Author Archives: Paula Anastasiade

The voice of businesswomen in Romania

Posted on 16 June, 2011 | Comments Off

CIPE board member Ambassador Barbara Barrett (center) visits CAFA in Romania

This year marks the seventh anniversary of a project that is special to us at the CIPE Regional Office in Romania. In 2004, CIPE supported the creation of the Coalition of Women Business Associations (CAFA), the first-ever and to date only such organization in Romania. A small informal organization at the time, it has since grown to include 19 women’s business associations across the country. Members of CAFA joined this coalition to ensure that their interests as businesswomen are represented and that they have a sound platform to express their views. Their main objective is to help build a strong business community, under the motto “value has no gender.”

CAFA has a rotating secretariat and holds a conference each year, in order to review successes and plans for the following year. The most recent conference (held in June 2011) was inspired by the idea “you are the change.” The participants engaged in discussions about CAFA’s plans in 2011, including organizing communication and advocacy seminars, discussing legislation with authorities, and establishing partnerships with companies in other countries, such as Canada.

CAFA has built a sound reputation for itself over the years, and is now acknowledged as a significant partner in the public-private dialogue on economic policymaking. One example is CAFA’s advocacy effort to improve the fiscal climate in Romania. More specifically, in 2010, the coalition submitted a protest to the Cabinet in reference to a number of unfriendly fiscal and financial measures that the government has adopted in order to increase its budget. Under the slogan “We Care”, CAFA suggested a set of ten alternative measures that should help support the business environment, especially because some fiscal measures that were adopted by the government in 2009 have resulted in the closure of around 150,000 small and medium businesses.

The interaction between CAFA and the officials is a good example of the normal functioning of civil society and stresses the importance of coalitions in advocacy activities. It also attests to the role of CAFA as a legitimate advocate for the interests of the women’s business community that it represents. Moreover, the fact that CAFA is determined to pursue its advocacy efforts will further consolidate its status and attract other stakeholders to work for the same cause.

We hope that the example set by CAFA encourages other organizations to put more effort into furthering the interests of the people and sectors they represent. To learn more about CAFA’s work join us at CIPE’s upcoming Democracy that Delivers for Women conference June 20-21 in Washington DC where Camelia Bulat, director of CIPE Romania, will attend. Ambassador Barbara Barrett, who has been a friend of CAFA for many years, will also be a speaker. It is not too late to register! www.democracythatdelivers.com

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Posted in Eastern Europe

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Write, race, win! CIPE’s youth essay competition continues to inspire

Posted on 4 March, 2011 | Comments Off

The CIPE Regional Office (Romania) staff recently had the opportunity to meet with Irina Alionte, one of the winners of CIPE’s Youth Essay Competition (2009 edition). In a previous article, the CIPE Regional Office reported on the influence of CIPE’s essay competition on Irina’s subsequent trajectory.

Irina continues to act as marketing manager at her family’s business – the Shakespeare School, a Bucharest-based foreign languages educational institution which specializes in English courses for students between five and twenty-five years old. In addition, Irina’s plans include pursuing post-graduate studies in the United Kingdom, as well as opening a foundation aiming to support academic excellence upon completing her studies and returning to Romania.

Having won the CIPE essay competition in 2009, Irina was inspired to organize an essay competition (in English) at the Shakespeare School, for two categories of participants: middle- and high-school students. She took on the responsibility of organizing the school’s annual English competition, which is open to youth between eleven and nineteen years old. Irina is in charge of promoting the competition with current and potential sponsors and partners by preparing a customized presentation of the project (history, impact, objectives, as well as an overview of the mutual benefits of cooperation).

In 2011, the School opened the third edition of the competition. This year, they’ve invited middle-school participants to provide their personal interpretation of four images and express their thoughts on the traits of an ideal world, based on those images. High-school participants will have the opportunity to ponder the role of volunteer work and its positive social effects.

This year’s competition has been designed to take place under the slogan “Write, race, win!”, which was not a coincidental choice. With the help of a professional advertising company, the School managed to give a visual expression to the purpose of this year’s competition, namely to encourage the participants to compete for the sake of developing their competitive spirit and their desire for improvement, rather than the prize itself.

However, the prizes are not to be neglected. It is worth mentioning that the school is now promising to reward the winners with a greater number of attractive prizes, including: summer schools for high-school-level participants at Cambridge and Oxford, and similar study experiences for middle-school-level participants at St. Michael’s College, and Harrow House. Harrow House is Shakespeare School’s newest partner and has selected to work with this Romanian institution precisely because of the popularity of its programs and competitions. Other prizes include: books, dictionaries, free admission to examinations offered by the British Council, sporting goods, as well as language courses offered by Shakespeare School.

The second edition of the competition was far more successful than the previous – in 2009, 200 participants registered, whereas the 2010 edition featured 3100 essays from participants in over 350 locations across Romania. As such, the 2011 competition is expected to be an even bigger hit among the Romanian youth.

Two factors seem to support this assumption.

