romania
The Democracy Foundation Basel continues cooperation with four civil society organizations in Romania, which are preparing the support also provided by the Swiss Confederation Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy 2024 in Bucharest was created. The four organizations supported by Democracy Foundation Basel are:
CEre, the Resource Center for Public Participation in Bucharest
CeRe exists since 2006 and helps local communities (municipalities, districts, population groups) to solve specific problems by encouraging affected citizens to actively participate and support their exchange with the authorities. This is against the backdrop of an extremely autocratic culture, in which the authorities act with little transparency and have little regard for the affected citizens, but they also remain largely passive. CEre is also the initiator and office of the 'Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for Citizens' and is committed to training 'community organizers' based on the US model.
Since 2016, this association has been active in the city of Radauti, which is located in northeastern Romania. His goal is to turn residents into active citizens and to increase the transparency of authorities and politics. Youth work, monitoring and monitoring of election campaigns and the election itself, the public broadcast of municipal council meetings (won in court) and the development of an app that allows both information about and participation in decisions made by the municipality are among the activities of this association. In 2022, the association, like many other civil society organizations in Romania, had to help cope with the sudden onslaught of Ukrainian refugees.
This institute combines research carried out for Romanian and international clients and issues as well as local activities in the community. For example, the institute is active in youth work with @HomeinFagaras, offers summer camps for young people with Calbor College and runs various social programs for the Fagaras Community Foundation. This includes employment, with the active participation of citizens, with issues of the environment, the future of the community, local government, democracy and citizen participation, as well as preparedness for emergencies such as the influx of refugees from Ukraine in 2022.
A reputable think tank in Bucharest, which has existed since 2011 and specializes in topics relevant to democracy: good and integrity public administration; active citizen participation and political education; monitoring of elections; the fight against fake news and disinformation. Since the end of US Aid support for civil society and independent media in Central Eastern Europe, Expert Forum has also been committed to European replacement solutions and alternative financing. Expert Forum employees were and are represented on various EU committees. On behalf of the Democracy Foundation Basel, Expert Forum has carried out an analysis of the successes and failures of promoting democracy in Romania from 1989 to the present day and derived recommendations for the future (use link to the report here? Or is the link that we already have in 'News' enough?)