The “DOORS – Organizational Development of Romanian NGOs for Sustainability” project addresses the need for the sustainable development of organizational capacity of 20 NGOs. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of 20 NGOs with a profile in social, education, health, civic and environmental fields, which carry out activities in underserved geographical areas, have limited human, material and financial resources.

The project is needed to develop the capacity of NGOs to become sustainable in a changing social and economic context, with a report by FDSC stating that 90% of respondents are concerned that they will not be able to continue providing current services in the next 6 months, and 10 % of respondents expressing concern that their organizations will go out of business/dissolve in the next period.

DOORS helps these 20 NGOs for a period of 20 months, by improving the skills of people within the organizations, updating internal procedures, developing the organizational strategy, offering support for digitization, increasing cooperation with stakeholders or local authorities, transfer of good practices and networking for sustainable strengthening.

The benefits of DOORS:

In the DOORS project, organizations work in partnership with experts from the non-governmental sector to ensure their sustainability, fulfill their mission and serve the community in which they operate. Over a period of 20 months, 20 less experienced NGOs from small urban and rural areas across the country receive support in developing their organizational capacity through a complex program that will include:

– digital transformation and promotion kit (assistance and development): branding elements, website, social media presence;

– support for the development of individual strategies;

– guidance and assistance in the organization of networking events aimed at the cultivation of donors / loyalty of sponsors / exchange of best practices and collaboration in the network;
– training and coaching programs.

 

Who are the 20 NGOs?

1. Asociația pacienților cu Afecțiuni Hepatice

2. Asociația Cernavodă Plus

3. Asociația Art in Context Slănic Moldova

4. Global Network for Democracy and Human Rights (GNDHR)

5. Asociația Plaiuri noi

6. Asociația ROBOCLUB

7. Asociația DARES

8. Asociația Suflet Mic și Magic

9. Fundația Te Aud România

10. Asociația OPEN

11. Asociația Pro Eco Tur

12. Asociația Samarineni în Comunitate

13. Asociația Sellification4Education

14. Sports Club Lucky Dragons

15. Asociația Ridică-te și Umblă – filiala Arad

16. Filiala Județeană Bacău a Asociației Nevăzătorilor din România

17. Asociația Centrul European pentru Excelență Culturală Diverbium/dialog (CEPEC)

18. Asociația Multifuncțională Sf. Spiridon

19. Asociația Copii Fără Copilărie

20. Asociația Dincolo de Azi

News from Doors

 

In September, the series of community events began within the Doors network. The organizations from the project opened their doors and invited the most relevant stakeholders from the community to a consultation session. For most of them, this was a first discussion they had with sponsors, authorities, donors, volunteers and all other categories of public interested in their social cause.

>In September, 4 stakeholder consultations took place, as follows:

  • on September 6, the Asociația Copii fără copilăria, from Valcea, had a discussion on raising funds with stakeholders especially from the corporate and institutional area
  • on September 14, in Targu Mures, Sports Club Gladius Lucky Dragons invited representatives of the business environment in the city, but also the authorities that support them, to a discussion on how they communicate and what could be improved
  • on September 16th we traveled to the border with Moldova to take part in the community consultation of Pro Eco Tour, who wanted to debate the topic of development of Suceveni village with local authorities, businessmen and interested citizens
  • on September 24 a consultation took place with the stakeholders of Asociația Centrul European pentru Excelență Culturală Diverbium/dialog, Telciu, who debated with the mayor, businessmen, volunteers and parents from the village how they can develop the area for the benefit of children

>In October we had the privilege to meet 2 more communities from the Doors project:

  • Asociația Samariteni în comunitate, from Marculesti, which brought together the mayor, representatives of the business environment and senior volunteers of the organization, to debate two important topics: attracting funds to organize a camp for children in their programs and the possibility to organize a cultural event in the village, where children can show what they have learned during their activities
  • Asociația Plaiuri noi from Cluj invited representatives of the business, university environment, members of the local community from the villages where they carry out their projects, in order to debate together how they can achieve sustainable development, with respect for the community and heritage, in the villages around Cluj

> In November we made a new discovery: tech and education go hand in hand in Roșiori, Teleorman county. The consultation with the community around Roboclub Association has been a spectacular one: we had teachers, parents, children but also little robots.

