About človekINJE
We are a group of professional community street workers involved in the socially responsible campaign created by the Municipality of Ljubljana called: “Človek, čuvaj svoje mesto, samo eno imaš”. The campaign is set to reduce the level of vandalism in the city of Ljubljana and is also aiming to promote community development as an answer to the problem of vandalism. The aim of our work is to empower the stakeholders of the community to answer to their needs and also resolve the problems the local community is facing trough different activities.
“In the three year period we, as community street workers, are aiming to support the stakeholders inside local communities to empower themselves for an independent and competent community operation. The process of offering our support to the community is set to create a dynamic system that will enable needs to be answered and the local problems to be resolved by the community stakeholders.” (Načrt dela človekINJ, 2016).
We believe that vandalism should not be treated as a situational act (this is also the outcome of our research analysis), and that we should find deeper causes for the acts of vandalism. That is why we are actively involved in cooperating with the community stakeholders (the visitors of the playgrounds, educational institutions and other important local organizations and individuals).
“When it comes to acts of vandalism we do not try to reduce the symptoms. Instead, we try to find the real causes for the incidence of vandalism by doing community street work. This kind of work involves the understanding dynamics of social relationships and resources concerning different stakeholders. We act as a bridge between the community and the wider environment to which the community belongs to.” (Načrt dela človekINJ, 2016).
Long-term aims of our work:
- Community and public surfaces are accessible to all and enable the spending of quality free time and promote interactions between users.
- Community stakeholders cooperatively create a community system.
- Young people are active participants in the community.
- The community is connected to the wider environment.
Aims for the three year work period:
- A community space is co-created with the community.
- Community stakeholders are in interaction with each other and constructive dialog is achieved. They try to respond to the needs collectively and are aiming to resolve local problems.
- The community is actively involved in resolving the problem of vandalism.
- Educational processes that take place in the community also involve themes about community.
- Youth are actively and creatively participating in the community processes.
- Youth are co-designing community systems and are considered equal stakeholders in the community.
- Infrastructure of the public space is suitable for spending quality leisure time, socializing and connecting the community stakeholders.
- There are activities taking place on public spaces that enable spending quality leisure time, socializing and connecting community stakeholders.
- Community stakeholders recognize the meaning of community and public surfaces and take care of them. The community, the municipality and other important stakeholders are in constant dialogue.
- The successful community systems are represented to the public by the community stakeholders.
SOURCE: Načrt dela človekINJE, 2016
Working in collaboration with: Supported by: