Promoter: The National University of Physical Education and Sports Bucharest

Partner: Norwegian School of Sports Science (NSSS)

The value of the financing: 4,373,581 euro

Implementation period: May 2019 – September 2023

Website: www.integraresustenabilaprinsport.ro

Social media: Youtube; Facebook

Early school leaving generates educational exclusion among children, which can lead in the long term to a limited professional and social horizon, characterized by material deprivation. Sports activities not only improve the physical and mental health of students, but also stimulate team spirit, discipline and motivation to continue their studies. By integrating these activities into the school curriculum, students feel more connected to the school community, with more opportunities to develop skills essential for long-term success.

The project “Sustainable social and educational integration through sports activities” aimed to include a series of alternative sports activities in the school program of secondary school students, with the aim of motivating and preparing them to continue their educational path upon completion of the 8 classes.

During the almost four and a half years of the project, more than 3,500 students from 58 schools in the country participated in various sports activities, many of them also receiving a hot meal at lunch and being counseled for personal development. Also, more than 850 students at risk of dropping out of school participated in camps organized at the sea and in the mountains, where they learned sports skills and valuable life lessons.

At the same time, more than 1,200 teachers and education specialists were trained to use inclusive teaching and counseling methods, and more than 2,300 parents were taught how to support their children during their educational journey.

Throughout this process of transformation and changing students’ perception of school, teachers and educational experts were with the children every step of the way. They have become not only mentors, but role models of confidence and support for children in need. In Recea commune in Brașov county, teacher Nelu Avram transformed the school into a true place of knowledge and self-confidence. To encourage them to come to school, the teacher founded a troupe of acrobats, made up of students at risk of dropping out. Here, the children rediscovered, with amazement, the fantastic world of the circus, the trapeze, the circle, the aerial scarf or the unicycle becoming familiar to them and propelling them to the stage of the “Romania’s Got Talent” show.

The ambition of the project initiators is for their results to be capitalized at the national level by developing a public policy to combat social exclusion and school dropout through sports activities. In this sense, a strategy and an action plan were developed through the project with the support of the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences (NSSS), including a strategy and an action plan for the prevention and reduction of social exclusion and early school leaving through sports activities, which are based on concrete methodologies of sustainable social and educational integration, based on sports activities, for children at risk of social exclusion, including for those with disabilities.

Promoter: Association of Romanian Communes (ACoR)

Partners: Association of Local and Regional Authorities of Norway (KS); Association of Romanian Municipalities (AMR)

The value of the financing: 3,277,088 euro

Implementation period: October 2019 – May 2023

Website: https://e-tic.ro/

Social Media: E-TIC  Information Center (Facebook)

The local public administration in Romania faces problems aimed at low transparency during the decision-making process, poor management of human resources, excessive bureaucracy, and reduced capacity to provide public services. Based on these weaknesses, the project aims to strengthen the capacity of local government through training, greater decision-making transparency, and the assimilation of key information on legislation in the areas of incompatibility and conflict of interest.

Addressing 3,300 representatives of local administrations (mayors, deputy mayors, local councilors, civil servants, and heads of departments), from 103 municipalities and 1,000 communes, the project provides information, training, and exchange services and good practices in transparent and efficient governance and public administration. Local government representatives will be trained in key areas for their work such as conflict of interest, incompatibility with function, decision-making transparency, and integrity.

An online information center open to all representatives of communes and municipalities will provide updated information on legislation in the field of conflicts of interest, integrity, decision-making transparency, and incompatibilities. The online helpdesk will have a real-time alert system, which will send updated information in the four areas of interest, regarding the legislative changes.

Through its partner, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), the project offers a special opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations between Romania and Norway, by developing exchanges of experience and promoting models of good practice in good governance and decision-making transparency.

Partial result (october 2020)

– 2,509 town halls of communes and municipalities (2400 communes, 109 municipalities) were informed about the project and its activities.

– 176 representatives of local and central public administration authorities from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Norway participated, on February 19, 2020, in the Opening Conference of the project

– 731 representatives of the local public administration from communes and municipalities answered the questionnaire on the information and training needs of representatives of communes and municipalities in the fields of ethics, transparency, conflict of interest and incompatibilities (668 joint respondents, 63 municipal respondents)

– 8 training sessions took place between July and October 2020, attended by 145 representatives of Romanian communes and municipalities (local elected officials, civil servants, executive staff at the level of county branches of ACoR and AMR), as follows: 5 sessions training sessions organized by ACoR attended by 91 representatives of communes and 3 training sessions organized by AMR attended by 54 representatives of municipalities.

Promoter: General Secretariat of the Government (SGG)

Partners: Ministry of Justice (MJ), Authority for Digitization of Romania (ADR), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Amount of financing: EUR 3,020,000 / 14,901,586 LEI

Implementation period: September 2021 – December 2023

Contact: https://sgg.gov.ro/

Responding to the need to increase the integrity and responsibility of the governing act in Romania, the project proposes an integrated strategic approach, leading to strengthening the capacity of the public sector to provide quality and transparent services to citizens and to develop public policies based on the principles of good governance, in line with the recommendations and expertise of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In order to increase the capacity of the Government Centre (defined by the administrative apparatus serving the Prime Minister and the Government) to develop and implement public policies in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) assumed by our country within the United Nations (UN), the project aims to achieve an action plan for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Romania 2030. The plan, a necessary step for a successful implementation of the sustainable development strategy, will be carried out following consultative meetings with institutions involved in achieving the SDGs, including civil society and business environment, and two workshops held by OECD experts.

The open government component includes measures to assess the present state and progress made by Romania in this area so far. Further, based on consultations with institutional actors at central and local level, the project aims to draw up directions that will contribute to the creation of a future open governance strategy, by developing action plans aimed at replicating and disseminating, at all levels of administration, the best practices registered so far.

The activities dedicated to digital governance will take into account the design of a guide for the elaboration and implementation of digital transformation projects in the public administration in Romania and the identification of proposals for a future framework / strategy regarding digital governance.

In terms of increasing the integrity in the public sector, the project will benefit from OECD expertise, whose report will identify the strengths of current transparency and corruption prevention reforms and will highlight areas that will further support the development of a public integrity system. This component includes activities such as institutional dialogue, consultations and workshops aimed at increasing the integrity, reducing the corruption and successfully implementing the national anti-corruption strategy.

In order to increase the quality of services provided by the public sector, the Government of Romania aims to develop the innovation capacity of this sector. In this respect, the project includes carrying out an initial assessment to identify the needs and barriers to innovation in the public sector. The collected information will be the support for the development of the public sector innovation strategy, for the development of the institutions’ capacity to cope with the changes.

In order to achieve the proposed objectives, approx. 540 public administration employees will be trained on the principles of good governance. The beneficiaries will be both representatives of the governmental apparatus (ministries, government agencies) and of the local administration (municipalities, cities), as well as of some actors relevant to the project objectives, from the business environment and from the civil society.

The integrated approach of the measures proposed by the project will considerably contribute to the achievement of one of the strategic objectives of Romania’s foreign policy, namely the accession to the OECD. On long term, the project will ensure the synergy between the policies developed at governmental level and the real needs of the population, especially those of vulnerable groups, by increasing the quality of public policies and their implementation.