Connected Communities – Strengthening Participation and Networking in Zala

The project of the Association for the Villages of Zala County addresses the specific socio-economic challenges of rural small-village settlement structures in Zala County. Rural civil society organizations operate under financial instability, possess closed operational structures, and suffer from severe capacity depletion. Community building progresses slowly due to widespread lack of trust and low adoption of participatory civic tools. Persons living with disabilities in small villages face severe isolation, inadequate accessible community services, and a total lack of advocacy representation. Furthermore, social tensions persist between long-term local residents and newly arriving young families. The project addresses these issues by strengthening local civil capacities, fostering inclusive participation, and creating cross-sectoral partnerships.

Under the project, the association delivers comprehensive capacity building for 5 rural CSOs in Zala County (including the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired). Following community need assessments, they organize 5 thematic training sessions and study visits, followed by participatory community planning to execute 5 local development actions (funded with HUF 500k each), supported by 150 mentoring sessions. Conducting a scientific impact assessment in cooperation with ELTE University. Dissemination activities include hosting 3 micro-conferences and 1 final conference, producing baseline and final network maps, releasing 5 podcast episodes, and publishing at least 50 Facebook posts to ensure broad public awareness and active local participation.

The expected impact is the creation of a more open, inclusive, and collaborative rural civil network in Zala County, enhancing the involvement of persons with disabilities in local decision-making and strengthening community cohesion. Key quantified outputs include providing training and knowledge transfer for 215 individuals across 9 events, establishing 8 new or strengthened partnerships, implementing 5 local community actions, enhancing skills for 5 staff members, and delivering 1 final impact evaluation report. The primary target group consists of 50–80 active members across the 5 participating CSOs (including individuals with disabilities); the indirect target group encompasses 2,000–5,000 local rural residents, village caretakers, local municipalities, and regional civil stakeholders.