Description
The projects aims at improving the professional competencies of the Romanian authorities with responsibilities in the implementation of the European legislation and strategies in the field of chemicals and hazardous substances. The main outcome: strengthened capacity of the Romanian public authorities in respect to identification, characterization and assessment of toxicological and eco-toxicological effects of chemicals and hazardous substances on environment and human health. The project will support identification of the specific training needs of Romanian authorities; development and implementation of a postgraduate program (of 6 month) and a short-term training program (5 days) on toxicological evaluation, environmental fate and ecotoxicology. The project will target the employees of the Romanian National Environmental Protection Agency, Romanian National Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Protection and Elderly and of their subordinated agencies. The Norwegian Institute for Public Health (NIPH) will contribute with expertise on toxicological evaluation of chemical and hazardous substances.
Summary of project results
The project had as main objective the development and certification by the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research of a long-term postgraduate program of training and continuing professional development in the field of assessment and monitoring of chemicals in the environment. Complementary to the certification of the postgraduate program, one of the notable results of the project was the training and certification upon completion of program of 10 selected experts from the central authorities and relevant government institutions with responsibilities in the field of chemicals (National Agency for Environmental Protection, National Institute of Public Health, Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Protection and Elderly). Also, in the project was developed and implemented a short-term training program (5 days) in which were trained 105 experts from the local authorities involved in the implementation of legislation on chemicals hazardous substances and risk assessment. Developing the curriculum of both post-graduate training programs, long and short term, implied the transfer of know-how from Norwegian partner, facilitating thus the exchange of experience, information, procedures and techniques used at the European level. The implementation of these training programs during the project had contributed toward the strengthening the capacity of public authorities in Romania in terms of identifying, characterizing and assessing the toxicological and ecotoxicological effects of chemicals on the environment and human health. The postgraduate program developed within the ProExpert project will be further organized by the University of Bucharest, enabling the professional development not only of the employees of the government sector but also of the private sector.
Summary of bilateral results
The partnership ensured: the know-how transfer from the NIPH to the Romanian partners; the joint development and implementation of both long term and short term training programs in an integrated manner; the access to professional training of the public authorities, by promoting continuous professional development as a prerequisite for personal and social wellbeing. Generally, it provides benefits to society and environment by the means of the knowledge and awareness rising. The successful implementation of this partnership may act as a best practice model on how the academic sector can meet the training needs of the public and private sectors in the field of hazardous and chemical substances evaluation and monitoring. The knowledge and experience gained in the project will be further disseminated toward an enlarged target group, comprising professionals from the private sector as well as other public authorities. The certified postgraduate programme as well as the special guide produced within ProExpert represent key achievements and tools to reach the sustainability of the project. The project not only strengths the collaboration between the decision makers and civil society but it also leads to a broad relationship between the Romanian and Norwegian institutions. As a donor partner, the Norwegian Institute for Public Health (NIPH) contributed with expertise on toxicological evaluation of chemical and hazardous substances. The University of Bucharest contributed mainly in the field of environmental behaviour and ecotoxicology, and the Polytechnic University in the field of risks assessment associated to industrial processes. The EEA Financial Mechanism has represented an excellent opportunity for Romanian and Norwegian institutions to find common grounds and interests in the professional sphere and encouraged the experience exchange. The ProExpert project represents just a first step in the development of bilateral relations between the Romanian and Norwegian partner involved and its successful implementation will lead to new possibilities to further develop new project proposals and strengthen the bilateral collaboration