RADC NFORMATIONAL TOOLKIT
was launched

And you can read it here: http://www.developmenteducation.org/toolkit/

The International Conference wraped up the second year of activities within the RADC project . It tackled themes such as: "Development Cooperation" and "Development Education" in the European context and specifically in the New Member States. The event took place on the 4th of November 2011 at the UNESCO Amphitheatre in the University of Nicosia. The conference's agenda included presentations, discussion and workshops related to practical applications for development cooperation, innovative partnerships for sustainable development, the role of NGOs and the political culture in international development. Academics, decision makers and civil society representatives participated at the event.

For further details about the event please visit: http://www.developmenteducation.org/conference2011/index.html

Please send us feedback at:
Claudia_pedersen@wvi.org

And visit our website at:
http://www.developmenteducation.org

YOUTH FORUM FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT, Cluj Napoca

On the 8th September, as part of the PeerUp! Project, WVR organized the annual Youth Forum for pupils and students interested in international development. This year's theme focused on the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, regarding the maternal and child health. After the official debate attended by local authorities, young people participated in a two-day camp at Baisoara. For more information check the project's website:
http://www.peer-up.ro

WORLD VISION ROMANIA'S AWARENESS RAISING CAMPAIGN FOR THE HORN OF AFRICA

World Vision Romania joined the international effort of fund-raising for the affected children and families in The Horn of Africa. The "Give a chance to life to the children in Africa!" campaign aims to offer to the Romanians the opportunity to help Africa's vulnerable children. Their donations materialized in medical assurances, water and basic food which could save the life of numerous children. For more information please visit:
http://www.worldvision.ro/daruieste-speranta_implicate-si-tu.php

WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL PEACE PRIZE 2011

On the 21st September, with the occasion of International Day of Peace, World Vision International awarded the World Vision International Peace Prize to PATRIR (Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania), during an official ceremony at the House of Parliament in Bucharest. The event brought together professionals, officials and institutions that work together in order to build a stronger and more united society, capable of indentifying solutions and stop conflicts all around the globe. Yesim Oruc, the UNDP Romania Resident Representative, and representatives of the Ministry of External Affaires of Romania also attended the prize-giving ceremony.

More about the prize and the event:
http://wvipeaceprize.ning.com/
http://patrir.ro

The fourth edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum successfully took place in October in Bucharest. World Vision organized a special panel on child protection policies and cooperation in the Wider Black Sea Region. The panelists were presidents or coordinators of child-focused NGO coalitions from various countries from the Wider Black Sea Region: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Serbia.

The panel was inspired by a PABSEC (Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Organisation http://www.pabsec.org ) Recommendation, issued already many years ago (Recommendation 41/1999). This Recommendation showed that the protection and development of children 'is the prerequisite for the future development of the BSEC member countries' and called on the BSEC Member States to (among others): a) design appropriate strategies for partnership between governments, non-government organisations and the private sector in matters concerning child protection; b) to promote cooperation among the BSEC countries in the field of child protection, to encourage common studies and information sharing with a view to improving the legal and institutional framework relating to child protection in the BSEC Member Countries.

Indeed, in the Black Sea region, there are thousands of children living under especially difficult circumstances. The panellists discussed recent developments in the child protection field, as well as developments in the strategies of the child-focused NGO coalitions in each country. Given the common challenges that all countries in the region face in this field, the organisers proposed the idea of creating a child-focused Regional Coalition. The panelists and the panel participants agreed to work together on a TOR or a 'mandate' for a Regional Coalition. The 'Mandate' has been developed and it is now being discussed by the coordinating bodies of the national coalitions and other stakeholders. If all NGO coalitions represented at the Black Sea NGO Forum will decide to join the initiative the Regional Coalition will be a platform of representation for no less than 500 NGOs. For more information on our 'Mandate' please see the attached document. Should you be interested to support, contribute or be part of this initiative, please contact Mirela Oprea, mirela_oprea@wvi.org.

The 4th edition of the Black Sea NGO Forum took place from 6th to 8th of October 2011 in Bucharest, Romania. During the event more than 200 participants from various countries (among which Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia) debated on the main regional issues and tried to find common solutions to the current local and regional problems. The event was organized by the Romanian NGDO Platform (FOND), with support of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Representation of the European Commission in Romania and the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.

More information about this event is available on the website: http://www.blackseango.org.

Background information

WVRF is a child-rights oriented organization, with considerable amount of experience in implementing development and awareness raising projects. Curricula development is hardly a new activity for World Vision Romania. Since its early days in Romania (the beginning of the 1990s), WVRF contributed to the elaboration of alternative curricula (egg. in the field of health education in a context in which many health-related topics were not considered by the formal curriculum). At the same time, WVRF is a member of the development education working group (DEWG) in FOND, the Romanian NGDO platform, and since the creation of the federation, WVRF was actively involved in the organizing of major events in the field such as DEEEP Summer School in Romania 2009 or Third Edition of The Romanian Development Camp 2010.

Moreover, WVRF initiated various activities for raising the awareness regarding Romania's new role as a donor country (ex. Stand-Up Against Poverty Campaign, promoting the MDGS, etc.). Starting with December 2008, WVRF implemented a UNDP-financed project to raise citizens' awareness on the MDGs. MDG6 was chosen by WVRF as focal awareness raising objective. The project had two main aims: 1) advocate for Romania to introduce innovative funding mechanisms for development (ex. the UNITAID system so that Romania can contribute to fighting HIV on a wider scale); b) show concrete examples for involvement for the regular citizens. Through the first component a high-level international debate was organized at Bucharest with the participation of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and other relevant ministries. In the framework of the second component, a group of volunteers trained by WVRF started an awareness and fund-raising campaign in favor of malaria-infected children in Africa.

Apart from the "Raising awareness for development cooperation project", WVRF is also implementing another EU funded project in development education called "Peer Up!" which is run in partnership with World Vision Germany and World Vision Austria. "Peer Up!" will raise the global development awareness of Romanian citizens, and in particular of young people from Cluj. The main development issues that will be reflected are as follows: HIV / AIDS, maternal and child health and food security.

"The Youth Civic Education and Community Participation" project aims to promote responsible citizenship and community participation for youth in Georgia and Romania. The purpose of the project is to provide youth in both countries with an understanding of a democratic society and the principles of civic participation and advocacy.

The project has three objectives that lead to the main goal. These objectives are: 1) to enhance civic education and community development, 2) to incorporate advocacy methodologies into youth groups and 3) to connect youth to the Global Youth Network in both Georgia and Romania.

World Vision Romania is an active member of the Romanian NGDO platform, FOND, since its early beginning in 2006 and has been board member of FOND since 2008.

Contact:
Claudia Pedersen,
International Programs Manager,
claudia_pedersen@wvi.org