I participated in the Development Camp event held in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, on 29-30 June as a volunteer worker in the Novapolis Association. The aim of Development Camp started with a talk about how the 2030 agenda can be implemented in a time of crisis. Coordination studies and applicability of the pandemic and the crisis in the world were discussed locally and nationally we participated with interest in the discussion regarding the adaption of humanitarian cooperation to reduce inequalities and build resilience including the national strategy for sustainable development. According to this, we debated how this strategy may influence the Ukrainian War. Moreover, we discussed the launching of multilateral support and the importance listening in the process of communication.
One of the issues that was specifically addressed was Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war from Odessa. One of the planned works is to open a new association and continue the activities of the association that is already in Ukraine. Another topic of the conference was the work of the Emergency Situation Department (ESD). They work as a union that can quickly produce solutions and create assistance in emergencies. They also did aid work for the war in Ukraine. In emergencies, the work of such associations becomes more important because the government’s decision-making mechanism works slowly. The reason why associations do more work in aid issues is that they have a dynamic and healthy structure.
One of the subjects that caught my attention at the event was the work started by many associations in Romania when the war started in Ukraine. In order to create help quickly, associations in Romania contacted each other by establishing a WhatsApp group. Afterwards, they created a more professional effect by moving the group to the MS-team platform in the process. There are 600 participants in total in this established association and there are also participants from Ukraine, mostly from Romania. And as a group, a total of 33 participants are from FOND and Novapolis Association is one of them. CARITAS Romania organization is trying to reach Ukrainian local people. And they cater to children and mothers in general and provide assistance to a total of 3500 people. One of the most important work they do is to help people who want to escape the war in Ukraine and come to Romania to get a visa. In addition, there are 5 centers in total, where they help people on both physical health and psychological health.
The focus of another session at the Development Camp event was the strengthening of existing relations with sub-Saharan African countries. These relations mainly include academic, commercial, and non-governmental organizations. In general, the decisions taken by the countries in the European Union and the work they do are also important for the rest of the world. The main purpose of these decisions is to develop new strategies to find solutions to potential problems and to see and implement potential developments in a timely manner. A participant who attended the session about African countries online also made a presentation about Nigeria. In this presentation, the education situation in Africa and the Erasmus connections with the universities there were. The common point of all the participants in this session were academics who have qualifications on specific issues about African countries, experts working in non-governmental organizations and some names from Romanian politics. I would like to thank the FOND organization for their invitation to this event.
TURGUT, Civil Engineer Canddidate
Participant of ; Novapolis Association, Renassaince Institute Association