LUPT (FIGHT) press conference

SMART Development Center from Galati, together with the Young Entrepreneurs Association from the South – East Region of Romania (YEAR-SE), have launched the project Mobile Center for Occupation and Professional Training in Non-agricultural Activities – One Step Next to You! (LUPT/FIGHT).

During almost two years, we will be facilitating the integration of unemployed residents from rural areas on the labor market, as well as farmers and inactive persons from the South – East region of Romania. We will be implementing an innovative concept called “Mobile center for occupation and professional training in non-agricultural fields.”

The objectives of the project are to train and employ the target group in non-agricultural activities, help them start new businesses and apply for Community funding. Also, here at YEAR-SE, we want to generate at least one success story, training an entrepreneur from a rural area, assisting him/her establish a start-up firm, applying for funding, winning the grant and implementing the project.

LUPT (FIGHT) is a project funded by the European Commission through the Human Resources Operational Program.

Reactions from the mass-media: A chance for the rural unemployed, by Rodica Miscalencu, February 1, 2012.

PhD Thesis Presentation

Saturday, January 14, 2011, I made the public presentation of my PhD thesis entitled “Entrepreneurship in Times of Economic and Financial Crises. Methods of Adaptation and Survival.” The ceremony took place at the School of Economics and Business Administration from Lower Danube University of Galati, Romania. It has been a period of intensive research that helped me understand the entrepreneurial phenomenon better. I also analyzed the most appropriate behavior needed to stimulate business and social entrepreneurship both by managers and public officials.

Companies begin to have problems when clients loose confidence in their ability to provide goods and services of higher quality. This behavior is affecting their solidity. Entrepreneurs – those who take the risks to transform a business idea into deliverables to be sold on markets – have a very difficult task: to initiate, to organize and to maintain a company on the market, offering salaries, paying taxes and developing local communities. In order to establish a company, the entrepreneur needs courage, but to keep it, he needs to identify an opportunity. Many times, he will not succeed from the first attempt, but has the strength to transform failure into new opportunities, learning from his past mistakes. To be entrepreneur requires vigilence and talent, but also adequate education.

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.

www.PoliticiPublice.ro

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.

Money beggars are commercials that tell you “call now” ….it’s your lifetime opportunity to save money:

• TaxMasters
• BlueTax
• Aviva
• AARP Insurance

Truly morbid ads are usually seen for various medicines that have side effects like death, heart attack, etc. May be this is one of the reasons medicare is so expensive in the US, as you also have to cover TV commercials. Anyway, every commercial tells you to talk to your doctor before taking the medicine, which we all are aware of:

• Symbicort
• Snickers

The good commercials are rare and are really worth watching. They are creative and give you a good impression or put a smile on your face:

• Dodge vs. Ford
• Lowe’s
• Cheez It

So, will I be aware of these companies and their products or services? Of course yes, as I have no choice if I want to watch CNN in the morning and in the evening. Will I ever want to buy something from the first two categories of businesses? Of course not.

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: