On November 15 and 16, 2024, the Red Cross Kanjiža organized a BOCA (Branch Organizational Capacity Assessment) self-assessment exercise. BOCA methodology was developed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Federation also financially supported this activity, the first of this type in the National Society of the Red Cross of Serbia after three pilot self-assessments carried out in June as part of the training of facilitators.

In the Red Cross Kanjiža, this process was carried out at the request of the leadership of the branch. Monika Česko, the secretary, and Eržebet Hodik, the president, gathered a group of fifteen participants in which, in addition to the organization's employees, prominent members of the governing structure and volunteers, representatives of the most important local partners also took part. Kristina Telek, the director of the Centre for Social welfare of the Municipality of Kanjiža and Žombor Ujvari, the President of the Assembly of the Municipality of Kanjiža, confirmed the reputation of the Red Cross branch in this environment with their presence and active participation, but also guaranteed that the decisions made at the end of the two-day work will be supported by partners for whom the auxiliary role of the Red Cross is irreplaceable.

Through dynamic work, with the support of three trained facilitators of the Red Cross of Serbia, by the end of the second day, the group reached a consensus on several priorities for the development of the capacity of this branch and created action plans that will dictate the work within the organization for the next twelve months to strengthen the safety of volunteers, better position within the community and ensure greater readiness to adapt to changing circumstances. The work was also attended by Andor Fontanji, secretary of the Mali Iđoš Red Cross branch, expressing interest in a similar self-assessment that would be carried out in that community as well.

BOCA is a self-assessment toolkit developed by the International Federation to provide National Societies’ branches with standardized support in the process of identifying and assessing their strengths, limitations and challenges related to their organizational capacity. Intended and made available to all organizations of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement across the world, this tool has so far been used for self-assessments by more than five hundred organizations and as a result gave concrete plans for the improvement of various elements of the organization and its work. The Red Cross of Serbia, with the support of the International Federation's Capacity Building Fund, after the neighboring National Societies in Hungary and North Macedonia, started using the BOCA tool and has so far conducted such self-assessments in four Red Cross organizations in municipalities and cities.