Central Romania: Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation kicks off inclusive civic engagement project

Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation has kicked off the project of an experiential laboratory for inclusive civic engagement.

Șura/ The Barn is to take place over a period of 36 months in the village of Archita, Vânători commune, in Mureș county.

The project is implemented by Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation and benefits from a EUR 240,804 grant from Active Citizens Fund Romania, a program funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014 – 2021. Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation will add a EUR 30,000 financing to the project.

The project aims to “encourage social activism to order to increase social cohesion among the members of the community in Archita.”

It will answer several community needs identified in meetings held with the village inhabitants over the past years, such as the need to consolidate the community, create the needed infrastructure for civic involvement, organizing extra-curricular activities and activities for the social-cultural inclusion of vulnerable groups, according to a press release from Mihai Eminescu Trust.

The project will cover a program of inclusive civic engagement, the establishment of the civic engagement club Șura, advocacy exercises and actions, and experience exchanges with civil society organizations in the area.

A barn in Archita will be refurbished in order to create a multi-functional community venue “favoring the interaction among various social categories and the civic involvement of the community.”

The project also covers establishing a civic activism club for the children and youth in Archita, educational workshops, and summer camps, among others.

(Photo courtesy of Mihai Eminescu Trust Foundation)