Civil Innovation Hub - from "learned helplessness" to radical participation

In Békés County, civil society organisations are affected by serious demographic and economic difficulties: the population has fallen by 16.5% over the past 15 years and young people keep moving away, which weakens local communities and the activity of civil organisations. Many organisations are characterised by entrenched passivity, a kind of “learned helplessness”: relying on grant funding, they settle for short-term survival. Traditional forms of engagement, such as public forums, increasingly fail to reach target groups, and young people rarely take the initiative or get involved in local affairs. Organisations often work without clear planning and cannot define, measure or demonstrate the results of their activities, which weakens their advocacy and fundraising capacity. In many cases they also lack suitable, easy-to-use tools to respond to digital and environmental challenges.

The project aims to help 5 civil society organisations in Békés County move from passive, grant-dependent operation towards a more active, proactive approach of “radical participation”. The „Közös Pont” Association passes on the model it developed at the KOLLABOR science experience centre, validated by university research, in a consortium with the Fenntartható Térségért Foundation. The activities include two methodological training phases, in which partners learn design thinking, hackathon organisation, Theory of Change (ToC) based impact measurement, and simple digital and green tools (e.g. AI in communication, MikroKert); developing an impact measurement toolkit with baseline, interim and final measurements; 5 social hackathons in the partners’ settlements, where young people and local residents jointly develop solutions to real local problems; a final knowledge-sharing event; communication and visibility; sharing the lessons learnt in a digital good practice handbook; and project management.

Outputs: at least 20 staff members of the 5 organisations with new skills; 10 training and knowledge-sharing sessions (workshops, hackathons, final event) with 170 participants in total; 5 social hackathons involving at least 100 local young people and residents; 5 developed, testable community project ideas; 5 organisational ToC impact maps; 15 new or strengthened partnerships; a final impact measurement report; a digital good practice handbook downloaded at least 100 times; a final event with at least 50 external professional participants.

Outcomes: partner organisations plan and present their programmes in a more conscious, data-driven way, strengthening their advocacy and fundraising capacity; local young people and residents take part in community affairs more actively and confidently and work on their own ideas; cooperation among civil organisations in the county is strengthened; the good practices also serve as a model for civil and municipal actors across the county.