| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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A first stage in the project was the meeting with the representatives of the Roma community, that have been informed on the actions that are going to be organized, emphasizing the importance of these actions for improving the Roma’s situation and facilitating the active participation to the economic, social, cultural and political life. This meeting has had as a purpose, beside informing in what concerns the programs of activities, the stimulation of interest of the Roma communities’ representatives in what concerns the problem targeted and assuring the participation in the project activities. In this stage were obtained information about the persons from the targeted communities through this project, information concerning the Roma citizens that do not have ID papers.
The second stage was represented by the development of the awareness raising actions on the entrance of legality, which were conducted in the localities Mărăşeşti, Adjud, Homocea, Tâmboieşti, Răcoasa, Vulturu, Sihlea, Măicăneşti.
The criterion for choosing the target areas was mainly the number of people registered in Roma settlements.According to the situations from the Department of Statistics of Vrancea County, at the Census from 2002, from almost 12.000 inhabitants of Mărăşeşti 223 are Roma citizens, but this figure does not correspond to the reality because their number is over 3.500 persons (according to the data offered by Mărăşeşti City Council). The persons that are not included in the official statistics whether didn't declare that they are Roma citizens, or weren't legally registered and have no ID papers. The situation of Roma citizens is as serious as at the level of the community that they are coming from, the poverty is generalized, in the context in which in Mărăşeşti is registered the highest rate of unemployment from Vrancea County. The differences between the Roma citizens included in the statistics and the real situation (according to the data offered by the local authorities from the localities mentioned above) are noticed also in other localities of the project:Adjud (800 in comparison with 499), Panciu (700 in comparison with 55), Homocea (3250 in comparison with 0 persons declared at the Census from 2002), Tâmboieşti (1400 in comparison with 444), Răcoasa (550 in comparison with 59), Vulturu (432 in comparison with 211). In these localities the Roma citizens have a precarious material situation and this is due mainly to the fact that they do not have ID documents and they couldn't get employed legally, they have a low income and a high level of not participating in the labor market.
The third stage of the project consisted in the legalizing of the Roma citizens by going with the mobile team of the Public Department for Census in the localities Mărăşeşti, Panciu, Adjud, Tâmboieşti, Răcoasa, Vulturu. The Roma citizens without ID papers have been photographed and all the necessary data were collected in order to elaborate the ID paper.
The main activities included in the action plan were:
The partners’ meeting and the project team creation;
The promotion of the awareness campaign and legalization of the Roma citizens
- seminar for project presentation;
- meetings with the Roma representatives;
- promotion in the mass-media;
- promotion on the website of Vrancea County Council – www.cjvrancea.ro.
Acquisition of technical means and stationary;
Elaboration of informative materials;
Offering information service and legalization of Roma citizens;
Informing the public opinion and the institutions responsible about the problems of the Roma communities from the areas whose targets are in the project;
Monitoring the project;
Evaluating the project;
Disseminating the project’s results.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Vrancea County Council has assured the management of this project. The project has been implemented in partnership with the following institutions: The Public County Department for Persons Census Vrancea, The Association „Rom pentru Rom” Panciu and the local councils Adjud, Mărăşeşti , Panciu, Homocea, Răcoasa, Tâmboieşti and Vulturu.
The project team was formed of:
Project Manager: Vrancea County Council;
Financial Person in charge: Vrancea County Council;
Person in charge with Roma citizens' communication: The Association „Rom pentru Rom” ;
Person in charge for releasing the ID cards and the marital status documents: The Public County Department for Persons Census Vrancea ;
One legal adviser.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The project management was provided by Vrancea County Council, through its specialized departments. The project implementation team included civil servants from the Department of Foreign and Home Affairs, with experience in managing projects with external funding. They coordinated the development of informational materials, organization of meetings with partners, information, evaluation, organization of events and permanently secured the advertising of the project.
The Public County Department for Persons Census Vrancea was involved in the project and participated in all project activities, being involved both in outreach activities and in those of implementing the law. The communication with target group members has been difficult due to specific ethnic attitudes, prejudices, lack of openness to dialogue. From this point of view the involvement of the Association „Rom pentru Rom” was very important, as members of this association know the problems, the way of thinking and are respected for activities developed in support of Roma citizens. Local authorities were involved in the preparation phase of the project through the information provided, but also during their activities, taking into account the authority they have in the communities they represent (providing space for activities, facilitating communication with target group).
The total amount of the project has been 26.153 Euro from EU contribution and 21.923 Euro from the Romanian Government.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Through this project 1.113 Roma citizens were legalized with ID and civil status documents. There were also initiated and finalized: 5 actions of late birth registration, 2 trials for name offering and 2 trials for transcription of the birth certificate emitted abroad.
However the project was completed with:
-16 information sessions referring to the implications of the lack of ID and marital status documents and the legalization procedure with these documents;
- 10.000 leaflets and 2000 brochures issued and disseminated;
- 2 sociological researches accomplished in order to identify the problems of the Roma communities and the level of understanding/awareness of the information offered;
- 1 situation of the Roma people from the target locality, citizens without ID and marital status documents.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The monitoring of the activities was done to ensure that project objectives are met. The monitoring was carried out from the 18th of January till the 30th of October 2008 to check whether the project objectives were met. The number of the beneficiaries was followed and the media appearances were monitored. Also, to verify the legality of the actions made during the period 28th of March to 23rd of May 2008, and in July targeted monitoring visits were made to localities.
The evaluation of the project implementation was accomplished through:
- Highlighting the number of messages sent to beneficiaries (direct and indirect) and the media (the number of topics covered in seminars and the number of press releases);
- Monitoring the messages that were taken from the media - the media magazine;
- Highlighting the structure of the target audience (direct, indirect beneficiaries) that was exposed to activities information, awareness and implementing compliance;
- Determining the number of those who perceived meaning in information and awareness activities (seminars attendance list)
- Highlighting the legal adequacy of formal methods to the needs of the target group
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The persons who could not be put in legality due to various reasons, such as absence from home on the day of activities were considered and entered into a database to be contacted by The Public County Department for Persons Census Vrancea. People without birth certificates, documents of civil status and property have been included in this situation.
The information was collected by volunteers of the Association „Rom pentru Rom” with the support of the representatives from the Roma community.
A special situation was that of Roma citizens who didn't have a birth certificate, which puts them in the situation of being unable to take possession of an ID card. In this category were children, but also some adults, persons that didn't exist from an administrative point of view in the relation with the Romanian state and who could not benefit from the rights associated with citizenship. To remedy this situation, people without birth certificates were granted legal aid for the start of action on late registration of birth.
After the judgment of the court, birth certificates were issued. In certain circumstances, a forensic expertise was conducted. In this process, support was requested from social workers who knew the problems that the communities in which they operate were facing.
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