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EU Migrants' Advisers keep their diaries here while on work placement in Europe
Dear Daniela,
I don’t know where exactly on this page my reply will appear on this page (I’ve still got problems with understanding WordPress
, but let’s hope it will be alright!
***
Here are some of my views related to what you last wrote:
[1] Of a truth, Romania has changed a lot for the past 10 years. There may not be a lot of visible changes (we are still lacking a great deal of very necessary infrastructure), yet the ‘invisibile’ work of NGOs has certainly progressed.
[2] Unlike the early 1990s, when many NGOs served as ‘covers’ for all kinds of dirty dealings, there are many serious and hard-working organizations (like NACAB
, which are trying to make people aware of their rights and opportunities as citizens of Romania and of the EU.
[3] As you know, Romania does not have – at least for the time being – a serious problem with waves of immigrants coming to work & settle here, nor is the number of asylum seekers a ‘burdening’ one.
However, with over two million (until the next census of 2012 no one can give exact figures) Romanians working abroad (mostly in EU countries) we are offering ‘clients’ to other CABs.
Are there many Romanians in Rushmoor? How would you comment on this article?
[English text] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1300807/Romanian-president-Traian-Basescu-praises-countrymen-claiming-British-benefits.html
[4] Like in all other EU Member States, the extent to which people are aware of the EU’s institutions is rather limited, and we are trying to change that through a series of ‘citizen debates’, held in many places throughout Romania.
Here are the counties we visited this spring: VN, TM (two different places), NT (x 2), BZ (x2), HD, CJ, SM, AB (x 2) and BV. God willing, we are preparing another series of debates in Sept-Oct in AR (x 2), HR, CV, NT (again!), GR, SB, AG, BR and B.
I’ve been working with NACAB since 2008, giving little speeches on various EU issues, moderating discussions, and trying to ‘stir up’ little debates among citizens who would have never had the chance to talk about the EU, had it not been for our little ‘forums’.
***
Thanks for your offer of contacting you the next time I am in the UK! One can never have ‘too many’ friends and acquaintances, and I’m also pretty sure we would have a lot to talk about!
Best regards,
Bogdan
Hi Bogdan,
I still haven’t managed to create a WordPress account, so understand you there.
I am very glad that you are probably one of the few who are giving talks about European issues in our country….and you are deffinitely covering a lot of districts.
I have read the article, the British papers were very quick to comment on this happening, exressing – obviously – their ‘concerns’ about more immigrants coming to the UK, but they never say anything about getting it wrong when they predicted that a huge number of Romanians and Bulgarians will ‘invade’ UK after joining EU.
Traian Basescu was quite right saying that our fellow countrymen do jobs in the UK that no one else wants to do, due to being so low paid and not just that this helps Romania, but it definitely benefits UK – they pay their taxes but also spend the money, contributing to the UK’s economy.
Take care.
Daniela
Hi again Bogdan,
Have just I haven’t answered your question about how many Romanians are in Rushmoor. I do not know how many there are, as even went to the council to ask. This is because they don’t have to register with the council, which a lot of them don’t. I do here people speaking Romanian on the street, in shops…so there are a few. What I can deffinitely say is that they come to CAB more lately, but this is maybe about 10-15 in the last month or two, compared to maybe 10 in 3-4 months in the past. Their problems very – from being treated unfairly by their neighbours, employers, to asking about their rights, benefits, they are not sure about their employment contract, understanding letters(meanings) etc.
Take care
Daniela
2nd July
I know it’s Saturday and I should be enjoying the weekend, but I wanted to finish telling you all about my visit to Romania, which I had to pause due to no Internet access or bad signal etc.
On the 2nd of July we had the chance to visit a local CAB, in Bucharest. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take part in any interviews, as there has only been phone advice, procedures similar to the one in the UK, if we think of the advice process.
I had a look at the client profiles, again, similar to the ones we use in the UK, but what was most interesting for me was the information system, which is quite different from the one in the UK, as the Romanian CABs are using specific regulations, rule, laws when they give advice. I’ve found this so interesting maybe just because of the fact that UK doesn’t have a written constitution, so even if we do relate to rules and regulations when we give advice, we don’t use such specific information(rule number xxx, year yyyy, art zzz etc), I hope you understand what I mean, and I am not saying that we do not use the rules and regulations, but I think they are explained in easy language in our AdviserNet, which is monthly updated like the Romanian information system.
The main problems in the last couple of years are divorce and financial problems – debt, and all this due to the economic crisis.
There are about 100 clients/month seen in the bureau, and there are 8 advisers, 3 paid staff and 5 volunteers, who are mainly students. One of the paid staff has been working in the bureau since 2001/2002, when they’ve opened the doors for advice for the general public. I think that’s just amazing!
Information Office of the Council of Europe in Bucharest
We’ve met Mariana Nitelea, a lovely lady, who talked to us about different projects they’ve been working on and we have also touched on a few articles of Human Rights, but what was very interesting was that she suggested that our final report should be presented to the Council of Europe, who are the decision makers for the EU.
Mrs. Nitelea was very impressed about the work we do in Italy(FOCUS), Spain(ACCEM) and UK(CAB) and she was very interested about the voluntary service of the solicitors that come and help our clients for free. This is something she would like to see happening in Romania.
3rd of July – Roma Community in Merisani
This has been one of the nicest days. We have joined Ana-Maria Suciu and Alina Iosifescu(NACAB Romania) who are working on a project about recycling awareness within the Roma community, raising the importance of protecting the environment and the impact of litter dropping on animals, plants, but also on their lives at local level.
We’ve met 12-15 lovely Roma children, we played a couple of games, made them think about not dropping litter and how they could make a change in their community, by looking after the surroundings by being active in recycling. Amalia(FOCUS It.) and I really enjoyed talking to these children and also helping them collecting the 20 and 1/2 bin liners of plastic bottles! Yes, we really enjoyed it! and there are pictures to come. We promise!
4th of July – Brasov
Mihaela and I travelled to Brasov and had a lovely evening walking through Brasov and also watching the final evening of a folklore competition where a different countries took part:Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Romania etc, evening that ended with the concert of one of my favourite Romanian folklore singers, Mariana Anghel. We have also met Mihaela from CAB Brasov who was a very good tour guide.
5th of July – Meetings
We have taken part to a meeting at the local council where the main focus was getting together the local NGOs and the authorities services, to liaise and start a collaboration with the hope to bring each other’s experience, influence and expertise to better help people in need.
I was very surprised to find out how many NGOs took part and what they do, but also the different projects the Romanian Social Services undertake and their impact on people. I will only name here a few of the NGOs present there, and if you would like to find out more about them, please do have a look on their websites: SCUT, HOSPICE, AGAPEDIA, PAS ALTERNATIV(Alternative Step), CARITAS Confederation, CRYSTAL – Children Association, who work with children with special educational needs (Autistics, Asperger’s Syndrome, ADD/ADHD), very close to my heart as this is what I do in my other job, working in a secondary school in a big Learning Support Department, etc.
I have to admit that there was a feeling of too much pride, some of these organisations ‘representatives thinking that what they are doing is better then what the other organisations, NGOs are doing. From my point of view, the CAB service is not very much appreciated, or not at the level it should be, and this just because its main focus is information and advice, which from their point of view, is not so important compared to what they are doing. Not good as far as I’m concerned, so I think that the CAB profile needs a bit of lift and its profile should be raised to the level it should be. This is definitely one main point I wanted to make after seeing so many different organisations.
After the meeting we went to the Brasov CAB and met everyone there. We have also had the chance to talk to a Roma young boy – Rupi, 19 years old, who used to live in an orphanage and now is being looked after the Child Protection Agency, as he is still in education. He came to CAB for advice and apart from the help he needed, the girls at the CAB are helping him to put together a book about his life, which I think is absolutely brilliant and will definitely be an eye opener for everyone, both NGOs and governmental services.
6th of July – The Office of Migration
This was another eye opener about what are the rules and regulations for those who want to live and work in Romania. It was very clear that the EU citizens are the lucky ones when it comes to rights to work in Romania, as there are few restrictions, if any. It is very hard for the asylum seekers, though, and I have to admit that there is a lot of work done in this area in Romania. The Office only deals with immigration and we have had the chance to see samples of work permit and they’ve been explained to us, which was quite useful to see, as when people come to us for help we will have to see all their documents etc, so we don’t really get to see how these look for people who want to work in Romania.
Pro Democracy
We had an insight of this NGO’s work and its projects at local level, we have visited a club for children to spend their free time doing art, music, etc. We have talked about the impact these activities have on the children and the community.
7th of July – European Commission Representation in Romania
We have met Mihai Rosioru, Assistant to Press Officer, who talked to us about the press office of the European Commission and their work. It was very interesting to find out that even if they are doing a very good job in giving all the information of what is happening at the EU level to the Romanian national press, little of thee news are broad-casted and the common citizen doesn’t get to find out about this, so there is a very strong opinion about the fact that only “what sell gets on the news”, and unless there is someone very well-known and important talking at the European Commission, not too much is being broad-casted.
We have also visited the House of Parliament and the Cotroceni Palace which were amazing and I strongly recommend visiting them. ABSOLUTE IMPRESSING! Again, pictures to come.
NACAB(ANBCC)
We’ve discussed over lunch our final conclusions about our visit to Romania.
I have to admit that I came back to the UK with a very nice sense of pride and good impression about what is going on in my country. Things are definitely moving in the right direction, and it is very nice to see that the voluntary spirit is getting bigger, that the new generation is trying to make a change and improve the services for the common citizens. There is a strong feeling of achievement and there should be, but in the same time, the NGOs know they need help, especially with funding, and more importantly with getting the government realise and appreciate the work these NGOs are doing and start to allocate money to help them help the people in need. This in another main point that I am taking with me from my visit to Romania, and we should try to help towards this.
It was an absolute pleasure to take part in this project and I have had the chance to meet very nice people, who are passioned about what they do and helped me realise and put a string emphasis on the work I do at CAB and how much I enjoy helping people in need. I feel very proud of my country, even if it’s very obvious that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but I know that we are in the right direction to improve our level of life and becoming a strong developed country.
Thank you Ioan Tanase(and the team) for making my stay in Romania a very pleasant and enjoyable one, and for helping me rediscover Romania, and thank you everyone who put a lot of effort and work into this.
Also a very big thank you to our funders and ECAS,and also to Paul Baird for giving me the chance to take part in this project and I hope that we will have more opportunities to work together to improve our services to the common people.
1st July – More meetings
European Employment Service(EURES) & The National Agency for Employment(ANOFM)
http://www.eures.europa.eu
http://www.anofm.ro/eures
We’ve met Gabriela Nedelcu(EURES) & Adriana Pert(ANOFM)
EURES is a service available for people who are looking for jobs abroad. They give informations on vacancies on the EU labour market, counselling, matching and placement services to citizens.
EURES also works on different projects, one of them being the Information Caravan, closely working with Roma people from rural areas, rising the awareness about the active measures of getting them registered as unemployed. They also take part in fares on different topis etc.
For vaccancies, for examples, they give all info about the job, together with general information about the country of destination. This general information is subsidised by the EC.
It was useful interesting to find out that EURES Romania is very interested to work with NGOs and as we’ve discovered that the NACAB website is not mentioned on their leaflets, we have created the link and got the promise from these two ladies that they will be happy to promote/mention in the leaflets the work of the Romanian CABs, so this was a real success. Also, more information about EURES can be found on their website, with more link on useful websites.
To be continued….
Dear Daniela,
You seem to have had a really interesting time in Romania. How did you find our country after some years since settling in the UK?
Hi Bogdan,
I have had a lovely time in Romania and
Hi Bogdan,
I have just realised that something went wrong with my reply last time.
I’ve had a lovely time in Romania and I was very impressed about how much it has changed. Ok, yes, you could argue a lot of things, like life conditions, salary, new pay cuts, the shocking time cuts in education due to lack of money, and much more, but I could see a lot of positive things and the work NGOs are trying to do to improve people’s lives.
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this to you, but you are more that welcome to contact me if you come to the UK in the future, I’m sure there will a lot of things we could talk about.
What do you think about all these? Where am I wrong in what I’ve just said?
Take care!
28th July – Arrival
After a not too bad trip to Romania, a good rest at the hotel, we have met everyone involved in the project for a nice dinner. I have met Andrei, Adriana, Ana, Alina from NACAB Romania, Amalia form FOCUS Italy and Mihaela from ACCEM Spain. They are all very excited about the project.
29th July – Introductions
NACAB and its area of expertise
We were told about NACAB projects and the way it works, both at regional and national level.
Projects on public administartion: some of the these NACAB projects involve the monitoring and evaluation of the local council in the main 42 Romanian counties, the developing of the rural local authorities(as there are about 3000 villages). These are projects on public administartion.
