Youth Association ALFA ALBONA is a non-profit and non-political association of young people, established to promote the interests and activities of youth.
The purpose of the association is to encourage involvement of young people to fulfil their needs and create a lasting foundation for the development of communication among young people to promote their interests and addressing the specific problems with which this segment of the population faces. The ultimate goal is to help young people integrate into society in all its spheres to achieve their permanent socio-economic independence.
The objectives of the association are: encouraging the development of creativity of young people, guiding young people towards the acquisition of additional skills and knowledge, encouraging young people into organized and meaningful use of leisure time, expanding volunteerism, solidarity and communication among young people, encouraging non-institutional education of young people in all areas, integration of youth in international educational and cultural trends, protecting the health of young people and especially the fight against all forms of addiction, IT education of young people, encouraging young people to an active involvement and participation in all spheres of public and social life, building partnerships with non-governmental youth organizations and local governments to achieve goals for the benefit of youth.
To accomplish these goals the Association is working on the following activities: designing and implementation of projects to improve the quality of life for young people, developing and implementing non-formal education to build a civil society, organizing workshops, counselling, lectures and public discussions regarding the topics engaging young people organizing and coordinating volunteer support network for young people, organizing concerts and festivals for young people, provide information and advisory service to help young people in finding the (first) job, encouraging young people to engage in science, art, culture, education, entrepreneurship and other aspects of public life, publishing magazines, books, leaflets,brochures, organizing cultural and sporting events, establishing cooperation with other NGOs in the formulation and implementation of programs and activities of common interest and performing other appropriate activities to achieve the objectives of the Association.
Youth Association Alfa Albona has president, secretary and seven members. All decision are made by this ten person, and meetings are held every week. As association supports and encourage youngsters and voluntary work we have more than 20 active volunteers. Personal space of association provides office room with all office equipment (computers, laptop, printer, photocopy machine), wireless internet, telephone, presentation table, storage room, meeting room and private toilet.
The team of Youth association Alfa Albona is a team of professional young people who have dedicated their professional path to youth work, non formal way of education, entrepreneurship and on the importance of environment. All our team is involved the most with social entrepreneurship and on the environemnt because we believe in all good things and benefits for the community which goes with it. Till far we have been promoting actively this topics in our country and work with it on different European projects, as well as leading and coordinating trainings and seminars to achieve good results and to make changes. We think one must take care of his/her education and to constantly take chances and opportunities to learn in order to improve him/herself and his/her work. Therefore, we are trying to give our best, to educate ourseves constantly and to make positive changes in the field of social entrepreneurship, as well as to make new projects and partnership to make an impact on the wider area considering this topic.
Our team have adequate experiences to implement a project in this volumen since we have already organized many successful local, regional and national projects, YIA projects, several workshops, seminars, conferences and events, and 4 EVS projects including long term and short term projects. For the last 4 years we have been participating in various national and international youth exchange and volunteer programs which helps us to gain experience from the viewpoint of a participant and to develop ourselves regarding to these needs. We have Youth Information center for Istria region, Youth club and Local volunteer service. Besides that, we are active in Labin city Youth council, Youth council of Istria region and Council of youth of the government of Croatia. We promote active participation, social entrepreneurship, volunteerism, youth policy and youth rights. Last year we got award for the best social entrepreneurial idea in Croatia, this year the award for the best social inovation of the year in Croatia and we are constantly active in encouraging youth in different spheres, promoting volunteerism, non formal education and it's value but also in helping youth to get their first job.
Key staff/persons involved in this project are all young people with great experience in youth work and especially in the field of non formal education and volunteerism who have done a lot of local, regional, national and European youth projects. Person involved in this application are the ones who are running local volunteer centre in Labin, the ones who are promoting volunteer work and the ones who educate themselves all the time in this field in order to improve their work and to provide youngsters with great learning experience. We choose to involve this people, because of two reasons: they are all very professional and successful in their work and which is very important they are all young. We think that in a most of cases a young person can identify with someone and to have a motivation for new ideas and for the future, if it is present by other young people and their own cases of good practice. Then one realizes that a lot of things and ideas are possible and that one can be successful as well.
Youth workers that will be included in this training are young people very active in the field of youth work, including in the topic of the environement. The ones who are leading one of the most succesful Croatian NGO and the ones who beside their own work, always have time to volunteer and to work for the benefit of their community, especially on the problems of the environment and trying to make things better and people more aware and respect of the environment.