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Romania Visit at the Behest of Motivation Romania Representatives from the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) completed a week-long visit to Romania April 24-May 01. ANCOR was invited to conduct an exploratory fact-finding and needs assessment regarding how current non-governmental organizations (NGOs) might better network and organize to advance public policy regarding community-based supports and services for people with disabilities. Representing ANCOR were Renee Pietrangelo, PhD, ANCOR CEO, and ANCOR Board members Rich Carman (regional director) and Gale Bohling (vice president for marketing and communications). Mr. Carman directs government relations activity for Mosaic, one of the largest, nonprofit faith-based providers of supports and services to people with disabilities in the U.S. Mr. Bohling is a principal of Federated Human Service Co-Op, a federation of family cooperatives incorporated to collectively purchase and oversight supports and services for family members with disabilities. We met with representatives from the following Romanian NGOs:
In addition, we were housed at a children's group home and were able to interact with the children, direct support and other staff; had the opportunity to visit a day program; and met with staff and consumers at a state-operated institution for adults. The Romanian NGO service community is vital, committed, has great depth of talent and strong leadership. What they have achieved in such a short time is extremely impressive. And, from the depth and breadth of our interviews and what we were able to see first-hand, there's no question that there's a great deal that the ANCOR provider community can learn a good deal from them. The Environment The majority of people with disabilities in Romania remain institutionalized in state-operated facilities. Organizations such as Motivation Romania, Trebuie, and Aurora provide community-based supports and services, including day programs and residential services, foster care and in-home supports. Oversight responsibility for institutions and private support services is under the Ministry of Labor and a National Authority for People with Handicaps within that ministry. Whereas the "authority" rests under this configuration, the Ministry of Labor lacks professional knowledge about people with disabilities as well as understanding of key issues regarding self-direction and community inclusion. And, according to those we interviewed, neither the Ministry nor the Authority effectively communicates with stakeholders. There is no law/public policy that defines private service provision and no current infrastructure to support or engender an NGO-driven system of social services. There is also a lack of understanding between public administrators and private NGOs on how such a system would work. Bottom line is there is a lack of public policy making. With no laws, there is continual flux and a whole lot of re-inventing the wheel. At present, funding for private NGOs is almost exclusively from international aid and charitable sources. How the government will fund social services once Romania has ascended into the European Union (currently set for 2007) is a question that has not, as yet, been engaged. There was a general sense among the private NGOs we interviewed that the government does not see a problem with providing community-based supports and services and, therefore, funding is a non-issue at this point. For example, SERA Romania, which is supported by international funds, creates community-based services, including residential group homes, with the objective of turning them over to the government for operation. The Romanian National Council of Disability, which ideally should represent the viewpoints of the different stakeholders---consumers, family members, providers----is a pre-capitalist organization whose most vocal constituents are the hearing and sight-impaired. There is, therefore, little to no substantive connection between stakeholders and social services available. The Council president noted that a "disability manifesto" has been created and efforts are under way for acceptance of the manifesto by the Ministry of Labor. Unfortunately, many of the NGO stakeholder groups are unaware of the manifesto and were not involved in its development. There is lack of coherency among NGOs as well, which allows public administrators to discount them and certainly provides an "out" for not addressing their issues. There is also little networking among private NGOs, which remain largely competitive. A lack of trust exists among NGOs, and many are unfamiliar with a culture of open dialogue and sharing of ideas and practices. Also of note is that some NGO leaders suffer from "founders syndrome." Several NGOs stated there is not enough money available to pay dues to multiple organizations and that organizations that attempt to serve in an advocacy role for NGOs often compete with each other by providing the same services. Barriers to the development of such an organization include:
At the same time, there is a lack of trained professionals to effectively direct and manage a trade-association/public policy-like advocacy organization. Resources From our limited exposure, two key resources surfaced. The first is the Romanian Institute for Training, which was created to provide pre-ascension support and training to underpin the development of a civil society. Institute staff has an excellent grasp of the current environment and the development needs of both public authorities and NGOs, and offer comprehensive training supports for each of these groups on such critical topics as communication, transparency, ethics and conflict of interest, financial management, human resource development, visioning, strategic and business planning, legal compliance, etc. The second resource is the National Council of Small and Medium-Sized Private Enterprises in Romania, which is structured and operates the most closely to a "trade" association, providing advocacy and services to its members. NCSMSPE also understanding policy development and has garnered influence within the ministry of jurisdiction for small business. They have the ear of key public decision-makers. Structured as a confederation, they are national in scope, and have created a culture of collaboration and networking. They have grown a substantial membership and provide a variety of member services and resources. Recommendations It's very important that networking and coalition-building to advance public policy on behalf of people with disabilities and to effect the development of a non-governmental, private system for service delivery be positioned as a long-term investment. To that end, ANCOR proposes the following:
Finally, ANCOR is committed to working with counterparts in Romania and elsewhere
to solidify our efforts to build an international program of vibrant exchange,
networking and mutual support among provider communities worldwide. We look
forward with great anticipation to the evolution of this important program.
© 2007 American Network of Community Options and Resources |
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