Regional Stakeholders group meeting in Romania
Within the framework of the SECON project, on February 26, 2024, Hargita County Council has organized the Regional Stakeholders group meeting regarding social economy. A total of 21 participants appeared at the event, among which the president and vice president of the institution paid their respects.
During the event, after the welcoming speeches, project manager András Lóránd explained the objectives and activities of the SECON project, after which 6 local good practices were presented. First, the Diakónia Christian Foundation from Sfântu Gheorghe, presented its work as a job broker, as well as the activities of the enterprise created by the foundation to employ socially disadvantaged people.
Afterwards, the activities of the KÖZ.- Community Coffe shop from Odorheiu Secuiesc were presented by Vanda Tamás, who said that their activities are carried out through a company and an association, thanks to which approx. 1,000 people is visiting monthly the café shop.
After this, the coordinator of Association of people with disabilities from Harghita county, Csaba Fikó, described their decades-long work, which primarily provides activities and services aimed to facilitate the social inclusion of people with disabilities and to provide a job for them. This organization is operating since 1990 with 130 employees and 2,000 members.
Fifth, György Péter, head of the Csíkszereda office of Caritas Alba Iulia, talked about how the organization created businesses whose goal is to create the financial conditions necessary to provide social services. He pointed out that almost half of their employees are people with disabilities.
The series of presentations was closed by the coordinator of Civitas foundation, Orbán Árpád, who spoke about his work in the field of social enterprises in Romania and several international cooperations over the last 20 years.
In the second half of the meeting, a round table discussion took place, where the discussion was primarily about how important is the cooperation between the civil and public sectors and the promotion of the social economy. As it turned out from the participants, there are more social enterprises in Hargita County today than the communities are aware of, which would be important to be organized in network.
As a final conclusion, in order to fulfill the above goals, the participants expressed their intention to create an working group that can carry out this coordinating work of networking.