Employment and social inclusion Pacts in Romania (ESF supporting Governance structures)

1. Partnership Community of Practice Malta, 17th January 2008 Employment and social inclusion Pacts in Romania (ESF supporting Governance structures) Danut DUMITRU + Maria Rauch Counselor ESF Expert ESF Managing Authority

2. OVERVIEW 1 – Romania - the need of Partnership approaches 2 – Results – the implemented model 3 – Current State of the art 4 – Future role of partnerships

3. ESF MA and need of Partnerships • improve policy co-ordination and adaptation to local conditions, • lead to better utilisation and targeting of programmes, • integrate civil society’s concerns into strategic planning exercises through widespread participatory democracy, • stimulate corporate involvement in local projects • and promote greater satisfaction with public policy. (OECD Local Partnerships for better Governance, 2001)

4. ESF Regulation • Art 3 - Scope of Assistance “Promoting partnerships, pacts and initiatives through networking of relevant stakeholders, such as social partners and NGOs, at national, regional, local and transnational level in order to mobilise for reforms in the field of employment and labour market inclusiveness”. • Art 5- Good Governance and Partnerships

5. Creating the right conditions Study nationalpolicy Define Target Locality Consider a partnership Make links with others Understanding national policy Consider labour market areas Choose an effective format To regional, national and EU policymakers Examine local capacity Consider admnistrative areas Ensure good leardership To neighbouring localities Look for existing partnerships Be strategic yet local Involve right partners To similar localities across Europe

6. Define Target Locality Study nationalpolicy • Desk Research (main policy documents and reports) • Meeting several national important actors (National Agency for Employment, Roma National Agency,etc) • Regional/local structure analysis • Selections of target areas • Screening of regions: desk research and local interviews with all main relevant actors

7. Consider a partnership • Policy making level–national • Operational/executive levels – county and local • Structures at local level weak (in general) • Lack of competencies for the development of projects • Need to integrate the different levels in one model to increase effectiveness and efficiency

8. Romanian Model of Employment and Social Inclusion Partnership Regional Employment Pact PermanentTechnical Secretariat County Based Partnerships Multiplicationlevel Local Actors – Local Project partnerships

9. Partners Prefectures County Councils Employment Agencies Church School Inspectorates Chambers of Commerce and Industry Universities Trade Unions Employers Associations Civil Society representatives (NGOs) Regional Roma Bureaus RDA

10. Territory Coverage: - 8 Regions with Pacts formally existing - 36 County Based Partnerships and Local Parnerships - Several projects being elaborated and submited

11. Current State of the art • Pacts and County Partnerships have an elected organisational • and management structure • Working Groups by priority of the Regional employment Plan • Development of project ideas • Establishment of project partnerships and redaction groups for • the proposals • Common development of proposals • Development of projects

12. Future role of the Pacts • Permanent Technical secretariats being set up • Responsibility for the Regional Employment Plan • Capacity Building of actors to work in partnership • Establishment of transnational cooperation projects

13. Key Success Factors: • Knowledge, skills and capacity building – a mentoring system is fundamental • Time – process needs consolidation • Level of ownership + Committed Leadership • Capacity of being innovative and to develop projects.

14. Thank you for your attention !