Description
The project “CAB for the Community: from Citizen Assistance to Community Engagement” of NACAB Romania is needed in order to strategically develop the Citizen Advice Bureau (CAB) to expand their services, from individual assistance given to citizens, to community work. The project’s goal is increasing NACAB’s network capacity to implement community organizing and community development projects in the communities the member organizations work in. The results include training for all the CABs and exercising the new skills through implementing 6 community intervention projects and, thus, becoming active in influencing local policy making so that local communities and citizens’ needs and priorities are met. The main beneficiary of the project will be the CABs personnel. The partnership between NACAB Romania and LCIF Latvia is based on training delivery from Latvia and consultancy on organizational development, while the national partnership with PACT and CeRe will result in direct assistance to CABs implementing community organizing or community development processes.
Summary of project results
The project "CAB for the Community: from Citizen Assistance to Community Engagement" contributed to the strategic development of Citizens’ Advice Bureaus (CAB) members and the expansion of services, from individual to community assistance. The project aimed to increase National Agency of Citizens’ Advice Bureaus (NACAB) network’s capacity to implement projects on community development and community organising in local communities. The results targeted trainings for all CAB members and 6 community interventions, in order to practice new working approaches, so that NACAB network can become active and powerful in influencing local public policy and offering direct support to communities. The project started with an assessment report of NACAB network, which was the foundation for all the other activities implemented within the project. The results of the report also justified the need to expand NACAB services in the future. Following this report there were determined 3 training themes for the training activities developed within the project. A number of 121 NACAB representatives attended those three types of trainings: services extension, sustainability, and providing basic services. After the training sessions, the NACAB members started to apply their new knowledge and skills and elaborated intervention plans targeted to solve the problems in their communities. 6 initiative groups were organized, in Campia Turzii, Sibiu, Timisoara, Adjud, Nehoiu and Odorheiu Secuiesc and there were implemented 6 action plans, in each of those towns, using community development and community organising methods. In addition, there were organised six fundraising events, one training session on sustainability (23 participants), 40 meetings in local communities (attended by 580 citizens) and 16 events with Local Public Authorities representatives. The NACAB network strengthened also through the study visit organized in Latvia, with LCIF partner support. Therefore, 3 members of NACAB network acquired information about local democracy, citizen’s mobilization and involvement, social and political participation in Latvia. During the whole implementation period, the project team encouraged and promoted the exchange of best practices within NACAB members, increased network visibility and dissemination of information. There were organized 9 events aiming to facilitate the knowledge transfer with a number of 224 participants, members of 146 NGOs.
Summary of bilateral results