On November 14th, we took our advocacy campaign for social inclusion one step further by meeting with 16 NGOs and other interested parties to outline a multitude of social challenges and opportunities in Sighișoara and its surrounding communities. We believe this outline not only has enormous potential to effect change locally but is also applicable in diverse communities across Romania.
Some of the key ideas and opportunities we identified include:
1. Children can function as catalysts between their parents and the NGOs trying to integrate their families into the community.
2. Providing hot meals at events can encourage engagement in social initiatives by more people.
3. Opening a community shop offering goods at reasonable prices and/or providing discount vouchers.
4. Ensuring the involvement of social workers and local authorities’ openness to inclusion initiatives are both indispensable to success.
We also outlined some challenges:
1. School dropout is a persistent risk, as is the sometimes-shocking lack of adequate education for children who do remain enrolled in school.
2. There is a substantial number of children from vulnerable communities, each needing care, education, attention, and love.
3. Achieving social inclusion for vulnerable groups is a long-term project, and those who embark on this journey must demonstrate substantial patience and consistency, especially when encountering obstacles that initially seem insurmountable.
4. Encouraging self-reliance is a sensitive issue. Should we offer financial support to vulnerable individuals or not? If so, what, how much, how, to whom, and to what extent should this help be offered to ensure that it is useful, fair, sustainable, and appreciated by the recipient?
What is your perspective on this, regardless of your vantage point?
Join our virtual brainstorming session, where we aim to identify 100 ideas for social inclusion, inspired by your individual experiences and endeavors. These ideas will be featured in a common guide for several NGOs and social inclusion initiatives. Note down your idea or ideas in an email to: contact@mihaieminescutrust.ro by November 29th, the end date of our campaign.
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This campaign is part of the “ȘURA – Laboratory for experimentation and inclusive civic engagement” project, and is supported by: