With five new Active Citizens Fund calls for project proposals open in Romania, let's look at a couple of projects addressing these issues.
Advocating women rights during the Corona pandemic
The impact of Coronavirus was significantly worse on women, with gender-based violence dubbed the 'shadow pandemic' by the United Nations. In Romania, the Center for Curricular Development and Gender Studies: Filia, looked at the impact of the pandemic had on women. The NGO studied areas like job and income losses, increased domestic violence cases and poor access to specific medical services.
Filia put the findings into a petition with a set of actions and gender-sensitive recommendations to mitigate the impact. The petition was signed by 670 among whom - 18 representatives from the Government, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, the Superior Council of Magistracy, the European Parliament, Bucharest City Hall and others.
‘We truly believe that the financial opportunity within the Active Citizens Fund Romania program is extremely important among the civil society as the financial and know-how resources are limited, and our work vital for the Romanian democracy’, said Adela Alexandru, a PhD student in Gender Studies and a volunteer in this project.
Giving power back to people with intellectual disabilities
Women issues represent one side of the civil society part addressed by projects funded by the Active Citizens Fund. But it is not the only one.
Social inclusion of marginalised groups speaks to the maturity of the society. Another Romanian project - 'Leaders through sport' – aims to empower people with intellectual disabilities to use their voice.
The Special Olympics Romania Foundation is developing an advocacy programme that teaches self-representation. The programme will focus on providing participants with tools to request and obtain access to sports venues for training and public funds for organizing sports competitions.
“In my opinion, the Active Citizens Fund Romania programme is a good opportunity for NGOs to support the social inclusion and rights protection of vulnerable groups of people”, shared the project manager Gabi Comănescu.
More funding for more inclusive civil society
On 17 February, Active Citizens Fund in Romania launched five new calls, opening opportunities for Romanian civil society organisations. The call topics range from civic education to activism, with special emphasis on the environment and climate change, gender equality and gender-based violence or Roma empowerment and inclusion.
NGOs can apply for non-reimbursable grants of €50-150 thousand, with more than €9 million available to implement successful projects.
A series of information sessions will take place online during March-April for those organisations interested in applying for funding; details will be available soon on the programme’s communication channels.
Check which call is the best match for your idea with the wizard or visit the ACF Romania website to find all calls.
Would you like to know more about how EEA and Norway Grants support civil society in our Beneficiary States? Visit our Topics and Programmes section.