Additional funds allocated to the Local Development Programme, for improving the living conditions of vulnerable people
The Financial Mechanism Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, representing the donor states, respectively the Ministry of European Investments and Projects from Romania, through the General Directorate of Non-Reimbursable European Financial Mechanisms and Instruments (National Contact Point), agreed in September 2023 to amend the Program Agreement related to the Local Development Programme.
Following this approach, the budget of the Local Development Programme was supplemented by 5 million euros, reaching the amount of 91,941,176 euros. The supplement was ensured by reallocating the funds made available at the level of the EEA and Norway Grants intended for Romania and aims to maximize the impact of measures that support vulnerable people.
The new funds allocated to the Local Development Programme will be directed, through a supplementary funding facility called “Housing Plus”, to projects aimed at improving the living conditions of vulnerable people, including Roma. The facility will address the projects financed under the calls “Enhancing Roma inclusion and empowerment”, “Local development” and “Poverty reduction” which are still being implemented and which also have a housing component.
The activities that will be supported through the “Housing Plus” facility will be those provided previously within the 3 mentioned project calls, including assistance, support and accompaniment measures in order to regulate the housing situation for vulnerable groups whose situation is unclear or uncertain, respectively living in informal settlements, intervention services for families and individuals experiencing life-course difficulties (e.g. transition from a shelter to independent living, job loss, victims of disasters, etc.), including by providing of emergency aid (non-financial) and investments in the purchase, renovation or construction of housing intended for vulnerable groups.
The “Housing Plus” facility aims to contribute to increasing the impact of the Local Development Programme in terms of improving the living conditions and future prospects of adults and children at risk of poverty and social exclusion.
All information on how financing will be provided under the “Housing Plus” facility is available to interested project promoters on the website of the Local Development Program, at https://dezvoltare-locala.frds.ro/ supplement-financing-housing-plus/
Through the 111 projects financed, in the more than 4 years since its launch, the Local Development Program has supported and continues to support members of vulnerable communities from over 1,000 localities in the country, distributed in all the counties of Romania and in Bucharest. The total amount allocated to the implementation of these projects is 81.4 million euros (to which the funds supplemented by the Housing Plus facility are added/will be added). Run by 77 public authorities and 34 non-governmental organizations, the projects supported by the Program bring, day by day, substantial benefits to many members of disadvantaged groups in Romania, by providing personalized social services to people in need and integrated or specific services for Roma from marginalized communities, through actions to combat school dropout among children and young people at risk of leaving school early and by involving thousands of specialists working with disadvantaged groups in training courses, so as to increase the quality of their work, through promoting human rights and supporting anti-discrimination measures or by facilitating long-term bilateral collaboration with entities from donor states.
Detailed information on all 111 funded projects is available in the Projects section of the Local Development Program web page.