Debrecen4U January 30, 2025

Debrecen has vast potential, not only in economic terms but also in terms of community building

Mayor of Debrecen László Papp and Deputy Mayor Diána Széles attended the current event. 

A meeting entitled “Developing Cooperation between Responsible Companies and Civil Communities” was organised in Debrecen by the Civilians for the Youth Association and the Hajdú-Bihar County Civil Community Service Center on the 29th of January 2025, with representatives of companies and civil organisations. The Civilians for the Youth Association operates the Hajdú-Bihar County Civil Community Service Center, which supports local communities and civil organisations, helps develop the civil sphere and local initiatives, and promotes social participation. 

The association aimed to connect civil organisations’ and companies’ leaders and representatives by organising meetings. They hope the event will strengthen the corporate culture and mindset in which businesses already operating in Debrecen or newly established here strengthen and support local communities through social responsibility programmes.  The Hajdú-Bihar County Civil Community Service Center initiated the previous meeting, at which the city government promised to connect civil organisations operating in Debrecen with companies located in the city.

As László Papp said in his welcoming speech, among other things, there is a need for connections between the local government, the city, civil organisations and economic actors, and this system of connections must be strengthened, which must have a decisive force in a town with a healthy society, economy, and spirituality. He emphasised that the operation of local civil communities is essential in Debrecen. In addition to the fact that the city strives to cooperate with civil society on various platforms, the local government also has a civil support fund, which it plans in the city budget every year. In addition, according to the mayor, the city must act as a catalyst in building relationships between representatives of the civil society and actors with a long local history or those newly arriving from an international level in the increasingly important and growing economic life of Debrecen, which is also internationally significant. 

The actors of economic life have the intention to practice corporate social responsibility, so-called CSR activities, which means that they seek contact and want contact with local civil communities to be able to stand by good causes, demonstrate that they wish to participate, and want to play a role in the life of the city in supporting local communities. László Papp considers this very important. He believes that local civil organisations represent excellent causes across the broadest spectrum, as there are many outstanding civil initiatives in Debrecen, from architecture and environmental protection through the social field to culture and sports. 

The local government is also trying to get involved in this process in an initiating role; let’s think of the Debrecen Charity Board, which brings together organisations active in the social field, or the “Move Debrecen!” initiative, which plays a very, very important role in the field of sports in terms of improving movement and lifestyle. These local government initiatives have reached many of the city’s citizens recently, but these activities cannot operate in isolation. That is why the local government, and personally, Deputy Mayor Diána Széles, have an essential role in building a network of connections. 

László Papp is confident that we are facing, or are already in, a phase of the city’s development in terms of community, associations, and civil organisations, in which very intensive cooperation will be experienced in the coming years between local economic actors and civil organisations. The local government will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening this cooperation. Debrecen has enormous opportunities ahead, not only in an economic sense but also in community building.

Deputy Mayor Diána Széles spoke about the enormous power of the civil society in Debrecen. People who are active in this area do their jobs with all their hearts and souls and want to do something for the community. According to the Deputy Mayor, it is also the job of state, local government, and economic actors to help these people. The current meeting is intended to be only the first opportunity for civil society and economic actors to meet, as in addition to those currently present, there are countless civil society organisations operating in the city that also want to build relationships. Today’s event will help the participants to create the framework for this jointly. 

No large labour organisations are behind the civil organisations; they are just people who want to do something for the community. The city government is committed to making their voices heard. The Deputy Mayor thanked the Hajdú-Bihar County Civil Community Service Center for its help in this and for the fact that not only civil organisations from Debrecen are present at this meeting but also those active in other settlements of the county because Debrecen would like to show them off as well. 

Diána Széles also spoke about how not only economic actors can support civil society organisations, but civil society organisations can also help train and raise awareness of company employees through their health education and environmental protection activities. In addition, there are also many opportunities in the civil sphere that economic actors can use, and meetings like this one provide an opportunity to find each other on common topics. 

It is not easy to run a civil society organisation; you must always research funding opportunities and apply for them. Despite this, many strong civil society organisations in Debrecen have been operating for decades.

Head of the Hajdú-Bihar County Civil Community Service Center, Margit Bencsik Serfőzőné, called the current event a milestone in the life of their office. It is another living example of Debrecen being a caring city. The office, run by the Civilians for the Youth Association, has had a big dream for years that associations present in civil life and corporate representatives would come closer to each other. The opportunity for this has now been created, and it is the beginning of a journey of enormous significance. She thanked the city leaders for this opportunity and for helping to invite economic actors.