Civil Society Development Association Bonsai is a non-profit and non-governmental organization that works to promote active civic participation through the development of volunteerism, educational programs, human and civil rights advocacy, creative development and work for the common good. It was founded on August 25, 2008. The Bonsai Association implements two programs:
- Volunteer Center Dubrovnik, the main program of the BONSAI association, started in 2010. In accordance with the revised Quality Standards of Volunteer Centers, as a member of the Croatian Center for Volunteer Development VCD provides local volunteer centre services: promotion and evaluation of volunteering, exchange of information on supply and demand for volunteer work (online database), counselling and mentoring volunteers and volunteering organizers, education on volunteering program management, education of citizens on volunteering.
- The non-formal educational program of the association has been implemented since 2011. As part of it, a multicultural exchange project is organized every November – the Third Ear Foreign Culture Festival.
Volunteer Center Dubrovnik is responsible for the development of volunteering in the local area, which is shown by its internal/organizational and external development. The centre is supported by the City of Dubrovnik and successfully builds a network for the development of volunteering in the local area through a series of successful activities – establishing the VCD Volunteering Development Council, continuous cooperation with educational institutions in the City of Dubrovnik, participating in the local youth program, awards in the field of volunteering in four categories and cooperation on several different projects.
The Bonsai Educational Program is important to the community because it focuses on topics such as volunteering and active participation in the community, as well as human rights and respect for diversity, combining educational and fun activities. The availability of educational content of non-formal education in Dubrovnik is not significant (except for education on project writing), so profiling the association in this direction is an important step towards community development and increasing opportunities for citizens to acquire competencies through non-formal learning.
Association Bonsai is one of the members of the civic-public partnership Youth Center Dubrovnik.