Description
In rural areas, the public social services are lacking because of poor funding, resulting in a high percentage of people in vulnerable situations. The project aims at fighting against the social exclusion of children and youth in Harghita, Covasna and Mures counties, by developing social institutional infrastructure for social inclusion. The number of beneficiaries is 340, out of which 137 are Roma. Main activities include the development of a multidimensional social mapping of administrative-territorial units, development and coordination of a regional institutional operational network and two institutional operational networks in each county in the field of social inclusion, a sociological survey of the social and economic situation, institutional and community facilitation, development of strategies and plans of action, and the development of a portfolio of integrated projects that will facilitate access to possible sources of funding the local authorities for the marginalized communities.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to support the fight against the phenomenon of social exclusion among children and young people in the communities from Harghita, Covasna and Mures counties by developing the social institutional infrastructure in this area. In order to enhance the impact of the project, the promotor had received additional funds through PLUS and the promotor had implemented supplementary activities with focus on increasing the sustainability of United Networks. The promotor succeeded to develop one functional network at regional level named United Network and 10 local networks at the county level. Until end of the project, all the networks became visible and their activities were highly appreciated. The networks gather experts in the field of social services, representatives of public authorities (Regional Development Agencies, social protection departments, inter-communities associations), SMSs and NGOs. The promotor was the main responsible with the coordination of these regional institutional networks. The promotor conducted a regional level a sociological research based on which identified the deprived communities. The results of this research was highly promoted and with the support of local authorities realized 21 community study which were deep analysis of the social and economic situation of poor communities. In cooperation with APL, the promotor support the elaboration of 3 local development plans and contributed to the applications submitted by the authorities. Beside the activities involving local authorities, the promotor piloted small intervention in three selected APL such as inter-cultural program for children belonging to disadvantages families. All indicators have been reached and exceeded due to the fact that public authorities showed a highly interests in the project activities.
Summary of bilateral results
The cooperation within the project “United Networks – Integrated initiative for the social inclusion of marginalised communities”, PEH100, with Caritas Norway took the form of a seminar in the field of social economy and entrepreneurship. There were a number of 25 participants, representatives and specialists of Local Public Authorities and 5 representatives of from Mures, Harghita and Covasna counties. Caritas Norway identified a specialist in the field: Unni Beate Sekkesæter is a Social Entepreneur, Consultant and PhD Fellow, and a board member of the SE center. She has a background in microfinance and participatory development in Norway and internationally, spanning 20 years. As a consultant, she founded and has been the CEO of Microfinance Norway since 2003. She is a PhD fellow at Roskilde University, Center for Social Entrepreneurship and will soon complete her thesis on Microfinance in the US, UK and Norway. Participants had the chance to acquire practical knowledge, meet good examples and practices in the field that can be used in building their own social economy structure.The partnership made possible for representatives and specialists of Local Public Authorities to meet good examples and practices in the field of social economy, ensuring innovation in the process by involving a specialist from Norway.