Community Projects

1. Children's Center "Morning Flower" in Vodnjan

This project, which has been implemented since 2005, is focused on the organization of quality activities, integration and the improvement of social skills of the preschool and school children of national minorities, who have no financial resources for the attendance of regular kindergartens and extracurricular activities, and on the encouragement of voluntary work and employment of the unemployed teachers and educators. Project is implemented during the whole school year, (10 months) in the town of Vodnjan, and activities are implemented in the playrooms and creative workshops in five programs:

Preschool playroom – a short program which is oriented at the emotional, psychophysical and social development of 3 - 7 year old children,
Little school – a short program which is oriented at the preparation and integration of children in the educational system of Croatia,
Learning assistance for school children – this creative workshop aims to improve the abilities and motivation of primary school children for successful mastering of educational requirements, and to therefore reduce the risk of failure and the discontinuation of schooling,
IT workshop – it encourages IT literacy and the use of computers in the process of learning school courses,
Skills workshops are: tailoring and sewing workshop where children and adolescents learn how to make and repair apparel, and music and dancing workshop, which cherish the folklore and customs.

Preschool playroom and Little school programs are verified by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, in accordance with the article 9 of the Regulations on special conditions and standards of the implementation of preschool education (Narodne novine No. 133/97), related to the article 23 of the Law on Preschool Education and training (NN br. 10/97); the contents of the activities are in the accordance with the Croatian educational standards of the preschool education and training, National plan of activities for the rights and interest of children 2006-2012, Roma Decade national plan 2005-2015 of the Government of Croatia (Zagreb, March 2005).

2. Creative Workshops

In 2001, Merlin Association has launched a continuing education project, with the following goals:

informal education in the traditional and artistic crafts: sewing, weaving, molding, clay and plaster casts,
the encouragement of self-employment of the unemployed women, adolescents and women of various age groups: informatics/computers,
occupational activities for persons with special needs: weaving, clay and plaster casts, souvenir making…

The participants of sewing, weaving, handicraft and souvenir-making workshops are trained individually, depending on their skills and abilities. Workshop participants are people who wish to learn these skills and to develop their sense of own worth ad self-confidence. When encouraging the creativity and the design of original handicrafts, we also cherish the traditional textile and artistic crafts. The motifs and objects created in our workshops are historically, culturally and aesthetically consistent with the Istrian, Mediterranean and Croatian tradition.

Club members meet each week and exchange their knowledge of handicrafts, they organize meetings and make ornamental objects and souvenirs, they volunteer at the fairs, and therefore spend their time meaningfully. Club is open to all interested citizens of Pula.

3. Manifestation "The Original Splendor of Arena"

Many Croatian holiday resorts are faced with the problem of the illegal sale of the imported and non-authentic kitsch souvenirs made of plastic materials. In the scope of its creative workshops, Merlin Association has been organizing the sales-exhibition manifestation The Original Splendor Of Arena. The goal of this manifestation is to organize legal sale of quality souvenirs in front of the Pula's Amphitheater, and to encourage local population in the participation, design and production of the authentic handicrafts based on the cultural and historical inheritance of Pula. Project is implemented in the cooperation with the institutions and organizations in the sphere of social work and protection of marginalized groups, Bureau for Health and Social Welfare, the Bureau Of Culture, the department for Utility Order and the National Tourist Board in Pula.

Manifestation is open to all interested non-profit organizations which wish to use their creativity to contribute to the quality offer and presentation of cultural-historical inheritance and design the aesthetically valuable memories of Pula.