News

To mark the International Day of Cultural Diversity, the  Alliance of Civilizations Initiative will be launched in Romania in an Official Ceremony planned to take place at the Parliament House, “Human Rights” Hall, on the 18th of May 2010, 10 am

The event is organized at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Joint Permanent Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate for relations with UNESCO, the Governmental Department of Interethnic Relations and UN Resident Agencies based in Romania, under the patronage of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Ms. Roberta Alma Anastase.

The main purpose of the event is the promotion of the Alliance of Civilizations Initiative by increasing its visibility at national level and by creating a framework for underlining the importance of intercultural, interethnic and inter-religious dialogue.The debates will gather relevant representatives of governmental and nongovernmental institutions in Romania.

Within the launch ceremony, a Charter of the Alliance of Civilizations will be signed, representing the common commitment assumed by partners with the aim of promoting cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.
Further information about the event, as well as agenda and guest speakers available here in Romanian or English.

On April 22 the European Commision organized in Bucharest the EU Finance Day for SMEs Conference. The event was supported by the Romanian National Agency for SMEs and UNDP and is part of a series of events in the Member States that the European Commission is organising to inform about the EU financial instruments for SMEs together with the national financial intermediaries that implement these instruments locally. The aim is to raise awareness about different sources of finance and provide a forum for sharing good practices in helping innovative SMEs get easier access to finance.

The event in Bucharest was attended by over 120 participants, representatives of the SME sector as well as central and local public institution (agenda of discussions available online here). 

Presentations detailed on the opportunities offered to SMEs through the EU Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), whose three main focus areas are:

1. Entrepreneurship and Innovation

2. Energy

3. ITC

More information on the CIP programme and other financing mechanisms for SMEs can be found on the EC website.

A delegation of UNDP officials and Government representatives has visited today the Turkish and Tatar communities in Medgidia, Romania. The visit lays the ground for discussion and cooperation in common initiatives engaging different minority groups in Romania, within the Alliance of Civilization framework. 

The visit included meetings with representatives of UDTR - Romanian Democratic Turkish Union, UDTTMR - Romanian Turk-Muslim Tatar Union,   „Kemal Ataturk” College from Medgidia and several cultural activities.

The delegation is composed of Mrs. Yesim Oruc Kaya, Resident Representative a.i., Mr. Mircea Mocanu, Head of Socio Economic Section, UNDP, Mr. Sali Negeat, Subsecretary of State, Department for Interethnic Relations and Mrs. Rodica Precupeţu, Head of Department, DIR.

Press release UDTR (Romanian language, pdf);

UNDP Romania together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) organized the first Steering Committee meeting of the project called Support to the Implementation of Romania’s National Strategy on the “Alliance of Civilization”, bringing together representatives of various ethnic and religious groups. The project aims at assisting the Romanian MFA in implementing its National Strategy on the “Alliance of Civilizations” initiative by creating a fund raising mechanism that will support the implementation of various activities: publishing of articles and books on related topics, organizing awareness and information events, designing a website dedicated to this initiative and encouraging civil society projects in the field of cross-cultural and religious dialogue.

UNDP Romania has relaunched the online presence of Beautiful Romania Project at www.beautifulromania.ro.

The platform aims to promote the project activities to central and local stakeholders and also to individuals interested in the field of urban regeneration and cultural heritage protection in Romania.

The Beautiful Romania project team has also develped an interactive online resource center that will gather and promote: best practices around the world, potential project ideas to be developed in Romania, resource organizations, information on legal framework and volunteering/internship opportunities. The platform integrates several web2.0 tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Wikispace which aim to facilitate the communication and interaction with a wider project audience. 

We are looking forward to your input and feed-back on the website content!  Follow us on: 

The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) approved 1 million USD to finance an innovative project titled “Improving the Financial Sustainability of Protected Areas” that will look into finding new financial mechanism to leverage additional funding of the protected areas in the Romanian part of Carpathians.

The project will be implemented during 2010-2014 in partnership with WWF and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development through Romsilva (National Forest Administration), reinforcing thus the excellent cooperation that UNDP has with the Government in carrying out its environmental initiatives.

The project is building upon successful current UNDP environment initiatives in two protected areas : Maramures Nature Park and Macin National Park and on two capacity building projects through which UNDP is assisting the Romanian government in the implementation of the international environmental conventions’ provisions.

Read more >>

UNDP Romania is organizing a press release and roundtable meeting to mark the launch of the 2009 Human Development Report (HDR2009) entitled Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development.

HDR 2009 is especially relevant for Romania where migration and labor mobility are significant factors – both positive and negative of everyday life of Romanians. The HDR also presents comparative data on countries’ rankings in the Human Development Indicators.

UNDP will present the HDR2009, focusing on:
• Romania’s position, in a global and European context, in human development;
• Data and information specific to Romanian migration;
• Elements of a migration policy for Romania.

The event will take place at UN House, Primaverii Bld. 48A, on 5 November 2009.

Download press release in English or Romanian.

Download brief presentations on the 2009 Human Development Report perspective on Romania available in English and Romanian.

UNDP, in partnership with the National Agency for Implementing Projects and Programmes for the SMEs, has launched the fist portal of business incubators in Romania, http://www.portalincubatorimm.ro/.

Through this initiative, the partners intend to offer a unitary overview and networking opportunity of Romanian business incubators, with a focus on those developed within the joint UNDP – NAIPPSME project Establishment and Development of Business Incubators in Romania.

The establishment of this portal stands as a prove of the commitment of both project partners in the development of business incubators in clusters in Romania. The platform aims to:
- Offer information on existing business incubators in Romania and the incubation facilities open to SMEs in these premises;
- Stand as a platform of networking and exchange of best practices among the business incubators in Romania.
- Present up-to-date information on the Establishment and Development of Business Incubators in Romania Project and its planned developments.

Your comments and ideas on the structure, content and functions of the portal would be very much appreciated!

UNDP Resident Representative, HE Jan Sorensen, joined on Monday, 5 October 2009, the Big Build Campaign, to celebrate the UN designated World Habitat Day. The campaign, supported by Habitat for Humanity Romania, brought together 250 volunteers and a significant number of both Romanian and foreign officials, such as HE Emil Constantinesc, former President of Romania and HE Robin Barnett, UK Ambassador in Romania. The ambitious aim set by the organizers was to raise together 10 houses in just 5 days, for the benefit of post-intitutionalized young adults in Beius, Bihor county.

The Big Build Campaing was an opportunity to raise awareness on poverty housing affecting billions of people worldwide and promoting access to simple, decent housing for disadvantaged groups such as post-institutionalized youth, rroma and the working poor in general.

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The Romania Green Building Council (RoGBC) along with WWF Danube-Carpathian Romania, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Association of Energy Auditors for Buildings (AAEC) signed a shared position paper, regarding the measures that should be taken in order to encourage energy efficiency. The document, entitled “Romania and Climate Change Policies – Economic Stimulus from a Green Economy”, draws the attention on the economic opportunities associated with the implementation of environment policies, especially in the construction field. Some of the opportunities highlighted are the reducing energy costs, ensuring energy safety, raising comfort and creating new jobs.
In addition, the position paper underlines the necessity of immediate action in order to move towards a greener economy and explains that the practical measures to be applied do not represent budgetary costs, but investments towards a sustainable development.

The position paper is available for reading here.