Projects on social inclusion – NACAB is trying to draft a strategy of social inclusion regarding youth. For this project, the Romanian NACAB team is going to the UK in the hope to learn more about evaluating the needs in the community, writing reports to try to give the best support where is needed.
Projects on environment issues – working with 2 rural communities organising events for public awareness on the importance of recycling. We will be taking part to one of these events
+ the Flowchart project and many more.
We have also discussed what exactly could we do towards the Flowchart project and it was pointed out the importance of us, through our organisations, to help put together information on legislation – rights and responsabilities of migrants in the countries they migrate to. We have also talked about similarities and differences on certain rules for migrants in our countries and the importance of knowing each other better, socially and culturally also, to better understand migratns ‘decisions to live in a foreign country.
I have to admit that the tight restrictions on A2 nationals is a ‘hot subject’ in our discussions. We just can’t help it.
30th July – Meeting different organisations
International Organisation for Migration(IOM)
http://www.iom.int
http://www.iom.ro
We have met Ciprian Nita, who talked to us about the different projects they have been involved in and also the general service of IOM: – helping people to return home through the voluntary return programmes, help for refugees, trying to fight human trafficking, the collaboration with Canada, working for them in putting together the medical files for Romanians who have obtained the visas for Canada.
A very important point about IOM is that they are trying to create 15 information centres in Roamania(I will clarify with Ana if it is just Romania) and they work closely with NACAB as they help with getting all the info together. This porject is awaiting the start, so I think that this is very important as our project in concerned, and we should definitely think of how to approach this, as we are all talking of the need of a website/one stop shop for information for migrants, in their own language- Ideas?
SOROS Foundation
http://www.soros.ro
We have met Iris Alexe who also talked about their service and the projects they do.
The foundations does a lot of studies on different areas, but they cover immigration at a great extent. They work with organisations from different countries Spain, Moldova, etc.
They also try to influence the policy makers presenting their reports, but the only way this has worked was by the Romanian Office for Migration and the Ministry of Labour to display the Soros Foundation guide in their offices/receptions. Iris thinks that even if it doesn’t seem much, at least they know they have received the aknowledgement for their reports and their liability. This is for their project when they worked directly with people from Moldova who live in Romania, asking them about their thoughts on what should the Romanian local authorities and the government do to help them integrate. The project is called Immigrants ‘ Information Needs, and we have got a CD with this study. There is a lot more to say, maybe mentioning their specific projects, but you can find all info on their website.
After meeting Iris, I have been bitten by mosquitoes and I have now got a swollen thumb and ankle. Not happy!
Good to meet you, Daniela!
…even exclusively online for the time being. Anyway, I’m hoping that thanks to Flowchart we’ll also have the opportunity to discuss face to face.
As a ‘fan of the UK’ (http://munteanuk.blogspot.com/), where I lived only for 13 weeks in the beginning of 2008, I am always interested in talking to Romanians who live there.
I’ve been often accused that my views of the UK are ‘too harsh’ and ‘politically incorrect’, but I usually never criticize a country that I don’t like. The truth is that we can learn many could things from Britons, as well as beware some of their mistakes.
Hi Bogdan,
I know that we will tallk more about your opinion on UK, but for now, all I have to say that I have enjoyed lining there and you get very soon used to their ‘ways’. Yeah, of course there are things I do not agree with, but generally, I have mainly positive things to say about UK.
Looking forward though to debate the subject with you
Hi everyone!
My name is Daniela and I am from Romania. I have lived in the UK for 6 and a half years, and I have been working for CAB UK (Rushmoor) for just over 3 years as a generalist adviser and am co-ordinating the Financial Capability project – MoneyActive which is funded by Nationwide. Through this project we organise money management sessions for groups that regularly meet in the community, talking to them about how to better deal with their money.
In the bureau I volunteer as Generalist Adviser on housing, benefits, debt, immigration, employment, consumer and many more. I really enjoy what I do at CAB and feel that I am making a difference to people’s lives, in a positive way.
Through this project I hope that we will create strong links with other CABs from EU and share best practices and most importantly, find ways to understand and help each other with regards to free movement and labour between our countries.
I am looking forward to my visit to Romania and I hope that Mihaela enjoyed her visit to the UK as well.