In the beginning of 2005 in the Municipality of Kresna has been organised a public hearing with the participation of many representatives from the citizens: institutions, non-governmental organisations, administrations, citizens, young people, and employers. The main objective of the meeting has been to discuss the most urgent and necessary steps which need to be undertaken in order to create better recreation and leisure time possibilities for the young people in the municipality. Special attention has been placed on these possibilities, much more limited in terms of access to entertainment and leisure time possibilities, for the Roma children and the young people from poor families from the village of Slivnitsa.
Based on various ideas and recommendations suggested during the public discussion, a special idea was born, namely: develop a project which would create better possibilities for these target young people to be involved more actively in entertainment activities, leisure time initiatives and various forms of informal education in the field of computer technologies and communication usage.
The realisation of the project started with its public presentation among the local community through a series of meetings and media information. The next step has been the improvement of a hall within the community centre and its transformation into a better, light and appropriate space for the children to learn and use computer there. The Municipality of Kresna provided the necessary materials and together with some parents and volunteers from the village the room has been reconstructed and became the village computer club. Since the walls of the room were entirely covered with glass, the strong light interfered with the clear vision from the computers, so the children initiated a small activity to produce sun-protection blinders for the windows and ensure better vision in the computer club. The efforts of the children were supported by the local private company Luba Stoikova , which provided the materials and equipments for the window colour blinders.
The secretary of the community centre initiated a meeting with students and pupils from the Petar Beron elementary school in Slivnitsa. During this meeting many children demonstrated their wish to be included in the long-term computer training course. The other result from this meeting was that there are many children out of the initial project target group, who wish to be involved in the training lessons. The project team decided that all children will be involved in the project activities, which would strengthen the communication and improve the social inclusion among the various social groups of children, learning and playing together.
Two new computers were bought with funds from the project and delivered to the computer club. In addition to that has been provided Internet access, which created al necessary pre-conditions for effective and interesting computer learning activities for the children. Two groups of children were formed to undergo a training course: the first one with children from 7 9 years old and the second 12 15 years old. Once a week there were after-school classes fro each group, led by a computer specialist. Within the computer classes the children drew their own electronic cards for New Year and Christmas, Easter and gave them to elderly and disabled people in the community as a gift.
At the end of the 4 months training courses the children attended a final computer test to verify the level of progress of each participant. All children passed the test successfully. The most active participants were awarded with certificates and to all the rest documents stating the successful completion of the computer course within the project.
The children were also involved in the process of gathering information, authentic and old pictures for the creating of an Internet site of the village of Slivnitsa. The information and materials were processed and with the help of the computer specialist launched in the new web site of the village: www.seloslivnitsa.hit.bg, which will be further developed and enriched.
Realising the positive effect from the local access to the Interet, easy access to information and positive learning possibilities for the children, the private companies TEMBO and LUBA Stoikova provided financial resources for the purchase of a printer for the computer club.
The overall educational level and possibilities for the children to learn about the new computer and communication technologies have been increased through the implementation of all project activities. All various social groups of children from the village have been involved together in the learning and entertainment process. Through a long-term practical and hands-on training the children acquainted skills and knowledge in the area of the modern technologies and computer use.
The computer club in the community centre is a sustainable initiative, fully equipped and opened for the children for every-day use free of charge and for new training activities.
The community centre has increased the package of services it could provide to the local people and companies, including access to Internet and several administrative services.
The project united the efforts of the community centre, the local authority, the local businesses and the citizens of the village towards successful achievement of a common objective.
Contacts:
Nasko Milev
Gotse Delchev Community Centre,
Village of Slivnitsa,
Municipality of Kresna
Tel.: (07433) 2212
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