On March 18 and 19, 2025, Red Cross Pirot held a BOCA (Branch Organizational Capacity Assessment)  self-assessment session. The BOCA methodology was developed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies who also financially supported this activity, and the event in Pirot is the fifth self-assessment of this type in the National Society of the Red Cross of Serbia after the start of the cycle last June. At the same time, Red Cross Pirot is the southernmost organization in which a BOCA self-assessment has been done so far, with all the specifics that characterize this part of the country.

The initiative for Red Cross Pirot to go through this process was given by the branch secretary, Sanja Stojanović after the presentation of the BOCA methodology at the meeting of the secretaries of the Red Cross of Serbia held in Baošić last year. Red Cross Pirot is the city branch of the Red Cross of Serbia, in the city which is also the centre of its district, and the development of its capacities is in the interest not only of vulnerable communities in the city and its surroundings, but also in the interest of the most important  public and civil society partners. This was confirmed by the presence of representatives of the Center for Social Welfare, City Administration and non-governmental organizations at the workshop and their active work on capacity assessment and proposals for improvement in priority areas.

During the two days of work, the potential for improving the capacities related to greater participation of the local community in planning the activities of the Red Cross Pirot was recognized, and this includes representatives of vulnerable communities as well as presidents of local communities, representatives of various public services, institutions and civil society. The participants recognized as priorities the work on improving the capacities for mobilizing volunteers and working with young people, work on improving planning, diversification of funding sources, and information management.

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 Red Crescent Movement in 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 Capacity Building Fund of the International Federation, after the neighboring National Societies in Hungary and North Macedonia, started using the BOCA tool and has so far conducted such self-assessments in five of its branches.