In 2008, the National Societies of Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia have utilized the participatory community development (PCD) approach in their work with the most vulnerable groups of society.
A total of 12 vulnerable communities were targeted implementing 12 micro-projects supported by the Norwegian and the British Red Cross through the Federation Regional Representation in Budapest. Another 16 small community based projects were supported by other stakeholders involved in the PCD process and facilited by the Red Cross. Most of the targeted communities were vulnerable Roma but also other marginalized groups such as children in isolated communities, migrants and those at risk of human trafficking. For most of the communities where a rapid appraisal was carried out, low living standards, bad infrastructure, environmental issues, social problems and discrimination were issues needing to be addressed.

The involvement of vulnerable people in all stages of the PCD process led to a better understanding of these communities’ needs by the National Societies and enabled the implementation of the micro-projects based on the priorities identified during large group workshops. Due to the needs uncovered most of the micro-projects contained an educational component, the decrease of social exclusion and improving social and health conditions of the most vulnerable. A number of stakeholders were part of the process contributing to establishing partnerships with the communities and the Red Cross as well as ensuring sustainability of the projects. This was a particularly important aspect concerning the participation of local authorities throughout the PCD process.

• In Croatia four micro-projects were tailored to decrease the exclusion of Roma children from school through additional educational and social activities. The projects resulted in many of the Roma children going back to school from which they had previously left.
  
• Three micro-projects in Macedonia were designed to contribute to better health conditions among Roma communities by constructing a new drainage system and organizing health education and family planning workshops. In addition an education club for youth was opened which will serve as a community centre and its activities will be supported by local authorities.
  
• In Serbia two micro-projects were implemented aiming to facilitate the social integration of Roma children and adults through preparatory workshops for school enrolment and various workshops for parents. Another community project implemented in Serbia focused on increasing awareness on different health issues and promoting healthy lifestyles through health education trainings.
  
• Micro-project activities in Montenegro contributed to better living conditions among Roma community by improving housing facilities and undertaking clean-up campaigns in order to decrease the possibility of any disease in the community.
  
• The PCD activities in Romania targeted young people at risk of human trafficking while in Bulgaria the activities aimed at decreasing isolation and discrimination among migrants.

The participants are the PCD coordinators from the National Societies of Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and the IFRC Regional PCD Coordinator.

The main purpose of the meeting is to further promote the regional participation and partnership between the National Societies, implementing the PCD programme.

The coordinators will also discuss the current progress of PCD in the CE countries and their plans for 2008-2009. Events and topics such as the recent EUCLID network meeting and the Community based First Aid (CBFA) framework for National Society programming will be also part of the agenda.

An evaluation of the pilot PCD project in Dushanbe, Tajikistan is under preparation. The evaluation will take place in the first part of December. The evaluation is initiated by Johanna Saari, a delegate of the Finnish RC in Dushanbe and the Red Crescent Society in Tajikistan and will be logistically supported by the IFRC Regional Representation in Budapest and the Regional PCD Coordinator.

Ruska Ruseva and Nela Vamporova from Bulgaria, members of the PCD Regional Network will participate in the Evaluation team. An IFRC Organizational Development expert, with a very good experience with RC National Societies in Asia and Caucasus will be the third member of the Evaluation Team.

It is expected that the evaluation will put together the lessons learned from the pilot PCD projects and will shape the best way forward to expand the programme.

The newly appointed Regional PCD Coordinator is Shpend Emini, presently a Programme Manager at the IFRC Delegation in Pristina, Kosovo. He has been a member of the Regional PCD Network for several years.

Shpend Emini will take over the position effectively after 1 of November 2007. The handover with the former Regional PCD Coordinator will be done on 15-20.10.2007.

The materials from the PCD workshop, carried on in Budapest in July 2007 are available. They include the presentations, the results of the working groups and individual work as well as the Plans of Action made during the last day and the individual pledges (except for the participants contact list, which is in the protected area - "Login").
Download the rest here.

A workshop on Participatory Community Development was carried on in the European Youth Center in Budapest from 11 to 13 of July 2007.

The participants were the PCD Coordinators from the Red Cross National Societies in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia as well as IFRC Budapest and Kosovo. People from Austrian Red Cross working in Sudan and Finnish Red Cross working in Tajikistan participated in the workshop.

The facilitator of the workshop was Branimir Knezevic, Regional Organizational Development Coordinator and Acting Head of Office in Budapest.
The workshop was started and closed with an address made by the Acting Head of Regional Delegation in Budapest, Sune Follin.

Due to other urgent tasks in RD Budapest, the report on the workshop will be finalised in the middle of August and then distributed. All photos from the workshop can be seen here.

The PCD workshop in Budapest is under preparation.

The participants are the PCD Coordinators from the NSs in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Austrian and Finnish Red Cross (with an option of a participant from Tajikistan).

The agenda will include work on the lessons learnt, as well as on the future of the PCD as a programme but also as a methodology, used by the Red Cross/Red Crescent in its work with the communities.

A part of the workshop will be dedicated to the coming changes in the structure of the IFRC as well as practical arrangemens of the Regional PCD programme.

Main facilitator: Branimir Knezevic, Regional OD Coordinator and Acting Head of Office

The Red Cross Guidelines on working with Roma and Other Marginalzied Groups are almost finalised. Final minor changes in design are taking place. The document is expected to be finalised and available in PDF format in 2 weeks. The final text only version is available in "Our Tools" section - here.