SUMMARY:

In recent decades, in both countries, we have been tackling different problems such as unemployment, poverty, long-term care, homelessness, physical and mental inllness, disability, problems with education, addiction, violence, debts and many others difficulties citizens are facing. National social services and institutions are becoming increasingly difficult for the state to finance and keep running, due to demographic changes and fluctuations in economic trends, 

Regio Help is an initiative of the Voitsberg and Pomurje regions, with which we want to show that more efficient resource management (financial, human, infrastructure) is possible already at the regional or administrative unit level. Experience shows that people in distress are turning to the wrong institutions. The project offers a solution in the form of a self-learning knowledge and data management system developed at the Technical University of Graz in cooperation with Nekom, which will help people in need quickly find the right institution to solve their problems.

This system will be publicly available at information points, in various public institutions in the region, via telephone or online. A common technical database will allow people to seek help in the neighboring country as well. A network for the cooperation of all relevant social and health care institutions in the region, will also be established. The system and the network will be coordinated by the Centre for Health and Development Murska Sobota in Slovenia and Haus des Lebens in Austria. The Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Maribor will support the system by optimizing the process and evaluating the effects of the project.

Contacts: 
CHD: Peter Beznec, peter.beznec@czr.si, ++386 41 380 517; 
University of Maribor: Dr. Simona Šarotar Žižek, simona.sarotar-zizek@um.si, ++386 31 313 126; 
Haus des Lebens: Elisabeth Maderbacher, infostelle@brauchehilfe.at, ++43 664 460 16 92; 
Nekom: Martin Kahr, kahr.m@nekom.com, ++43 3142 20 501 201