Description

What happened?

In Ialomita ADP, Rosiori community (2500 inhabitants), the group of local staff (2 community workers, 1 local coordinator) with 1 volunteer from social assistant department were trained in CV&A and after that they organized CV&A specific activities. After an initial meeting with parents and children mobilized with school staff assistance, it was clear that an emergency need and priority for community (people mobilized and involved) was to improve teaching conditions for children, as during winter time there were significant problems with heating in the school, as well as lighting and quality of air. Participants all agree that this should be the first problem to address and that the local authority should also be involved in the community gathering. Research on the legislation and standards was done with WV assistance – legislation in education clearly stated that children should learn in good conditions, and appropriate standards were selected.

Community gatherings were organized, managing to mobilize around 40 parents and children, together with some representatives of the public authority and school teachers. Public authority was open to the imitative and supported the process all along, after being informed. The Action plan resulted referred to investments requited for heating system (wall isolation, purchasing new heating system that could provide heating in all class rooms, replacing the inappropriate light balls) that were taken under the responsibility of the local council, and monitored by active people in the community. In addition, a new local NGO took the responsibility to organize fundraising events to purchase special climatic systems for better air and atmosphere in the classes.

When? April – June 2013 (3 months)

What were the achievements?

Because the community gatherings were finalized in June, community members that were involved together with the teachers were able to advocate for the local council to include the required investments for heating in the new corrected budget, approved locally started with July 2013. In addition, the municipality managed to contract very quickly a provider for isolation of the school walls, this is how visible results after CV&A process were there to see by all members on the community, no matter if they participated or not (in beginning on July). Community members in Rosiori, present for an interview (2 parents, 1 librarian) showed enthusiasm about the process, and mentioned that they believe CV&A should be used also for many other problems related to the school (providing appropriate space for school activity, furnish the school labs so children may learn and participate to national contests etc.). When asked, the mayor said that “this problem in the school with the heating of class rooms wasn’t such a big priority and would have been postponed for a year or more. CV&A has made it possible for this issue to be solved sooner, this year”. The process has created a dialogue space for authority with community members, thus making it possible for people to influence local government’s short term priorities. According to the people interviewed, during meetings, people gradually started to open, to be more courageous and share together challenges and possible solutions. There was a visible phenomenon when opinion leaders attracted other followers to make their voice heard. Now people, and even the mayor, are asking: “Should we do CV&A for ... this issues or another? “

What are the lessons learned and recommendations?

• When asked about other services that may become subject of CV&A, community members could not mention any issues related to quality of education, even though evaluation reports have presented such issues – this leads to the conclusion that “quality of education” needs to be “demystified”, so people may understand what is this actually, how is this affecting life of children and what they can do about it (this should be part of further education on citizens on entitlements, specific regulations, local assessments of the situations in local schools etc.);

• One of the local mayor’s initiative in September 2012 was to create a Facebook page to create dialog on topics of interest in the community, especially with the younger people. This has the potential to become a strong tool for mobilization and education for following CV&A initiatives;

• At the moment, community members react to WV staff initiatives, but are less willing to hold themselves the initiative – this may be one focus for mobilization, capacity building, but also a relevant Reward and Recognition system for volunteers, as facilitators constantly need to ask what is in it for people to participate and desire public services improvement for children (How do we uncover the will?);

• All activities for mobilization should have a clear strong focus on children, as we intend to work together with the community for their wellbeing - experience has shown this is a strong unifying and motivating element in all discussions, for parents, community authorities etc.;

• Mobilization and education activities should have more allocated time to be effective; the most relevant ones should involve school staff, to engage parents interested in their children’s life, volunteers and staff to go from one home to another (eg. a parent’s association);

• One lesson learned is to provide space for community to discuss about all their problems, and then be able to facilitate a prioritization exercise;

• The role of children should also be emphasized by having them on board participating and sharing their opinion as part of community gatherings, assessments for situation for a public service etc. In Ialomita, children did participate and their presentations, inputs and ability to provide clear and rapid solutions have given an impulse to the power holders, staff believe.

• Local staff recommend that the support materials for Score Card should be simplified (a more simple voting system, no symbols for adult groups);

• Also, regarding terminologies used, staff recommend the following: Voice of citizen (instead of CV&A);

• When planning for the meetings in the Community Gathering, it is recommended to schedule the meetings closer in time to one another, in order to insure continuous engagement for the participants up to the interface meeting (1 – 2 weeks maximum).

• Meetings may be scheduled in Holy days, more people will participate;

• The most active participants are those directly affected by the issue, as they perceive it as real and urgent – in this case parents of children who have learned in the cold classes in winter were the most active;

What were some limitations?

• Limited time frame as well as the fact that this was a pilot project has influenced the way staff worked – it was decided to work on clear, small, achievable priorities that could easily lead to visible results, in order to build trust for CV&A in both staff and community, as well as stimulate mobilization and involvement for next initiatives;

• The time invested in mobilization and education was limited, this is why smaller number of people were able to participate (practically it was organized 1 meeting in school where the priority was identified);

• There weren’t used any creative materials or means for education and mobilization on the selected topic, this could be considered for the future to be able to educate and mobilize more people on the issue (time was also an issue);

• The period of year where community gatherings were organized was not very fortunate – during summer teachers are not longer in school, most community members are involved in field works or others are leaving the community; the lesson learned was to plan activities that require mobilization of community during winter time;

• In order to provide access to meetings, appropriate space needs to be considered (team couldn’t have had more than 50 participants);


Report written by Ana-Maria Marinescu, CV&A pilot project coordinator