PACT - Learning, Participation, Trust

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Public Report in support of community projects in Constanta sustained by PACT through Community Fund Pontus Euxin In early June 2011, PACT launched Community Fund Pontus Euxin, totaling 32.600 RON, under its management. The Fund was established by selling tickets at the conference-event, held up by actor Dan Puric in Constanta, on November 20th 2010. The event was organized by a group of citizens in Constanta (constituted as an Initiative Group for Community Fund Pontus Euxin), with support from PACT Foundation, in order to attract funds to sustain local community projects. The main purpose of the fund is to stimulate initiative groups and NGOs in Constanta to develop projects that contribute to producing positive changes in different urban communities in the city of Constanta.

PACT Foundation held Wednesday, December 7th, from 19.30 at Café Godot Theatre, a medieval theme party, which is the second fundraising event from private sources for the Community Fund for action and transformation of villages in southern Romania. The total amount collected at this event, of 8754 lei, from selling tickets, "all pay" auction (everyone pays) for special objects donated and classic auction for works of art offered by artists, will be used to support projects initiated by groups of citizens in rural communities in southern Romania.

Title:		LEARNING, PARTICIPATION, TRUST
		The Community Based Organisations (CBOs) Development Program
Description:	Five of the community based organizations to the development of which PACT Foundation has contributed through its previous programs and projects contributed, in their turn, to the formation of four new community based organizations each, sharing their experience with them. The program aimed to support people with initiative to come together in order to solve existing problems of their community. Training, consultancy and financial support was provided in 20 localities in order to establish sustainable community based organizations, having an impact in their own community’s life. The knowledge and skills acquired during this program allowed the members of these communities to identify the problems of the communities they live in, to initiate and develop projects for solving some of these needs, to attract resources in order to carry out successfully the activities proposed through these projects and, last but not least, to evaluate the results achieved in view of continuing their activity as community based organizations. The program targeted 2 cathegories of participants: 5 mentor community based organizations (PACT Foundation’s partners) and 20 new community based organizations (trained by PACT Foundation and mentored by the 5 partner organizations). We consider a community based organization a non-governmental organization or an informal group of citizens formed by the members of a community who associate to initiate activities that contribute to the development of their community, responding to the needs identified locally by its members.
Location:	Arges, Dolj, Gorj and Teleorman counties.
Duration:	June 2008 – February 2010
Aim:	Through this program, PACT Foundation aimed to support people belonging to rural and urban communities in the Southern part of Romania to associate and create inclusive, participatory and representative civil society structures and to work together for the development of their communities and regions.
Beneficiaries	Direct beneficiaries: 20 rural and urban communities whose members are interested to learn about the formation of active community groups and their role in obtaining a change of social, economical and political nature at the local and regional level Through the development of initiative groups, the program will also contribute to the development of the targeted communities Indirect beneficiaries: The 5 partner community based organizations, which will strengthen their skills to facilitate the formation process of new community groups in neighboring communities The implementing organization - PACT Foundation, which will strengthen its capacity to support community based organizations
Activities:	• Promoting the program and collecting relevant information by the 5 partner organizations from 6 communities each (a total of 30 initial communities). • 3 workshops with representatives of the partner organizations: - two workshops designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of the 5 partners to provide support and community facilitation towards the formation and development of community groups in the region - one workshop for selecting the 20 communities involved in the program • 3 training modules organized for representatives of the 20 new community based organizations: - participatory assessment of community needs and participatory planning of a community project - project management - community fundraising and resource mobilization • 3 consultancy visits made by PACT Foundation in each community involved (one visit following each training module - a total of 60 consultancy visits) to support the new community based organizations to put into practice the knowledge and skills acquired through training: - participatory needs evaluation in each community engaged and planning a project to solve or ameliorate one of the problems identified during the analysis process - implementing a community project over a period of 4 months - organizing community fundraising and resource mobilization events in view of implementing new actions to the benefit of their community The 5 partner organizations, in their turn, conducted visits in the communities and stood by the representatives of the 20 participating communities all along the program, providing them with requested information or support. • To support the implementation of the community projects developed by the new organizations, PACT Foundation allocated funding of maximum 3600 RON for each of the 20 communities involved.