First, the competition has received support from some of the most prominent media outlets in Romania, among which TVR (traditionally known as the Romanian “public television”) and Kiss FM, along with other well-known institutions (British Council, Mirunette International Education, Dinu Patriciu Foundation, Carturesti Bookstores, etc.). The competition has also been advertised on the website of the European Commission office in Romania, in the context of the European Year of Volunteering (2011). To view the ad that has been aired on TVR 1, Romania’s national TV channel, please visit:

Second, the concept of the competition itself seems to have been borrowed by another Romanian foundation, which aims to support education by providing study opportunities both in Romania and abroad. CIPE programs can become a far-reaching source of inspiration at times.

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Posted in Eastern Europe

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Making Democracy Work in Moldova

Posted on 29 October, 2010 | Comments Off

We talk a lot about democracy working between elections; about the importance of people being able to express their views and opinions beyond the ballot box. But while its easy to talk about democratic governance, its not as easy on the practical level. How do you engage citizens in holding officials accountable? How can small entrepreneurs ensure that political leaders live up to their electoral promises?

Although possible, it is extremely difficult for individuals to achieve such a task. We have seen, however, that building a platform of a collective voice is one of the most effective ways of getting involved and participating in the act of democratic governance – in holding public officials accountable for their promises and actions.

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Posted in Eastern Europe

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Romanian emigrants’ remittances – potential engine for economic rebound

Posted on 9 September, 2010 | 1 Comment

According to a recent article in the Romanian media, Romania is among the top ten countries in the world to benefit from remittances. The International Agency for Source Country Information (IASCI), an Austrian non-governmental organization, has been conducting a project with the Soros Foundation focusing on the impact of migration on financial investments in Romania – the first study of this kind to be developed in a European Union country. The project, which will be finalized in November, aims to highlight the extent of Romanian migrants’ remittances and their impact on the development of their home country.

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Posted in Eastern Europe

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Women organizing for success in Romania

Posted on 30 July, 2010 | Comments Off

CIPE’s recent case study on women’s business associations focusing on Central, and Eastern Europe features a case study by Cornelia Rotaru, president of the Association for Women Entrepreneurship Development, on one of the most resounding success stories in the region – the Association of Business Women and Top Managers (AFAFCI), in Brasov county, Romania.

The CIPE Balkans Regional Office recently had the pleasure of sharing the study with its partners in the Coalition of Business Women Associations (CAFA) and the Balkan Coalition of Women Business Associations. The two coalitions were born with CIPE support and the CIPE Regional Office’s direct involvement in 2004 and 2005 respectively. AFAFCI is a founding member of both coalitions. CIPE will also be present at a press conference to be held in Brasov, in August, for the purpose of disseminating the findings of the study, and more specifically the findings of Ms. Rotaru’s case study.

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Posted in Eastern Europe

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Millennium Development Goals in the Romanian context

Posted on 6 July, 2010 | Comments Off

Federation of NGOs for DevelopmentA few weeks ago, the Romanian Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for Development (FOND) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) hosted the third annual edition of the Romanian Development Camp, a summer school which has focused on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Romania’s relatively new donor status. This year’s summer school is the first time that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has co-organized the event, as part of a larger MFA strategy to consolidate institutional capacity and to raise public awareness as to the importance of development aid cooperation. One of its most notable results is the creation, following last year’s edition of the Camp, of the first post-graduate program in Development Studies (MA).

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Posted in Eastern Europe, Global

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Women of Success

Posted on 26 August, 2009 | Comments Off

Women of SuccessWomen have been acknowledged as an important reservoir of entrepreneurs in countries on their path towards democracy. CIPE’s Regional Office in Bucharest, Romania has been an active promoter of women’s involvement in entrepreneurship, and also one of the first organizations in Romania to initiate specialized programs in this direction.

One such project was “Women of Success,” which was developed starting with 2002 with funding from USAID, and featured three annual multimedia editions. In 2005, the first regional edition of the CD was also published, featuring 71 businesswomen from 20 associations in eight countries (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, Romania and Turkey). The latter initiative was part of a project concerning the CIPE-supported creation of a Coalition of Balkan Women Business Associations. The CD was distributed internationally, reaching women’s associations, government representatives, local authorities, as well as the media.

The goal of the project was to promote positive values and to create awareness about successful Romanian business women. The core idea was to show people that success can be achieved, that regular persons who had the courage to start their own business are now the ones to speak about building enterprises and creating jobs.

The project was designed to feature stories of Romanian women who have become successful entrepreneurs in spite of all barriers. The business women, who are nominated by their respective associations, tell the story of their business careers and describe in their own words the secrets of their successes. The project is not about the company, the business, or about their product. It is all about leadership and the way to get through.

By being featured on the CD with the story of their successes as entrepreneurs and managers, women get public recognition of their merits. The business associations have a critical role in the project as they are the ones to identify the business women members that have exceptional career stories that are worth sharing with the business community.

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Posted in Eastern Europe

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