>Our first stakeholders consultation in 2024 has been in Cernavodă and the topic was integration of youth with disabilities. Both the Mayor and Vice-mayor took part in the discussion, and the special guest, Sanda Gligu, President of The Romanian Association for Therapies in Autism and ADHD presented the authorities, business representatives, teachers, beneficiaries and their legal guardians a model of intervention which we hope to soon see implemented in Ceranvodă too.

>In February, 2 consultations took place in the south of the country:

  • The first stop was in Craiova, on February 23, where the consultation of  Dincolo de azi Association took place. The event focused on the theme of attracting young people to civic projects.
  • The second public consultation event took place in Bucharest on February 27th . Global Network for Democracy and Human Rights has chosen as its topic for debate the insertion of young people from vulnerable backgrounds into the labor market.

>March was a real marathon of local events, with 6 consultations in the west, north and northeast of the country:

  • On March 14th, the public consultation of the organization Ridică-te si umblă in Arad took place, an emotional event that brought together an impressive group of beneficiaries with locomotor, auditory or visual disabilities, who discussed with stakeholders the needs of people with disabilities from Sântana.
  • March 15th found us in Timișoara, at the consultation of Sellification4Education Association. The training needs of teachers were identified in relation to the Key Competences for lifelong learning, with concrete examples of non-formal education activities through technology and beyond.
  • On March 19th we gathered with the local community from Focșani, at the public consultation of DARES Association. They talked about the problems faced by teenagers in the community, related to the communication between them and adults, teachers and especially parents.
  • On March 20th, we visited Asociația Nevăzătorilor Bacău Branch, for a public consultation on accessibility and other problems faced by people with disabilities in the community.
  • On March 21st we went to Slănic Moldova, at Art in Context, to take part in a debate about upcycling with all the actors interested in recycling in the community.
  • The last March consultation took place on the 29th, in Turda, at APAH Transilvania. The topic of the consultation was the need to establish a community center dedicated to the citizens of Campia Turzii and neighboring towns.

>April, the last month of the project, brought with it the last 3 public consultations:

  • Sf. Spiridon Children’s Day Center in Galați organized an event on April 4th with the organization’s main stakeholders, to whom they presented its projects for the benefit of the children in the community.
  • OPEN Association from Târgoviște, a student organization, organized a consultation on April 6th that brought together young people and adults from the community interested in the development of education in the county. The intergenerational discussion brought many pertinent points of view and project ideas.
  • And we ended the series of public consultations from DOORS in Gura Humorului, on April 12th, at  Te aud, Romania Association. The chosen theme was promoting accessible and inclusive rugby programs.

Open DOORS conference, 3 days of inspiration and development in Bucharest

Between March 1st and 3rd, the beneficiary organizations of the project gathered in the capital for an event to exchange good practices and networking, full of content and surprise guests from the business, NGO and administration environment, organized with the support of the partner Nedland Kultur.

 

And the doors were finally closed on April 19th at the Closing the DOORS end of the project conference.

The event was organized in a hybrid system – physical (Bucharest) and online and marked the launch of the Intergenerational Guide, then published open source, to serve any organization interested in this methodology.

How did the selection process go?

We launched the call for selection on October 14 and received applications from numerous non-governmental organizations. The entire application process was online: applicant organizations submitted an application file with several relevant documents, such as the organization’s articles of incorporation/statutes, proof of registration in the Register of Foundation and Associations, the organization’s tax certificate and annual report or other mechanism of transparent activity reporting ( website, Facebook page, etc.), plus 4 other attachments: an applicant profile, a cover letter, an affidavit and an agreement on the use of personal data.

In addition to all this, we also had a list of eligibility criteria that had to be met cumulatively for NGO applications to be validated. You can consult it here.

 

The project is implemented by Margareta of Romania Royal Foundation in partnership with Nedland Kultur and benefits from a 195.218,20 euro grant from Active Citizens Fund Romania, programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014 -2021 . The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the official position of the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021; for more information visit www.eeagrants.org. More details about Active Citizens Fund Romania are available at www.activecitizensfund.ro.

 

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