Results:	The main short term achievement of the program consists in the 19 community projects implemented by the 19 CBOs, responding to pressing needs locally identified by community members through participatory needs’ analysis and prioritization. Immediate results of the program: - grace to the community projects implemented by the 19 CBOs, responding to pressing needs locally identified by community members through participatory needs’ analysis and prioritization, here are some immediate results: - approximately 980 children in 5 rural communities and 2 urban neighborhoods now benefit from newly furbished playgrounds; - around 41 children coming from disadvantaged families in 2 other rural communities benefit from long-term after-school support classes; - one Roma community now has clean current water supply coming from a spring through a small pump fountain – benefiting over 150 households (70% of the local inhabitants); - over 10 families (25 people) in a rural community now benefit from a newly rehabilitated and operational stone road; - 200 families (over 950 people) live in the vicinity of a small river that had been polluted and has been cleaned and kept so since; - having set up a community workshop for household objects, over 150 Roma families are now able to do their own repairing, building or sowing; - about 98 youth and children in a rural community now have a newly built and furbished sports field to compete on, bringing along youth from neighboring communities; - over 100 pupils directly, as well as the whole community indirectly, enjoy communion and solidarity over the existence in the locality of a centre for local traditions’ revitalization and perpetuation, housing talent clubs for children in the community, under the supervision of community elders and school teachers; - due to the revitalization of the commune cultural house, 140 young people (12 to 35 years old) and over 50 people aged 35-50 years old enjoy a proper space for socialization and leisure; - one rural community managed to restore the local traditions museum, benefiting directly – through the implied activities – 83 local school pupils (8 to 14 years old) and over 25 community members (18 to 60 years old); - 34 children took computer classes and are now able to use the school computers; - 36 preschool children, 60 school children and 50 parents now benefit from specialized information and counseling within a dedicated community centre; - 2 workshops aiming at developing knowledge and facilitation skills of mentor organizations to create and support the development of community groups in the region; - 3 training modules provided for community groups on the following topics: participatory project planning, project management, organizational communication skills and fundraising; - fundraising events and activities organized in 10 communities; - 6 of the 19 groups registered as local associations (1 in an urban community of Argeş County, one in Teleorman County, 3 in Dolj County; members of another group in Teleorman County became part of an association formed by the commune hall); - Regional meeting gathering representatives of CBOs and of private and institutional donors; - A network of active CBOs active in the Southern part of Romania. Long term achievements of the program: - Strengthened capacity of the 5 partner and mentor organizations to act as resource actors at the local and regional level; - 19 new community groups capable of acting as development actors at the community level, capable of identifying problems and needs, as well as finding solutions and mobilizing resources; all 19 groups have become known within their community for the initiatives undertaken and inspired trust to other community members that change can be achieved through collective action; most of the groups created through the project are determined to continue their work within the community and attract resources available at regional or national level for the development of their community or mobilize resources existent at the local level and thus respond to other community problems; - 19 communities more capable to actively participate in identifying and analyzing their own problems and needs as well as resources to solve them; in all communities, mobilization of local resources has been very successful and local public institutions responded very well to the initiatives of the community groups; the project convinced community representatives of the efficiency and benefits of the community development approach; moreover, representatives of marginalized groups within these communities developed their capacity and become more self reliant in analyzing and finding solutions for their problems; - 65 individuals gained competencies in the following areas: participatory needs assessment, project planning, project management and fundraising; - Partnerships, bonds inside communities and bridges built between communities and outside institutions were developed in the 19 communities; - Knowledge about and capacity to access different institutional and private funding sources have been developed among 36 CBOs active in the Southern area of Romania.
Funders:	Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, Vodafone Foundation, Provident Financial Romania, Unidea Foundation - Unicredit Group Foundation, individual donors
Partners:	Rudezis Association (Giurgita commune, Dolj County) Muscel Association for Education and Culture (AMEC - Campulung Muscel, Arges County) The sons of Francesti village (Francesti village, Pestisani commune, Gorj County) Association for Education and Community Development (AEDC – Tiganesti commune, Teleorman County) Association for Education and Culture for People (AECO – Valea Mare-Podgoria, Arges County)
Contact persons:	Georgiana Gavrila, Program coordinator
Documents:	ProgramInformation.com CommunityProjectsDescriptions.doc