Period of implementation: May 1st 2013 – February 28th 2017
Project “zefiR. Together for the power of action.” is the initiative of a consortium coordinated by Terre des Hommes and formed of Amarre Romentza, Împreună Agency, PACT Foundation, and Pestalozzi Foundation. Habitat for Humanity and SASTIPEN have also joined the project as associated partners. Throughout this project, the consortium wants to improve the access to education and healthcare for over 25.000 people living in the rural areas, from 12 different communities, in three counties in the South-West of Romania: Olt, Dolj, and Gorj. The population targeted in this project belongs to vulnerable groups, mainly Roma and especially women, young people and children.
zefiR is based on an integrated approach regarding health and education, as priority areas of operation, alongside accommodation – as a complementary field, based on community development as a cross-cut approach. Throughout the 46 months of the project, the beneficiaries and the other members of the 12 communities are involved directly in all the stages of the implementation, from the analysis of the community needs, to the impact assessment, with wide participation of all the interested stakeholders.
The consortium aims to build strong communities and also links between Roma and other ethnic groups, focusing on three directions of action: improving access to educational and health services and increasing the empowerment of the members of the 12 communities.
Thereby, zefiR is not a new project for Roma, but a change of approach, in which the target groups from the three counties will be directly involved in the process, both for building trust in the community, and also to ensure that the proposed solutions are sustainable on the long term. The intervention in each community will first of all be adapted to the local real needs identified, but also between different sectors.
Until the end of the project we consider that:
- 1180 children to have easier access to quality educational services at kindergarten and elementary school and to have better conditions at home, that can help them do their homework;
- 3000 children between 6 and 17 years old and 700 pregnant women and lactating mothers to have easier access to quality healthcare services;
- 12 communities to have a better image locally, as well as regionally and nationally and their members to reclaim self-esteem, the capacity to resolve problems and the openess for intercultural dialogue.
Project co-financed by a grant from Switzerland through the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union.