Romania

By 2000, Romania has made much progress in building a democracy after more than forty years of being one of the most repressive, closed societies in Eastern Europe. Its achievements in building a democracy, respecting the rights of its ethnic minorities and instituting many requisite reforms contribute to the country’s stability and prosperity and serve as an example to Serbia and other countries in the region of the benefits of democratic transition.

ADF worked with the Romanian NGO community to organize and sponsor the March 2000 Conference "Parliament and Civil Society - Towards a Partnership Relation", held in the Romanian Parliament. This conference enabled the NGOs to formally present the conclusions and recommendations of the 1999 NGO Forum series, and to stimulate Parliament’s interest in issues concerning the NGO sector. ADF’s work with Romanian NGOs, in numerous activities, including advocacy training, has resulted in building very effective partnership relationships in civil society development. ADF activities continue to focus on enhancing Romanian NGO capacity to promote increased citizen participation in democratic processes.

 

The democratic transition process in Romania was especially facilitated by the development of a strong and dynamic civil society in that country. A strong network of formal and informal structures designed to support the growth of NGOs and increased citizen participation in decision-making has been effectively organized. As a result, NGOs in Romania are contributing to more responsive and accountable democratic governance.

 

The situation in neighboring Serbia significantly changed in Autumn 2000. The Milosevic regime was removed from power by a large grass-roots coalition determined to regain Serbia’s place in the international democratic community. This historic event marked the climax of a painful struggle for democracy that had brought together political parties, civic organizations, and independent personalities. As in other Central and East European countries, Serbian civil society was the catalyst of the opposition movement and played a crucial role before and during the October 1999 elections.

 

ADF implemented the 2000-2001 Regional Partnership for Democracy (RPD), with support from USAID/Romania. The RPD encouraged the growth of democratic processes, democratic institutions and civil society in Serbia through the development of partnerships between Romanian and Serbian NGOs. Under the RPD program, ADF provided technical assistance and grant funding to Romanian NGOs that worked with Serbian NGOs to strengthen democracy development in Serbia and foster citizen participation. Cooperative programs between Romanian and Serbian NGOs took place in a number of areas, including:  

Civil society organizations in Romania and Serbia showed enthusiasm for the RPD program and made considerable matching contributions to the resources invested in the program. A number of excellent programs were undertaken and prospects were good for continued growth and linkages between ADF’s partner organizations on both sides of the border.