Description
The South of Romania is one of the poorest regions in the country, with a low social capital and a touristic potential. Since 2006, when PACT started to work there, we have encountered stories about people that want to leave behind active communities. Today, the side of Romania built by the people with initiative is not as visible as the statistics which show that three of the poorest regions of Romania are part of PACT’s area of intervention.The project aims toward supporting 4 community-based organizations developed through our former programs, in order to increase their capacity to bring new resources in their communities, but also to promote themselves at local, regional and national level. 20 members from these 4 community-based organizations will participate in workshops on organizational communication, fundraising, storytelling and Most Significant Change method. Stories from these 4 communities and 6 other will be posted on the online platform Humans of the South, through which we want to promote people with initiative from the South that despite statistics, produce change in their communities and are the proof that Romania is changing.
Summary of project results
Southern Romania is one of the poorest regions of Romania, with low social capital and tourist potential. Since 2006, PACT has been involved in developing communities in the region, while discovering life stories of people who are willing to build active and powerful communities. Through this project, the promoter helped 4 community organisations to boost their capacity of bringing new resources in the community and get promoted at local, regional, and national level. 22 members of the “Plai Argesean” Association (Corbeni, Arges), Alma Community Development Association (Malu Mare, Dolj), IDCON Association (Arcani, Gorj) and the Association of the Eselnita - Danube’s Defile community (Eselnita, Drobeta) attended workshops on communication, fundraising and storytelling. Also, the beneficiaries have been practicing the Most Significant Change (MSC) method, which involves monitoring and assessment of their organisations' impact. The method allows the project team to get involved both in analysing the collected data and also in deciding the most significant changes to be recorded and promoted. The beneficiaries received consultancy from the promoter, which proved to be useful while implementing their new abilities and ideas developed during the workshops. Communication plans were drafted and PACT has also provided support for the beneficiaries in carrying 6 new activities. Overall, 388 members of the community organisations and volunteers (both Romanian and Roma) were involved in the activities: 40 at the Public Cafe in Corbeni, 138 in Eselnita at the Volunteers Gala, 39 in the volunteer recruitment campaign, 21 participants at the press conference organised at Malu Mare, 150 members of the Arcani community informed on the outcomes of the advocacy campaign run by the IDCON Association. The online platform
www.oameniisudului.com, which was developed during the project, serves as a tool for promoting stories about people who are trying to make things better in their communities. The stories written by the partners from Decat o Revista are presented together with photo and video documentaries. 12 of these stories are about Roma people.
Summary of bilateral results