1. Ministerul Muncii, Familiei şi Protecţiei Sociale Proiectul Phare 2006 “Asistenţă tehnică pentru promovarea campaniei naţionale de conştientizare în domeniul incluziunii sociale” The Romanian plan of action in the field of social inclusion: the results of the consultation process regarding the identification of the priority objectives for 2010-2012 International conference Bucharest, 17-18 November 2009 Ms Adina Dragotoiu Director, Directorate for social inclusion programmes Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection Romania

2. CHALLENGES  Romania is currently facing a series of challenges:  Demographical changes;  Changes on the labour market;  School dropping;  Poverty level.

3. BACKGROUND INDICATORS demographical  Life expectancy at birth (2007):  Men: 69,71 years  Women: 76,86 years  Life expectancy at 65 years (2007): MenWomen EU - 2716,8420,9 Romania13,9416,86

4. BACKGROUND INDICATORS demographical  Healthy life years (2007): MenWomen EU - 2761,662,3 Romania60,462,4

5. Employment rate 15 – 64 years: EU target for 2010: 70,0%  In 2007:  Romania: 58,8% (men: 64,8%; women: 52,8%)  EU27 – 65,4% (men: 72,5% ; women: 58,3%)  In 2008:  Romania: 59,0% (men: 65,7%, women : 52,5%)  EU27 – 65,9% (men: 72,8% ; women: 59,1%) BACKGROUND INDICATORS employment (ILO)

6. Unemployment rate at 15+: In 2007:  Romania: 6,4% (men: 6,7%; women: 5,4%);  EU27: 7,1% (men: 6,6%; women: 7,8%) In 2008:  Romania: 5,8% (men: 6,7%; women: 4,7%)  EU27: 7,0% (men: 6,6%; women: 7,5%) Unemployment rate 15 – 24 years (1 st quarter 2009):  Romania: 19,6%  EU27: 18,3% BACKGROUND INDICATORS employment (ILO)

7. BACKGROUND INDICATORS employment (administrative data)

8. BACKGROUND INDICATORS employment (forecast)  According to the Autumn forecast of the National Commission of Prognosis:

9. BACKGROUND INDICATORS education

10. BACKGROUND INDICATORS poverty rate Trend of poverty rate in Romania

11. BACKGROUND INDICATORS poverty rate (2008) Trend of poverty rate in Romania per development regions

12. BACKGROUND INDICATORS poverty rate 47,8 44,7 42,4 38 27,3 23,6 22,3 15,8 9,8 12,4 25,9 18,8 17,6 13,8 11,6 8,1 6,8 4,9 2,3 3,2 35,9 30,6 28,9 25,1 18,8 15,1 13,8 9,8 5,7 7,4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 2000200120022003200420052006200720082009 Rural area Urban area Country total Dynamics of absolute poverty per type of residence

13.  According to the Law no. 47/2006 regarding the national social assistance system: Art. 5.a - “ the process of social inclusion represents the set of multidisciplinary measures and actions from the fields of social protection, employment, housing, education, health, information-communication, mobility, security, justice and culture aiming to combat social exclusion.” What is social inclusion?

14. How social inclusion was interpreted at the working groups in the previous 9 conferences:  Equal access to social, civil and econimic rights for all;  Observe human dignity;  Facilitate citizens’ opportunities for personal development;  Participation to the democratic processes and to decision-making.

15. Lisbon Strategy (2000-2010) : EU> the most dynamic economy based on knowledge, able to have a sustainable economy growth with more and better jobs and a better social cohesion Common objectives Aggregate indicator Community Action Programme for Combating Social Exclusion National Strategic Report for Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2006-2008 Action Plan on Social Inclusion 2010-2012 National Strategic Report for Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2008-2010 Monitoring Report

16. Start for a new cycle, post Lisbon  Commission and European Parliament renewed  Impact of the financial and economic crises on employment rate and on the social domains (Plan of Economic Recovery)  Preparations for post Lisbon strategy (2010 - 2015), including a new European Employment Strategy (EES), a new “Social Agenda” and new cycle for OMC  Treaty adoption

17. Priority areas for the promotion of social inclusion (hierarchy)

18. PRIORITY FIELDS OF ACTION 1. EDUCATION 2. EMPLOYMENT 3. HEALTH 4. SOCIAL PROTECTION 5. INFORMATION-COMMUNICATION

19. Specific actions 1.EDUCATION:  Preventing school abandon;  Developing educational programmes accorded to the labour market needs;  Intercultural education as methodology and intercultural spirit;  School counselling/ information for families in deprived communities regarding the benefits of participating to the educational process;  Developing lifelong learning programmes;  Facilitating access to education of children in remote communities;  Increasing the quality of the schooling in rural areas;  Developing pre-school education;  Further strengthening the “school-after-school” programme.

