The United Nations Development Programme in Romania in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Electoral Authority is organizing a Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) training addressed to Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan electoral practitioners in Bucharest during the period 13-16 May 2013. The participants are high level representatives from the three countries’ Ministries of Foreign Affairs, national Electoral Management Bodies and Civil Society Organisations.

The project is fully financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) Programme of the Romanian Government and reflects Romania’s international development commitments and the bilateral relations developed with the countries in the region, in the spirit of sharing Romania’s experience in its transition to democracy.

The BRIDGE training will be followed by a working visit at the Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority on the topic of the Electronic Electoral Register, as Romania is among the first European countries to develop and implement such a system.

Romania is a growing development actor in the Middle East and North Africa region, with regional development assistance projects dating back to 2011. Around six months after the debut of the Arab Spring, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNDP Romania/GPECS, the UN Electoral Assistance Division and the Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority joined forces to be among the first actors to go beyond the level of political declaration of support and organized the first comprehensive electoral processes/transition to democracy training dedicated to Egypt and Tunisia.

More information about BRIDGE

The BRIDGE trainings are the world-wide best known professional development program in the field of democratic governance and electoral assistance. These trainings were created by five leading organizations in the area - United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD), International IDEA, the International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES), and the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). The curriculum was developed by the world’s most renowned specialists in the field and aims both at developing the skills and increasing the knowledge of practitioners.

This training will focus on Out of Country Voting (OCV), a topic of mutual concern for both the donor and the recipient countries, where Romania is excellently equipped to share its experience and knowledge on the matter.

Central and local authorities, NGOs and representatives from social economy entities attended the Social Economy – Profit for the People seminar in Bucharest on April, 17. The event was organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Romania within the Social Economy Model for Romania project, cofinanced through the European Social Fund – POSDRU.

The promotion of the project and its activities, promoting the concept of social economy, capacity building for the social inclusion specialists and establishing a dialogue with central and local authorities but also representatives from the social economy entities in Bucharest were the objectives of the fifth seminar of the project. The other events took place in Bacău, Târgoviște, Curtea de Argeș and Galați last year and in March.

The seminar was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Protection and the Ministry of Economy, local public institutions in charge with social assistance, social inclusion and the reintegration on the labor market of disadvantaged groups, but also by people from social economy entities (NGOs, Unions)

Victor Nicolaescu, social economy expert, developed the abilities of social inclusion specialists, which in their turn will promote social economy to disadvantaged groups: guaranteed low income beneficiaries, Roma people, people with disabilities, young people over 18 that leave the child protection system. The expert presented the main concepts, definitions and principles which are the base of social economy, its European and national history, good practices models but also financing opportunities for the social economy sector.

Mr. Bogdan Braicu, Managing Director at the Organizația Umanitară Concordia, Ms. Luiza Cristea, project coordinator at Fundația PACT and Ms. Cristina Simionescu from Asociația ViitorPlus shared their organization’s experience regarding social economy and how using it helps the reintegration of disadvantaged groups on the labor market. The participants were interested in the subject, restating the necessity of such events for their day to day work.

The next and final seminar will be organized in Bucharest on May 21.

The National Steering Committee of the project “Improving the Energy Efficiency in Low-Income Households and Communities in Romania” met Wednesday, 10 April 2013, at MDRAP premises, in Bucharest.

UNDP Project Team, MDRAP management staff of the project and representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, of the Association of Energy Auditors for Buildings and six local municipalities attended the meeting.

The objective of the meeting was the presentation of the project progress and annual work plan for 2013. The main upcoming activities concern:

- organizing eight training sessions for building professionals on energy efficiency measures and the use of sustainable materials;

- report on affordable and sustainable locally-available materials;

- developing the info-offices (Information Points) in Dolj and Hunedoara counties, for distributing information on solutions for improving energy efficiency, funding sources and locally-available materials;

- implementing the national media campaign.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP Romania), in partnership with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MRDAP), the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMSC), Association of Energy Auditors for Buildings (AAEC) and six local municipalities, all acting as Project National Steering Committee, is implementing the GEF-financed project “Improving the Energy Efficiency in Low-Income Households and Communities in Romania”.