1997 DESA gains experience and maturity

During the past four years DESA has been very active in either organizing or participating in events which promoted various socially important themes. DESA's engagement had started with the public conference "Psychological Help for the Helpers" organized in Croatia in '93 by Evangelische Frauenarbeit. Soon afterwards DESA had organized its own Symposium in Dubrovnik: "Women War Victims, their Suffering and their Expectations" with the sponsorship of its two main supporters: Evangelische Frauenarbeit and Solidarité Femmes.

DESA's activists had already accumulated a lot of practical knowledge in dealing with people in need through their direct work with the women refugees. Thanks to their participation in numerous international gatherings, which analyzed and discussed the questions of running NGOs, they have widened their horizons and have learnt new ways of running the organization.

Introducing the concept of SELF HELP, DESA had gradually become a point of reference for many jobless women within the local community. As the reconstruction progressed and the life conditions remained difficult for most, it became clear that no government funds could ever replace the lost wealth nor help restore the ruined family budgets. DESA board members now realized that the best thing that could be done at this stage was to promote and teach self-help.

Having focused on its new objectives, DESA was now able to articulate its mission statement and to present it to all of its past and present supporters. In the meantime, after years of painstaking and dedicated work, in 1997 DESA has received a major recognition for all of its achievements: the Mayor's office has granted DESA the use of an attractive space which would become new operating base for DESA's team. The new location will enable DESA to further enlarge its activities and to plan its future development.
In order to finance the adaptation of its new premises and to support its new activities DESA turned into an active fundraiser.

FUND RAISING ACTIVITIES FOR THE NEW OPERATING BASE AND A MORE AMBITIOUS PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES

Over the years, DESA has received a steady flow of financial support from the German society Evangelische Frauenarbeit of Frankfurt. First the funds were offered in support of all of DESA's activities. In 1997 Evangelische Frauenarbeit offered financial support specifically for the construction of the new offices, which were inaugurated during a special ceremony, in the presence of its national and international donors at Easter '98.

DESA's fund-raising activities also brought financial help from the World Council of Churches, who supports the overall educational programme, and from Womens World Day of Prayer and the Presbiterian Church of Scotland, who supported the silk project.

DESA's premises, located inside a listed historical building just outside the Dubrovnik city walls, are open six days a week throughout the year. The entrance hall is used as a permanent exhibition space of the handicrafts produced by DESA's members, when it isn't being used as a conference venue. DESA Center today has separate classrooms for its language, computer and practical craft courses.