Income generating activities, the Agas commune

The project was meant to contribute to the reconstruction and development of two localities affected by flooding in the summer of 2005 - Agas commune (Bacau county) and Cobatesti village (Harghita county).

PACT Foundation was directly involved in Agas, where three types of activities took place: a partial renovation of the Agas Vocational School and providing the necessary equipment for the carpentry workshop, developing income-generating activities and developing social activities.

the Agas commune (Bacau county)

March 2006 - December 2006

This project aimed at creating a post-emergency approach of the affected communities, contributing to their reconstruction and development on the long term.

-25 beneficiaries of entrepreneurship courses. All inhabitants of Agas who were willing to get involved and be responsible for setting up and developing a business venture were welcome to participate. They did not need to have particular resources, capital or business experience. It was enough to have ideas, to be interested, to be able to cooperate with other inhabitants of Agas so that they could contribute together to a better life in their commune.

- 2 financed business plans

- the community as a whole

•    Entrepreneurship courses on topics such as business development, legislation and the practices related to small and medium companies in Romania, funding opportunities and business management. The courses took place with the support of Junior Achievement Romania.
•    Funding two businesses from within the community with amounts of up to 5000 € each. The funding was reimbursable with 0% interest, with a grace period of 6 months and a reimbursement period of 14 months. The amounts reimbursed were to finance a social project to be later implemented in Agas. Alternatively, the amount would be returned to PACT Foundation.
•    Forming a community group that woud decide upon the community project that was to be financed with the reimbursements.
•    Consultancy for developing and running the business - a POD consultant with business experience offered consultancy on developing a business plan, registering the company and managing the business.

25 community members participated in entrepreneurship courses. 2 of them developed viable business plans and were supported by PACT consultants with business planning and management. 

Pietro Dom SRL, the firm set up by Gheorghe Luca, received the amount of 7580 RON to start a stone building business. Gheorghe Luca, a construction worke,r invested the money in equipment, in order to extend his freelance work, by hiring a team and taking on bigger orders, from the nearby town.

Mario Pact SRL, the firm set up by Antoanela Ciurcanu, received 9500 RON to extend her community shop, with a cereal commerce line. The amount was primarily invested in stocks.

A local initiative group was set up, in order to decide upon the community development project that would be financed with the reimbursed sums. The group decided that the most important need of the community at that time was the reconstruction of the school. The reimbursement plan was sketched as follows: Mario Pact was to reimburse the sum in construction materials, while Pietro Dom was to cover its debt by providing the manual labor in the school reconstruction project.  

Due to unforeseeable event, the community reimbursement plan did not actualize. The amounts were partially reimbursed to PACT Foundation.

Arcanum Foundation, firms and individuals from Romania

Roxana Florescu, Executive Director, Foundation PACT

The project was run by POD (Partenership for People and Development), a partnership of 4 non-profit organisations from Romania - Association for Community Relations, The Princess Margarita of Romania Foundation, Partnership Foundation, Foundation PACT

AgasProjectPresentation