The Croatian Reading Association (CroRA) is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit and voluntary association whose mission is to encourage, research and promote reading and literacy. The initiative for establishment of the Croatian Reading Association came in 1991 and its founding assembly was held in 1995, while the CroRA was charted as a member organisation of the International Reading Association in 1997. The CroRA gathers members who are mostly librarians, teachers, university professors, pedagogues, special education teachers, psychologists, writers, publishers, students etc. They all actively work promote CroRA’s goals:
- to promote and encourage reading and literacy at all levels,
- to raise awareness about the importance and impact of reading and literacy,
- to promote and develop optimal level of literacy and reading skills of every individual,
- to provide an open forum for the exchange of experiences and ideas,
- to facilitate professional development.
CroRA is Croatian national association and a member of the Federation of European Literacy Associations (FELA) and we support the work of the International Literacy Association.
CroRA publishes newsletter “Hamster” (Hrčak) http://hcd.hr/kontak/hrcak/
Croatian Reading Association traditionally organizes conference on the International Literacy Day, September 8th for librarians, teachers, paediatricians, preschool teachers, parents and educators to raise awareness about the importance of literacy. Conference “Early literacy and disabilities in reading” was taken place at House of Europe in Zagreb in 2015. and brought together over 100 participants from different professions: librarians, publishers, writters and other cultural workers. The conference was part of the ELINET Literacy Week 2015 and this expert meeting also marked the 20th anniversary of the Croatian Reading Association. As a conclusion, it was pointed out that a better cooperation of preschools and libraries is necessary, and that the best way is – at the moment, when we’re still lacking projects at the national level – to establish links between the local institutions in order to promote early literacy.
Annual photography contest “Smile… while reading!” for the best photography of a person reading (winning photographs will be publish on the CroRA’s website, in newsletter and promotional material – bookmarks, brochures etc.) has become very popular since it was organized for the first time in 2005 and the winners are awarded with a selection of books. During the summer Croatian Reading Assosiation has the 16th contest for the best photo Smile…while reading!, which aims to highlights the importance of positive and fun side of reading and literacy. Competition is organised for all amateur photographers regardless of age. The winners are anounced on September 8th
CroRA was an Associate Partner in the European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET), which unifies 78 partner organisations from 28 European countries engaged in literacy policy-making and reading promotion in Europe. After the completion of the ELINET project, the members of the Croatian Reading Association founded the ELINET association with a small number of experts. The ELINET Association is a network of European literacy professionals, based on individual membership.
CroRA is a partner in the first national campaign for reading promotion “Read to me!”
In 2005 CroRA hosted the 14th European Conference on Literacy which was held in Zagreb http://hcd.hr/wp-content/uploads/sites/356/2014/11/zagreb_conference_proceedings.pdf
CroRA tightly collaborates with Croatian libraries and Croatian Library Association. CroRA is financed mostly from small membership fees. Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media funded our projects for promoting literacy.
Name of association: Croatian Reading Association
President of association: Karolina Zlatar Radigović
e-mail: hcd@hcd.hr
Web site: http://www.hcd.hr
e-newsletter: http://hcdbilten.wordpress.com/
Address: Street August Šenoa 34/1, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone: +38516444041
