Launching of SMART Method of Public Policy in Dolj County, Craiova, Romania, August 2011

SMART Method of Public Policy and the Eruption Anticorruption Group have been launched in Craiova, Dolj County. We discussed about waste control and street dogs and the participants from NGOs like the Center for Sustainable Community Development and ProCivica Oltenia, local partners of SMART Method, as well as from youth organizations of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Liberal Party, brainstormed feasible solutions. Moreover, the participants engaged in a free discussion about corruption and its negative effects, showing that young people can approach politics in a more constructive manner. This collaborative exercise between the political environment and the civil society proved to be very novel. As both sides want tohave access to better community services and an enjoy an improved standard of living, they exchanged many solution ideas in a fruitful and constructive dialogue. Unfortunately, these young participants are not holding public offices yet, so they can’t put in practice the ideas. Not just yet…

Presentation of the participants and of SMART Method of Public Policy:


Presentation of the Eruption Anticorruption Group:



Presentation of the solutions proposed by the participants:

Romanian International University Fair

Pepperdine University from Los Angeles, United States, has attended the Romanian International University Fair (RIUF) for the eighth time in a raw. All the schools from Pepperdine were showcased (Seaver College, School of Public Policy, School of Business, School of Law, and School of Education and Psychology), and 27 prospective students were recommended for graduate and undergraduate studies. Besides the scholarships offered by each school individually, the Romanian students may apply for additional funding at Dinu Patriciu Foundation, which offers scholarships of up to USD 15,000 through the Open Horizons Program. Also, students may apply to the Fulbright scholarships.

The event was organized by EDUCATIVA, which is a group of educational companies and NGOs, working together to promote projects, products and services that help young Romanians to identify and make the best use of personal development opportunities.

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Pepperdine University

Pepperdine University from Malibu, CA, United States, will attend the Romanian International University Fair (RIUF) for the eighth time. RIUF is the largest international education event in Romania and in Eastern Europe counting over 15,000 visitors interested in study-abroad programs and almost 200 individual exhibitors over the 7 editions so far. The list of exhibitors is impressive, so the visitors will most likely find the suitable programs of study to fulfill their professional ambitions.

Pepperdine University offers graduate and undergraduate programs in its main Malibu campus and in other places in the U.S. and abroad. As a Master of Public Policy Alum, I am going to offer information and counseling regarding the admission process, life on campus, professors, staff, classes, life in the Los Angeles area, scholarship opportunities, and career development. The prospective students who will show great interest in submitting applications, will benefit from an increased supervision and counseling from the Pepperdine graduates in Romania, when working on their application documents.

RIUF is taking place at Sala Palatului, during March 12-13 (Bucharest). We will be there!

At 10am I started a press conference to launch the Young Entrepreneurs Association from the South-East Region of Romania (YEASER) and also the START YOU project. Well, before that, I had to be at Dunarea Business Center to take care of logistics for this event, together with some friends and close partners who I thank: Oana, Irina, Bogdan, Daniel, Dan and the founding members of YEASER. This was founded as an association of young entrepreneurs (we are young until 40 ) which is independent and non-political. I made a public invitation for young people who have or want to establish businesses, to join us and get involved in our activities that are summed up below:

• Organizing projects to stimulate entrepreneurship in the South-East Region of Romania, especially to train the employees of the member companies. The first project in this regard is called START YOU and will unfold within the next 3 years. It will involve approximately 250 high school graduates and students aged 18-35 in innovative entrepreneurial activities like business mentorship, workshops and simulated companies.
• Organizing thematic debates within the social dialogue, between YEASER members and representatives of the local authorities; centralizing the major problems that young entrepreneurs are facing in the South-East region; identifying solutions and endorsing those solutions to decision makers, supporting new favorable laws for young entrepreneurs; offering consulting services to our members in areas like non-refundable grants and refundable loans, juridical and fiscal consulting; engaging in networking activities to support our businesses together with the Young Entrepreneurs Association from Romania and the Council of SMEs.

Here is the entire press conference and the reactions from the mass-media:

The newspapers Viata Libera, Adevarul de Seara and Actiunea wrote about the event and VoxTV local TV channel made a piece of news:

At 11am we started an Informational Debate within the framework of START YOU project. There were approximately 30 participants from YEASER, Galati City Hall, Galati County Council, Ovidius University from Constanta, the Students’ League from Galati, AIESEC, the Food Industry High School from Galati, the County Agency for Youth, Odobesti High School from Vrancea County, and the Pupils’ Council. We talked about problems that young people are facing when graduating high school and college and transitioning to the active life of entrepreneurship. Among the main ideas, I can mention that public authorities argued that the initiative to undertake a project should come from us. Also, they mentioned the need for a dialogue partner regarding economic problems. The scholars supported the need for young people to speak well, to return to production businesses and to take better care of accounting. YEASER members expressed the desire to establish a business incubator in Galati, in partnership with the local authorities, where young entrepreneurs would share the administrative costs of running their businesses.

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At 3pm we started a World Caffee with approximately 60 high school pupils and college students aged 18-35 within the framework of the same START YOU project. The World Caffee is a method of participation that facilitates multiple debates on various topics. We had six tables with moderators that engaged participants in sharing ideas about themes related to entrepreneurship. At every 15 minutes, the moderators moved between themselves, so that all the participants had the chance to tackle all the issues. At the end, moderators presented the conclusions. I will write more about this activity in a future post.

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At 5pm I was invited to attend the local news on VoxTV channel. There, I talked for approximately 15 minutes about the newly-established YEASER, the opportunities offered by the START YOU project and about local administration problems and ways to address them:

At 7pm I headed off to Braila, where I checked a location for a new self-service terminal from ZebraPay to be placed at Winmarkt. These terminals allow young people to buy train tickets, music, prepay credit on their mobile carriers, and soon tickets to various shows, plane tickets and a lot more. It is a modern business with great potential to develop the community. From Braila I went to Bucharest because at 3am the next day I had to be at the airport to leave for Zagreb, Croatia and attend a conference on Citizen Engagement and Active Citizenship. There I presented SMART Method of Public Policy.

Pepperdine University at RIUF's 7th Edition, Fall 2010

Pepperdine University has attended the 7th edition of the Romanian International University Fair (RIUF), the largest international educational event in Romania and in Eastern Europe. This time, the university presented its main educational programs:

• The Master of Public Policy Program with concentrations in Economics, International Relations, American Politics,  and State and Local Policy
• The Master of Business Administration
• The Master of Law
• The Masters in Education and Psychology
• The undergraduate studies from Seaver College, with over 50 majors and minors

Approximately 7000 young people attended the event during the two days of the fair. My colleague and I interacted with almost 500 students and recommended 52 of them to initiate the admission’s process to the appropriate school from Pepperdine. Mass-media showed great interest in the RIUF experience. TVR, Realitatea TV, ProTV, Antena3, and Cancan made interviews and articles. The one from Cancan is particularly interesting . I congratulate the organizers and specifically thank Alexandru Ghita (President of Educativa), Mike Costache (Pepperdine Alumn), Jeannette Cimanga (volunteer at the Pepperdine stand and prospective student), and Pepperdine University.

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