Road safety in Romania

Road safety is an issue affecting everybody: drivers, pedestrians, byciclists, and public transportation users alike. However, many of us are not fully aware of its importance, although it has claimed over 70,000 lives in Romania within the last 20 years. Dori Slosberg Romania Foundation, together with PoliticiPublice.ro, have decided to raise awareness about the need of road safety and to challenge citizens endorse inovative solutions. So, what can be done to reduce the rate of car- and car-related accidents? What are the best solutions to decrease the number of casualties and injuries determined by traffic?

During the first nine months of 2011, there were 6,715 serious car accidents in Romania, which resulted in 6,359 serious injuries and 1,452 casualties. The reasons why these accidents happened are numerous, including lack of education, poor regulations and poor infrastructure. We want our community members and civil society to adopt a more preventive attitude towards personal safety on our roads. As a result of our campaign, we will select the most valuable, sustainable and feasible solutions to improve road safety in Romania. We will then write a policy paper that will be sent to the relevant public authorities in charge, to endorse the best ideas for community implementation.

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SMART Method of Public Policy is a method of civic engagement and policy making. It was launched a year ago and has generated 4 success stories so far. Each story is different in approach, duration, people engaged and offline activities used. However, they show how creative one can be in addressing community problems.

The first community problem that became success story is called Urban mobility and was raised in the city of Galati. In order to boost the debate over it, we organized a meeting with the students from Lower Danube University. That is where the idea of many roundabouts was first proposed, to replace traffic lights. Although it seems like an easy solution, there was only one functional roundabout at that time. Among all the interesting ideas published by citizens, we chose to recommend the City Hall to transform some intersections in roundabouts.

The second success story happened fast, because the problem was urgent. Underneath the asphalt on a street from Galati, a cave was forming. This was seriously jeopardising the drivers because the asphalt could cave in anytime. The problem identification form allows citizens to also publish a photo of the problem. So, the problem was published, together with photos and a map with the exact location of the cave. Being urgent, we also sent an email to Galati City Hall and in three days they covered it.

The third success story was created with the Romanian Ministry of Education. The problem was named Nonformal education in schools. The problem issuer explained that schools in Romania are not equiped with spaces where students feel free, where they can express their needs and interests freely and constructively. As an offline approach, we discussed options to address this problem in a ENGAGEMENT Training with partner organizations of SMART Method of Public Policy, in Dolj County. We decided to ask the Ministry of Education to send out recommendations to schools, encouraging them to engage in partnership activities with local NGOs and companies to initiate nonformal education projects. The Ministry replied with stipulations of the new law of national education. This contains articles that are actually encouraging descentarlization, allowing schools to choose their educational partners and the types of activities they want to engage in, including nonformal education.

The fourth success story is about a small neighborhood park in Galati. The residents want to improve it, but they don’t have resources. So, we recommended the City of Galati to rehabilitate it. Although the City Hall did not send workers there, they told us what is the legal way to get help. The residents need to make an apartment owners’ association and make a contract with the City. This way they can get support, tools and almost everything they need.

As these success stories tell, we can generate change in the community. It takes initiative and perseverence. Sometimes you need to be a little pushy with the authorities to generate a reaction, but in a constructive way. SMART Method of Public Policy saves you time and money to get involved. You only need to raise problems and post solution ideas. You will also realise that it is very difficult to find good solutions to community problems. That is why we need creativity and SMART Method provides room for constructive debate in the online and offline environments, bringing together people from all walks of life. We take the best solution ideas and put them on the desks of elected and appointed officials. But, more than that, we provide the methodology to allow the problem issuers have the last say and decide whether they agree or not with the action or response of the public institutions.

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:

Alcohol Effects

Alcohol consumption is a growing public health and social concern in the EU. Europe has the highest proportion of drinkers in the world, the highest levels of alcohol consumption per capita and a high level of alcohol-related harm. Latest statistics show that 7.4% of all ill-health and early death in the EU is caused by harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption.

