These initiatives are led and conducted by local activists, who invest their own knowledge and energy and encourage others to join them and be active. Even though local communities have enough resources to become better, they first have to recognize those resources and dedicate them to the benefit of the whole community. ORCA believes that citizens have great power in their hands and that dedicated individuals and groups can make big changes in their communities and can protect nature and animals. These changes can occur only if they act systemically, deliberately and persistently. We aim to encourage respect for activism by shining light on the good examples - authentic groups that work to develop sense of community, trust and foster collaboration to make their environment better.

Some of the initiatives that ORCA supported include:

“On the edge of survival”: Did you know that the largest and the rarest of eagles in Serbia – golden eagle flies above small town Arilje in southwestern Serbia? Organisation “Rzav”, is dedicated to making a feeding ground for vultures and other species of birds and mammals above river Veliki Rzav and include whole community in caring for these species.

“Together for children's smile”: In order to improve health and well-being of children and urban wildlife, organisation “Sowers of joy” are working to transform plain open ground into the first garden playground for children in small village of Varvarin. The citizens will join together to plant trees, shrubs and flowers, attractive to wildlife.

“Keepers of the Seed”: More than 30 agricultural producers  from the town of Mionica, led by the organisation “Frame of Life” work to protect indigenous varieties of fruits and vegetables, bring them back to our tables and enable us to buy and eat healthy food.

 “Protect owls of Srem”: Owls are gems of Sremska Mitrovica, a city in northern Serbia. However, there are some tree pruning techniques, like topping, that are endangering owls. Orgatisation Rural centre “Owl” is dedicated to protecting owls in Sremska Mitrovica by working with local authorities to change their harmful pruning methods and making the urban owl habitat safer.

“For cleaner Sokobanja”: In order to open a dialogue about better waste management in one of the tourist oases in Serbia – Sokobanja, members of Sokobanja’s ecological society visited 90 households, recorded all illegal dumps in Sokobanja with help from more than 100 citizens, and cleaned an illegal dump placed near the river in an joint action with more than 60 citizens.