, users excluded from the decision-making The meeting with the mayor:problems with the work of the Coordination presented,the idea of a partnership between users and the City proposed, willingness to take over part of the responsibility for the management expressed

PRESENTInduced by the unsuccessfulness of the management so

far, the mayor accepts the Rojc associations' proposal to start with the education and designing of the joint public-civil society model of management.

Green Istria has taken

over the initiative to

find the funds

necessary for the

implementation

of the proposal.

Potential for a change:

past tentatives for self-organization and participation in the management, first steps with the Council and Coordination

impressive number of activities happening with no-coordination or common goals, except occasional collaboration

expressed desire to produce a common strategy

Weaknesses:

lack of knowledge and

experince in dealing with

such processes, sphere

of commom weekly

articulated

PRESENT

PRESENT102 associations have a formal contract for their premises. It is a 10 years contract with no finantial recognition of

investment made by organization for the restoration. The only finantial burden for associations – the electricity bill.

The un-existing policy or criteria for allocation of premises - a lot of uncertainities and some

animosities

Every attempt to make the users pay the rent - a failure

PRESENTBudgetAnnual amount for Rojc paid from the City budget:

205.000,00 € (1.500.000,00 kn) for maintenance

+ 35.600,00 € ( 260.000,00 kn) for new investments

Maintenance includes:

cleaning, day and night

doorkeeping service, water,

insurance, repairs, book-

keeping

Associations' contribution

for the electricity bill:

estimated annually

33.000,00 € (240.000,00 kn)

FUTUREGreen Istria obtaines funds for the implementation of the

project

Social Center "Rojc" : Education and Development of Co-operative Public-Civil Society Model of Management“

from the National Foundation for Civil Society Development.

Project start : January the 1st, Project end: December 31th 2010.

Project activities:

analyse od possibilities and interests

education of all stakeholders

production of criteria

determination of the most suitable model of partnership management

institutionalization of the determined model

co-operation with the Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth

FUTURE

2 major axes of the project:

a) education of CSOs living in Rojc about self-organization and co-operation models as prerogative for the partnership with the public sector

b) facilitated process of the construction of co-operative model

of public-civil society management of the Rojc Center

FUTURE

Expected project results

Strenghtening of democratic procedures, prevention of the administration discretion

Improvement of inter-sectoral collaboration (public-civil)

Strenghtening of civil society capacities

Better visibility and stronger influence of civil society

Implementation of modern management practises

Transparent management of public funds (control of the public), rationalization of expenditures

Expected project achievements in the field of public participation

Ladder of public participation in decision-making processes:

1. low participation level

a) information of the public (one way communication)

b) cosultative processes (two ways communication)

2. high participation level

a) collaboration (shared control over decisions and resources)

b) transfer of control over decisions and resources to the public

With our project we intend to take up the participation level from the today 1st nad 2nd level to the 3rd level.

Political Values of the Project - General

Improved information and public participation in the decision-making process

Strengthening of the participative democracy, public control over the work of local authorities

Development of social dialogue, good governance, trust building

Decentralization, subsidiarity

Active role of the public in the creation of public policies

Image improvement of both sectors

FUTUREPolitical Values of the Project – for CSOs

Linking and co-operation among CSOs, formalization of the cooperation – Rojc Alliance

Active participation in the creation of sustainable management solution

Responsibility and risks take-over (in the domain of the public sector so far)

Transformation of the "CSOs warehouse" in a social center

Fostering development of the "civil diplomacy"

Knowledge transfer - active collaboration with the Alliance for the Centre for Indipendent Culture and Youth from Zagreb.

Catallyst for similar processes in the broader community

» Thank you!