While alcohol is a significant economic commodity and also represents a cultural value in many regions, it is clear that there are many serious health issues attached. Harmful and hazardous consumption has a broader social impact such as violence, family problems, crime, social exclusion and low productivity at work. In order to confront these issues, it is vital to implement effective alcohol-related policies at all levels.

Five years have passed since the European Commission adopted a milestone for reducing alcohol-related harm with a key Communication setting out a strategy to support Member States and establishing an Alcohol and Health Forum. The dissemination of good practices has helped to demonstrate the positive steps that have been made but it is clear, however, that there is still much to be done.

If you have any good solutions to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol misuse in the EU, I invite you to post them on the European Citizen Engagement Platform www.public-policies.eu. This problem will be tackled at the international symposium “No Half Measures: Revitalising Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategies in Europe,” Brussels, October 18, 2011, organized by Public Policy Exchange.

www.PoliticiPublice.ro

SMART Method of Public Policy will be officially launched in Dolj County, Monday, August 8, 2011, at Club PLAY from Craiova. Participants from the two local partner organizations, the Center for Sustainable Community Development and Pro Civica Oltenia, together with young people from youth organizations of political parties and representatives of the Eruption Anticorruption Group, will discuss local community problems and brainstorm solutions to them. The schedule is:

• 11:00 – 11:15 – Opening ceremony.
• 11:15 – 11:45 – Presentation of SMART Method of Public Policy.
• 11:45 – 12:15 – Presentation of the Eruption Anticorruption Group and participating organizations.
• 12:15 – 12:30 – Presentation of the local community problems published on the citizen engagement platform www.politicipublice.ro.
• 12:30 – 13:15 – World Caffe, where participants will be brainstorming solutions to the local community problems that will be then published on www.politicipublice.ro.
• 13:15 – 13:30 – Plenary presentation of the solutions.

The entrance is free, given the seats that are available.

Training ENGAGEMENT in Bucharest

During July 11-18, the Center for Sustainable Community Development, partner of SMART Method of Public Policy, is implementing an exchange program called “Living Entrepreneurship.” The beneficiary, the Students’ Organization from the Politechnic University of Bucharest, has received a grant from the European Commission’s Youth in Action Programme and is hosting approximately 35 young people from Holland, Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey, Greece, Slovenia, and Romania. Living Entrepreneurship is an exchange project aimed at promoting social and business entrepreneurship as a way to support active youth participation in community development. Entrepreneurship is also a way to fight the effects of the economic crisis like unemployment or poverty. During the project, organizers are using the “Living Library” and “SMART Method of Public Policy” as active participation methods to develop the entrepreneurial skills of the participants.

The training ENGAGEMENT took place during July 14 – 15 and lasted for approximately 3 hours overall. During this time, participants were given a problem of European public concern, brainstormed raw solution ideas, made plenary presentations of the solutions, identified four options to address the problem, worked on developing the options, and made presentations of the results of their working groups.

The problem was first published on www.Public-Policies.eu, the civic engagement platform serving SMART Method of Public Policy at a European level: “Entrepreneurial behavior still lacks effective stimulation and support in schools all-over Europe. Young people are very creative and if given stimulating resources in schools, they have many chances to innovate and become successful business or social entrepreneurs. What should European institutions do in order to develop the innovative potential of young people while they are still in school?”

Step 1: Participants first worked on country working groups to find raw solutions:

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Step2: Then, they made plenary presentations of their solutions:

Step 3: Organizers and participants identified four options to address the problem: maintaining the status quo, developing exchange programs for arts and crafts, developing the school curricula, and allowing companies in schools. They developed these options in mixed working groups:

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Step 4: At the end, moderators made plenary presentations of their options, laying the basis for the policy paper that will be sent to European decision  makers for community action:

Training ENGAGEMENT with international participants in Craiova, Romania, addressing the problem of gipsies in Europe

