Launch of the European Year for Development in Romania

The European Year for Development was launched in Romania on the 17th of February 2015, under the title “Storytelling – Power to the People in International Development”. The event was organised by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNDP – Regional Centre for Europe and Central Asia, as implementer of this campaign in Romania in partnership with the NGDO platform FOND Romania.

The opening session benefited from the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, the Chief of the Representation of the European Commission to Romania, Angela Filote, and FOND President, Olivia Baciu.

Mr. Bogdan Aurescu underlined the importance of development cooperation in the current geopolitical context and mentioned that in essence international development is defined by solidarity, dialogue and responsibility. In order to give more weight to the development cooperation policy, Minister Aurescu mentioned the draft law on development cooperation initiated by the MFA (currently in the process of being adopted) that will equip the policy with the necessary resources.

In the spirit of storytelling, Ms. Angela Filote shared her experience in working in developing countries, in order to raise awareness on poverty in the world and encouraged actions through development cooperation initiatives. In addition, Ms. Filote highlighted the value of volunteering in development organizations in Romania and abroad, as an individual effort to land a hand to developing countries.

Ms. Olivia Baciu underlined in her speech that the European Year for Development 2015, an initiative of CONCORD, is a crucial moment for raising awareness and bringing development cooperation on the public agenda. Moreover, she emphasized that development means working together, making connections between people, ideas and activities and learning from each other.

Following the opening session, there were several interventions from Romanian practitioners in international development and journalists documenting development issues. Moreover, the event had special guests: Ms. Lina Ben-Mhenni, blogger and activist nominee to the Nobel Peace Prize, and Ms. Libby Powel, initiator of “On our radar project” – a project giving people from developing countries the opportunity to act as local journalists and report of issues of interest to them.

More information about the event can be found on the ROAid Facebook Page.

In the photo: speakers panel at the EYD launch.


Information provided by FOND Romania.