Learning, Participation, Trust - 5th round

 LEARNING, PARTICIPATION, TRUST
- The community-based organizations development program for southern rural Romania -

– 5TH ROUND –   

This program aims to facilitate the set-up of 18 community-based organisations (CBOs). CBOs are civil society structures meant to contribute to the development of the communities they represent and to improve living conditions for the community members.
The methodology that we use in this program is tailored on the values that lead to the set-up and capacity building of community-based organisations: participation, leadership, setting up organizational structures, participatory needs assessment of the community, resource mobilization, critical thinking, networking with other organizations and resource persons, project management.
In order to build all these elements, we decided to combine facilitation with training and consultancy sessions provided by PACT Foundation’s team of experts (employees and collaborators). Therefore, as a first step in the project, we shall recruit and select facilitators from the areas we are targeting. We deem that local facilitators should have a better understanding of local problems and should gain the trust of community members easier. Facilitators shall play a key role in the program activities such as: the selection of communities and forming of community groups, facilitating the community needs assessment and the development of community projects, supporting fundraising activities.
This project also marks the establishment of the community development fund that PACT Foundation shall sustain through various methods of fundraising. The fund shall make it possible for us to respond coherently and quickly to demands for financial support, training and/or consultancy, from the part of citizen groups or organizations located in rural or small-urban areas in Southern Romania.

Prahova, Dambovita, Ialomita, Calarasi, Giurgiu and Ilfov counties

Direct beneficiaries:
- 18 community groups interested to get involved in local affairs and to mobilize the community in addressing specific issues in view of improving their living conditions.
- At least 3-5 other community groups that we estimate we shall finance through the community development fund, in the second year of the program (the launching of the fund and of the service packages that PACT Foundation shall offer through the fund shall be made at a later date, according to the program timetable agreed with the funder)

Indirect beneficiaries:
- 18 communities shall benefit from the development of community groups (the communities shall be selected from the area of Calarasi, Dambovita, Giurgiu, Ialomita, Ilfov and Prahova counties);
- 6 local facilitators shall be trained and gain relevant experience in facilitating community groups; therefore, in the long run, they shall become valuable local human resources in PACT’s team of external collaborators;
- PACT’s team of trainers will refine its expertise in the area of community development;
- Through the creation of the community fund, PACT Foundation shall build its capacity in facilitating the formation of community-based organizations and developing local communities.

- participatory community needs assessment and participatory project planning;
- project management;
- community fundraising and resource mobilization;

- a participatory needs assessment process shall take place in each community, after which the  community groups shall plan a project to address  one of the issues identified in the assessment;
- each community group shall implement a 4-month community project;
- all community groups shall organize fundraising events in order to mobilize community resources for the further development of actions to the benefit of the community;

Between December 13th, 2010 and February 6th, 2011, the 18 community groups shall undergo participatory needs and resources assessment processes in their home communities, by involving community members. The processes aim at a better understanding of community disadvantaged groups needs, as well as establishing priority needs that community projects further developed in our program might address. During this period, PACT community facilitators and consultants shall make community visits in order to help communities undertake these processes.

Between December 9th and 11th, 2010, the first training module of the program took place in Vila Bran from Bran resort , Brasov county. The training theme was „First steps in a succesfull community project”. 2 representatives of each of the 18 community groups selected by community facilitators from Prahova, Ialomita, Dambovita, Calarasi, Giurgiu and Ilfov, participated in the event. You can see the list of selected communities here. Community facilitators also took part in the training sessions, as resource persons for the trainers. Training participants had the opportunity to get acquainted to specific concepts and methods used in participatory needs analysis (philosophy, principles, techniques) and project development (target, objectives, activities, budget, stakeholders, results etc.).

The training placed project planning in a larger context and included information and concepts related to: communities, community development, civil society, community-based organizations and their role, types of stakeholders in community development, methods and instruments for needs identification, analysis and prioritization etc. 

Between October and November 2010, the 6 community facilitators selected will evaluate 18 communities with potential to participate in the program, will make on-site visits in each community in order to collect the necessary information in view of drawing the targeted communities’ profiles and will identify potential community leaders and other community members interested to get involved in developing initiative groups in the identified communities.

During 2-4 September 2010 we organized a workshop on participatory approaches and community development, with extended participation of PACT Foundation’s staff, trainers and consultants and the 8 candidates for the community facilitators’ team. The activity came in response to both the consistent needs expressed by the potential facilitators during the interviews and the peer exchange interests of our staff and training & consultancy team. As the final stage of selection, the 8 candidates invited to the seminar as potential facilitators had the occasion to present their own detailed plans for entering and evaluating the communities, which they had prepared in advance – as a last test in view of selection.

On this occasion, we invited an experienced community worker from the Community Workers Cooperative in Ireland – an organization similar to PACT Foundation. The Irish peer’s role was to support us throughout a thorough analysis of the community organizations development program, from the first round to the present one, to share own experience accumulated through field work in Ireland and to strengthen the facilitation skills of the program team. 

By the end of August 2010 we concluded the first 2 stages of the community facilitators’ selection process: submission and analysis of CVs and letters of intent, followed by face to face interviews. As a result, 8 people were selected for the 3rd and last phase of recruitment, consisting in their participation, as potential facilitators, in the workshop to take place during September 2nd – 4th, 2010.

During July and August, PACT Foundation recruits community facilitators from Prahova, Dambovita, Ialomita, Calarasi, Giurgiu and Ilfov counties.

Contact Persons:

Madalina Ene - Program Manager

Georgiana Gavrila - Project Coordinator

CBO5_Communities.xls