In April 2011, I had the great pleasure to deliver the training ENGAGEMENT for the second time, with participants from nine countries: Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Italy, Serbia, Lithuania, Turkey, Macedonia, and Armenia. We tackled a problem of European public concern raised on the citizen engagement platform www.public-policies.eu, entitled “ Stateless Rroma, no documents – no rights.” Following the methodology of the training, during one full day of work, participants identified solutions to address the problem, analyzed policy options and made a policy paper that was sent to Mr. Laszlo Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and Thomas Hammarberg, Human Rights Commissioner at the Council of Europe. By the time of the training, the problem had received one solution from a Romanian citizen. So, participants first brainstormed solution ideas inspired from the situation in their countries and good practice examples:

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Then, moderators from every group posted their solutions on the problem’s page and made plenary presentations of their proposals:

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As a result of the solutions identified by the participants, we discovered four options to address the problem: maintaining the status quo, stimulating economic activities through employment and business ownership, developing educational programs and insertion/reinsertion in the formal educational system, and governmental representation and the rule of law. In the next step, we used the World Caffee to brainstorm what happens in every scenario. All participants had the chance to offer input for the four options:

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Moderators then made plenary presentations of every option:

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The next day, the team of SMART Method of Public Policy analyzed every option and made the draft policy paper that was presented to the participants. The final recommendation reads as follows: To effectively address the problems of Rroma in Europe, a holistic and integrated policy could be launched both at a European level and at country levels. The policy should be supported by good funding and the allocation of grants should be made with the involvement of consulting companies that are proficient in dealing with the bureaucracy. This will make sure that Rroma organizations focus on the activities of the projects and their effective impact in the community and not on doing paper work. We call upon the Council of Europe and the European Commission to join their resources and efforts to urge member states start implementing Rroma policies more efficiently and effectively, but at the same time to offer adequate funding. By 2020, no Rroma should face hunger and discrimination and should be offered the chance to have a decent place to live, access to education and access to entrepreneurial opportunities within the legal system. The holistic policy should contain at least three areas of concentration: stimulating economic activities through employment and business ownership, developing educational programs and insertion/reinsertion in the formal educational system and governmental representation and the rule of law. Member States could be encouraged to adjust the specific measures taking into consideration the situation of Rroma from their countries, but they should all have the same goals for 2020: no Rroma in Europe without guaranteed basic access to education, social services and economic opportunities.

The policy paper can be downloaded from the problem’s page. We are also going to publish there the response we receive from the European Commission and/or the Council of Europe. I congratulate the Center for Sustainable Community Development Giubega – Dolj County and its partners, for making this training possible! The training ENGAGEMENT serves SMART Method of Public Policy, offering a mix of online and offline participation tools using the World Caffee, to get more interactivity and leverage to the participation process.

SMART Method of Public Policy was launched in Deva, Hunedoara County

Friday, April 29 2011, SMART Method of Public Policy was officially launched at a local level in Hunedoara County, by the Association for Citizen Protection and Information (ACPI) – local implementing partner of the method. Approximately 60 persons attended the event, which was hosted by the County School Inspectorate. Representatives of public authorities and every-day citizens witnessed the presentations and participated in discussions about civic engagement.

Citizens had published three problems of local public concern on the citizen engagement platform for Hunedoara County on www.politicipublice.ro, which received solution proposals. ACPI handled a problem regarding the need for a BMX park and issued a policy paper that was officially registered at the City of Deva. The paper was handed over to the City representative at the event, who informed us that the City Hall has made the decision to allocate resources and build the park!

I was particularly pleased by the input received from the public authorities who asked questions, expressed relevant opinions and gave us advice: Dézsi Attila, the Prefect of Hunedoara County; Bogdan Timpau, Deputy from the Liberal Party; Corina Oprisiu, Public Manager in the City of Deva; Dumitru Liviu-Gabriel, Chief of Police; Petru Marginean, President of the Conservative Party in Hunedoara County; Romeo Mosoiu, Adviser to the Minister of Education; Alexandru Lautaru, Superintendent of Schools; Iuliu Deldegan, Deputy Manager of the Energetic High School. The civil society was represented by Iulius Bedea from the Association for Sustainable Development Integration, Adina Vintan from the League of Romanian Students Abroad who is partner of SMART Method and Cristian Neamtu, President of the Young Entrepreneurs Association from Romania – West Chapter, which is also a partner of SMART Method.