20. Specific actions 2.EMPLOYMENT(I):  Objective analysis of labour market needs and development of educational and training programmes that are adapted to them;  Diversifying of workplace retraining programmes;  Making labour market more flexible (through part-time jobs, work-at-home) by means of employment projects targeted at beneficiaries of the minimal guaranteed income;  Need-adapted employment measures destined to disabled persons, and creating incentives for employers to hire this group;  Developing abilities for new jobs;

21. Specific actions 2. EMPLOYMENT(II):  Facilitating the creation of new jobs mainly for disadvantaged groups, be means of developing the social economy sector: define the concept of social enterprise and support the establishment of social enterprises.  Creating jobs to promote traditional crafts;  Creating a national system of prognosis for the labour market;  Raising awareness and information levels of employers to eliminate their reluctance at hiring people in difficulty;  Ensuring financial resources for the implementation and multiplication of the active employment measures.

22. Specific actions 3.HEALTH:  Make sure that at least 97% of total population hold a health insurance in the national public system;  Amenities and free-of-charge services for vulnerable persons and categories;  Morbidity prevention programmes, centred on deprived communities in particular;  Facilitate equal access to health services in the public system and improve the quality of the medical performance;  Enhance the role of family doctors as “social actors”;  Develop the emergency care system;  Introduce health insurance e-card;  Strengthen health care services in coordination with social and long-term care services.

23. Specific actions 4.SOCIAL PROTECTION (I):  Evaluate existing social needs in communities;  Make the use of available financial resources more efficient;  Evaluate the effects/ impact of paid social benefits, and develop programmes aiming at integration, and not on generating dependency on the social system;  Tangible measures targeting the necessities of people in need (subsidies for electricity and utilities bills, etc.);  Systems of social inclusion services that are well coordinated among all relevant sectors;  Increase the ratio of expenditures for active measures within the total of social expenditures.

24. Specific actions 4.SOCIAL PROTECTION(II):  Set of minimal social services that must be ensured in a community;  Unitary public pensions system;  Stimulate the development of social services that would help intensify the degree of self-determination and autonomy for people in difficulty;  Encourage public-private partnerships; outsourcing the delivery of social services;  Increase the investment in the human capital in the field of social services.

25. Communication – general considerations  Working groups participants described communication as a necessary and compulsory prerequisite for achieving the set social inclusion objectives.  As a result, it will be the first time when communication activities will be an integral part of the national plan of action in the field of social inclusion.  The lack of communication between institutions was demonstrated by the genuine interest that the exchange of information and views generated among the participants to the working groups.

26. Specific actions 5.INFORMATION-COMMUNICATION:  Develop information campaigns in the field of social inclusion for the general public;  Establish structure with definite communication tasks at local level;  Organize information sessions of legislative changes for the actors involved in the social inclusion process;  Inform beneficiaries about the rights they have in an accessible manner;  Improve communication between the various actors involved in the social inclusion process;  Develop national/ local promotion campaigns focused on examples of successful social inclusion of people belonging to vulnerable groups.

27. Good governance 1.COORDINATION OF LEGISLATIVE PROCESS  Eliminate legislative incongruities and limit the recurrent changes in law;  Efficient inter-institutional collaboration and mutual exchange of information regarding legislative proposals;  Draft impact assessment studies on the degree of implementation of existing legislation before it is changed/ amended.

28. 2. DESCENTRALIZATION  The county level is the optimal level of descentralization;  Introduce administrative, financial and human resources criteria in evaluation the capacity of local authorities to take over a certain service;  Allocate human and financial resources in parallel with the descentralization of responsibilities. Good governance

29. 3. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILIZATION  At the level of local authorities:  Information campaigns to raise awareness among all local authorities on the roles and tasks they have;  Establish citizens’ information centres with data about the social rights (within the Public Social Assistance Services);  Measures to rebuild trust and respect for professionals working in local structures.  At the level of citizens:  Inclusive education, to determine citizens to get involved in the social life of their communities;  Promote participation to decision-making and develop joint projects;  Introduce in school curricula lectures about the “civic spirit”. Good governance

30. 4. PARTNERSHIPS  Redefine the connections between the civil society, business community, authorities and state to raise awareness of the sense of common belonging to the society as a whole;  Existance of a joint/ unitary collaboration mechanism to achieve a global perspective of social needs and existing measures. Good governance

31. 5. CONTINUE EFFORTS TO IMPROVE DATA COLLECTION SYSTEMS  Continue efforts to make the National and County Commissions for the Promotion of Social Inclusion function more effectively;  Consolidate data collection mechanisms, especially at local level;  Create a set of indicators in the social sector that will provide a clear reflection of the existing needs and programmes at the county and community levels;  Develop IT infrastructure to facilitate the administrative data collection process. Good governance