"PROACTIVE NGO – Promotion, Action and Training for NGOs"

 

 

Project duration: in the period 1^st of December 2007 – 30^th of September 2008, the Association for the Promotion of Women in Romania is conducting the project “PROACTIVE NGO – Promotion, Action and Training for NGOs”, financed by the European Union with 46,132.75 Euro, through the Phare Programme 2005 – Consolidation of Democracy in Romania, Component 2: Democracy, human rights, the rule of law, independence of justice and fight against corruption.

 

The project “PROACTIVE NGO – Promotion, Action and Training for NGOs” aims to strengthen the advocacy capacity of the non-governmental organisations from Romania that are active in the field of human rights through training, consultancy and informing programmes.

 

The project's objectives are aiming at: 15 non-governmental organizations from Romania that are active within the field of human rights will develop advocacy and monitoring abilities through a 6 months training programme (1), 30 NGOs from Romania that are active in the field of human rights shall benefit from consultancy in matters of monitoring and advocacy, starting with the fourth month of the project (2), 1000 NGOs from Romania will be informed about the importance of the monitoring and advocacy processes in the watchdog activity through an information campaign developed at national level, during the last five months of the project(3).  

 

The activities of the project are addressed towards the non-governmental organizations active in the field of human rights and they will directly involve over 1000 organizations (15 NGOs that will be trained, 30 NGOs that shall benefit from consultancy and 1000 NGOs that will receive relevant information). The final beneficiaries will be the target groups of the non-governmental organizations aimed by the project, as well as the public institutions towards which the monitoring and advocacy programmes are addressed. In order to achieve the established objectives, the project team will be created, the training programme for the NGOs will be elaborated, a training manual will be edited, and 15 non-governmental organizations will be selected according to their applications. The training programme will be developed in three stages: (training, supervision and follow-up). Best practice models in the field will be issued, the project website will be created, as an open resource for interested organizations and persons, consultancy services will be provided, a database of the beneficiary NGOs will be set up, informative materials will be created and a wide informative campaign will be organized, entitled “You have the right to know!”.  

 

The main results will be: 2 training modules for NGOs related to monitoring and advocacy activities, a monitoring and advocacy training manual will be printed in 200 copies, a database with the active Romanian non-governmental organizations, a database with information and best practices models in the field of monitoring and advocacy, a website containing the resources and the results of the project which will also function as a communication and consultancy tool for the NGOs, a video clip encouraging the civil society to act as a watchdog, 500 posters with the messages of the “You have the right to know” campaign, 2000 flyers about monitoring and advocacy, 50 appearances in the written and audio-visual press, 15 NGOs trained in the monitoring field, 30 NGOs that will benefit from consultancy, and more than 1000 NGOs in Romania that will be informed and encouraged to act as a watchdog.

 

 

Calendar:

Calendar of activities:	Semester 1						Semester 2
Activity	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Preparing activity 1.1 Creating the project team in the first month.
Developing activity 1.1 Creating the project team in the first month.
Preparing activity 1.2 Elaborating the capacity programme for NGOs related to monitoring and advocacy.
Developing activity 1.2 Elaborating the capacity programme for NGOs related to monitoring and advocacy.
Preparing activity 1.3 Selection of 15 Romanian NGOs active in the field of human rights, that will participate to the training programme for development of their monitoring and advocacy capacities.
Developing activity 1.3 Selection of 15 NGOs from Romania active in the field of human rights, that will participate to the training programme for development of their monitoring and advocacy capacities.
Preparing activity 1.4 Implementation of the programme for developing the monitoring and advocacy capacities of 15 NGOs from Romania, active in the domain of human rights.
Developing activity 1.4 Implementation of the programme for developing the monitoring and advocacy capacities of 15 NGOs from Romania, active in the domain of human rights.
Preparing activity 2.1 Collection of information, examples and best practices in the field, that will serve as resources for the organizations interested in monitoring and advocacy activities.
Developing activity 2.1 Collection of information, examples and best practices in the field, that will serve as resources for the organizations interested in monitoring and advocacy activities.
Preparing activity 2.2 Creation of an open source website in the field of monitoring and advocacy.
Developing activity 2.2 Creation of an open source website in the field of monitoring and advocacy.
Preparing activity 2.3 Offering consultancy to NGOs in the field
Developing activity 2.3 Offering consultancy to NGOs in the field
Preparing activity 3.1 Setup of a database with the NGOs targeted by the information campaign.
Developing activity 3.1 Setup of a database with the NGOs targeted by the information campaign.
Preparing activity 3.2 Creation of promotional materials
Developing activity 3.2 Creation of promotional materials
Preparing activity 3.3 Development of the information campaign for NGOS entitled “You have the right to know”
Developing activity 3.3 Development of the information campaign for NGOS entitled “You have the right to know”

Important issues:

       

According to the database containing NGOs from the 8 development regions of Romania, which can be found on the website of the eRomanian Gatevay Association (eRG), there are 2461 registered organizations that offer social services, and 3876 non-government organizations that act in the fields of human rights and education. This also corresponds to the “Multi-annual programing document for 2003-2007 of the Civil Society sector” published by the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society that shows that from a total number of 20000- 30000 non-government organizations existing in Romania (number that has an annual growth rate of 10%), only a part of them, estimated at 2500 to 7000 organisations, are active.

 

Also, according to the same study, the non-profit sector continues to be predominantly urban: “from the total number of NGOs, the ones located in the rural environment represent a proportion of 10% to 14%. The geographical distribution is unequal too, the south-east counties of Romania having a very low rate of associative live. Also, according to database of the CENTRAS organisation, among all the active NGOs, only 125 are registered as organisations that develop advocacy activities, many of them acting in the field of persons with disabilities, protection of environment or in programmes focused on youths.

 

Although their number is not a large one, as stated in the Multi-annual programming document 2003-2007 of the Civil Society sector, “the NGOs from Romania have achieved notable successes in making the public opinion sensible, by organizing press campaigns and public debates on subjects like: environment protection, domestic violence, reform of the electoral system, healthcare”. Despite the fact that ”the provision of social services by NGOs continue to expand, both in terms of the territory, and as the area of the services provided, and although organizations have begun to draw the attention of the public opinion to social issues, the results of the NGOs in changing the legislation and the public policies are not yet satisfactory.” This is due, as the above-mentioned report emphasizes, to the delivered services, which do not always meet the existing needs, as well as to the limited capacity of Romanian NGOs to expand the area of services offered and to increase the number of their beneficiaries.

 

The project “PROACTIVE NGO – Promotion, Action and Training for NGOs” aims to extend the expertise acquired by the Association for the Promotion of Women in Romania in the fields of monitoring and advocacy, and transmit it onto other NGOs that are combatting for the promotion of human rights. In this way, the project enourages the watchdog role of non‑government organizations in increasing the transparency of public institutions and in influencing the decision-making process through the promotion of democratic values and the consolidation of the state of law.

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