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Reactions in local mass-media:

• Servus Hunedoara: „SMART Method of Public Policy”, presented to citizens of Hunedoara County, by Alin Onu.
• Servus Hunedoara: The Daily Catalogue.

Young people in Deva want a BMX park

SMART Method of Public Policy will be officially launched in Hunedoara County, Friday, April 29, 2011. The event is organized by the local partner of SMART Method, the Association for Citizen Information and Protection, and will take place beginning with 3PM at “Spiru Haret” Hall from the County School Inspectorate, 2 George Baritiu street, Deva.

Representatives from all local public institutions are invited to attend the event, as well as citizens who are interested in civic engagement. Participation confirmations can be submitted via e-mail at cetatean.info@yahoo.com and by phone at 0744360376, contact person: Paul Ţoţa. There are already three problems of public concern in Hunedoara, published on the citizen engagement platform www.politicipublice.ro.

SMART Method of Public Policy allows citizens to raise problems of public concern on its citizen engagement platform www.politicipublice.ro, engages citizens to publish solutions to those problems and enables the local partner organizations to officially ask public authorities solve the problems, given citizens’ input and recommendations. In the last step of the participation process, citizens agree or not with the action of the public institutions.

Partners: The Young Entrepreneurs Association – West Chapter, The League of Romanian Students Abroad  and SMART Development Center Galati.

Training ENGAGEMENT with international participants, Iasi, Romania, March 2011

During March 26-27, 2011, I had the great pleasure to deliver the training ENGAGEMENT with participants from seven countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Turkey, Slovenia, and Poland. We tackled a problem of European public concern raised by a Greek person on www.public-policies.eu, entitled “employment opportunities for women in remote areas.” We extended however the problem to address more vulnerable and at-risk groups like youth or immigrants. After one full day of work, participants identified solutions to address the problem and made a policy paper that will be sent to Mr. Laszlo Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Although the problem had been published long before the training, it received no solutions from citizens. So, participants first brainstormed solution ideas inspired from the situation in their countries:

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Then, moderators from every group made plenary presentations of their findings and posted their solutions on the problem’s page:

As a result of the solutions identified by the participants, we discovered four options to address the problem: maintaining the status quo, improving the educational system, offering incentives to companies, and developing an awareness campaign. In the next step, we used the World Caffee to brainstorm what happens in every scenario. All participants had the chance to offer input for the four options:

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Moderators then made plenary presentations of every option:

The next day, I made a plenary presentation of what happened in the previous day, we saw again what were the results, we reanalyzed the four options, and made a decision regarding what to recommend to the European Commission in the policy paper. The final recommendation reads as follows: We consider that the continuation of the status quo will have serious negative impacts on the employment situation of vulnerable groups like young people, women and immigrants. We therefore ask the European Commission to support a programme aimed at establishing an outsourcing online platform for companies. This platform would allow them to advertise the services they need and establish communication with vulnerable groups who have the skills to offer the services or suggest ideas. This way, Europe will support social economy as a means to improve the situation of vulnerable groups. We also ask the European Commission to support a Recommendation for the Member States, in order to encourage them to develop more practical curricula in schools, to encourage teachers to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest developments in their fields of expertise and to advise governments to impose smaller taxes on the salaries of young workers or other vulnerable groups.

The policy paper can be downloaded from the problem’s page. We are also going to publish there the response we receive from the European Commission. I congratulate the Students’ League from the Electronics Faculty Iasi and the Center for Sustainable Community Development Giubega – Dolj County, for making this training possible! The training ENGAGEMENT serves SMART Method of Public Policy, offering a mix of online and offline participation tools using the World Caffee, to get more interactivity and leverage to the participation process.