Romanian Social Development Fund – reaching and empowering poor Roma

1. Romanian Social Development Fund – reaching and empowering poor Roma through community development June 2003

2. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Country context Population: 22,327,000 people, out of which 56% in urban areas 44% in rural areas Total area: 237,500 sqkm

3. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Romania – statistical information Administrative structure: • 41 counties • 2 686 communes • 12 682 villages • Ethnicity structure: • Romanian (89.5%) • Hungarian (6.6%) • Roma (2.5%) • German (0.3%) • Ukrainian, Serb, Croat, Russian and Turk (0.9%) • Others (0.2 %) (Source: 2002 Census for Population and Houses)

4. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND RSDF approach and objectives • Approach • Community driven development – participative approach • Country-wide targeting of potential beneficiaries • Main eligibility criterion: poverty / social marginalization • Facilitation and support for involving the excluded • Objectives • Improving the livelihood of subproject beneficiaries • Increasing local level organizational and self-help capacity

5. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Financial resources International Bank for Reconstruction and Development – for the Social Development Fund Project (USD 30 million) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development – for the Rural Development Program (USD 2.4 million) Council of Europe Development Bank (USD 10 million) Romanian Government (USD 12 million) Beneficiaries’ contribution

6. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Methodology / benefits “Bottom up” approach • “Heard” needs Information, education and communication campaign presenting potential benefits • Informed people • Reached marginalized Simple, user-friendly application forms • Active communities Social capital building – participation of all community members, relationships based on trust and cooperation SUSTAINABLE OUTCOMES • Responsible people Funds managed entirely by communities • Ownership sense Equality of chances in subproject appraisal and selection • Equal chances Participation of beneficiaries in reaching subproject objectives • Improved skills

7. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Specific steps towards reaching minorities • Facilitation – includes a special dimension of minorities’ participation (encouraging involvement of all ethnic minorities) • Facilitators belonging to ethnic minorities • Informative materials in ethnic minorities’ languages

8. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Subproject cycle – community-driven process • Communities are supported by facilitators to get organized • Leaders are democratically elected by community members • All community members participate in the process of identifying andprioritizing their needs, as well as in subproject design • Training in procurement, accounting, project management • Technical assistance by RSDF • All activities necessary for subproject implementation organized and carried out by the community • Material contribution to subproject implementation

9. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Achievements in supporting Roma Roma community members involved in subproject implementation had good opportunities to develop their financial and managerial skills (and possibly apply further to other financing programs for solving more of their community problems). 79 subprojects financed for Roma (with about 3,500 beneficiaries): • 16 small rural infrastructure subprojects • 58 community-based social services subprojects • 5 income generating activities subprojects

10. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Future steps to supporting Roma More than 90 Roma communities will be supported by RSDF over the next five years, by stimulating the civic engagement and the learning by doing process, in order to break the dependency and the exclusion chain for all poor and marginalized Roma.

11. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Roma poverty – a complex problem • RSDF addresses Roma poverty through all categories of subprojects financed (targeting all poverty related problems) • Participation in National Antipoverty Commission meetings approaching poverty problems including Roma poverty • Participation in donors meetings addressing Roma needs

12. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Case study – Roma community subproject “Before the subproject was implemented, we had to choose between looking up for babies or go to get water. Of course, one had to go, because one must eat. But we were always worried about the babies….they are little and one never knows….” (woman, 32 years old, beneficiary) • Location: Valea Hotarului village, Dragoslavele commune, Arges county – Roma village, with 583 inhabitants in 107 households • Village characteristics: • Extreme poverty • People felt “neglected” and socially isolated • Restricted access to facilities • Community priority: water supply system “It was impossible not to get sick when you were drinking water from the same river where tractors were washed. It was especially hard for children…” (man, 50 years old, beneficiary)

13. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Case study – benefits (I) “I always miss my water when I leave the village. I am not joking, it is really different. It is ours…”(woman, 32 years old, beneficiary) “When I go to work or to see my relatives, I always take a bottle of water with me. They do not have such a quality water.” (woman, 25 years old, beneficiary) Increased sense of belonging to the community Personal and community status improvement Improved livelihood by normal access to safe water for the entire Roma community

14. ROMANIAN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Case study – benefits (II) • “..now the police come here not only for giving fines to us. They come to take water, because they say it is of good quality. Before, when we saw the police, we were sure that they were coming for one of us. Now it is different and we joke about it…. “ (male, 40 years old, beneficiary) Enhanced social capital Openness of the communities towards the “outside world” The power of example Future opportunities