Annual Report TON Foundation - 2022

2022 | ANNUAL REPORT

www.TheOpenNetwork.ro www.facebook.com/TheOpenNetwork 1

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TABLE OF CONTENT

2022 | ANNUAL REPORT

Page Steering committee

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Year 2022 at a glance

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Projects

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Events

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How we work, Network structures

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Where we work map

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Membership, Fundraising, Resources

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Sponsors and Funders

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Our President Jozef Goebels

Our Executive Director Cristina-Victoria Cherț

Board Members Maria PrutieanuHesfelean Ioan Suru

Bart Wynants

Daniela Ceredeev Jef Vanhoof

Piet Henckens

Mihaela Hiche Peter Andriessen 4

Year 2022 at a glance The year 2022 was full of emotions, joys, projects and examples of solidarity for those around us and among the members of The Open Network for Community Development Foundation.

The beginning of the year was prolific for our Foundation. We started the year with the start of the "A Better LifE - ABLE" project, a dear project with many resources for our OLFs, a project co-financed by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union.

Also in January, we started the stage of selection of schools and teaching staff within the "SOS Fire in schools" project, a project implemented with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Romania.

Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, millions of people have fled this horror. Also, Romania received thousands of refugees. News about the actions of our members reached Belgium as well, such as spontaneous collection campaigns, providing shelter, providing meals and taking care of children's well-being. Since these actions required resources, ADR-Vlaanderen ran a fundraising campaign to help our member organizations in the work of helping Ukrainian refugees.

As we approached the completion of the project "SOS Fire! European Training Course for school pupils on fire prevention and first aids through civic engagement", a project co-financed by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union, Key Action 2, K202 - Strategic partnerships for school education, we organized 4 multiplier events.

The month of March also came with the participation in the Forum Belgium – Romania on Decentralized Cooperation. The Thomas More University College in Geel (Belgium) hosted this 8th edition between March 23 and 26.

As part of the "OPPORTUNITIES - Crises as Opportunities: towards a Level Telling Field on Migration and a New Narrative of Successful Integration" project, we started to analyze the situation of citizens from the Republic of Moldova who migrated to Romania in recent years.

In April, we announced the start of another wonderful project, "FORWARD: Fashion, Crafts and Design for Women Empowerment", a project also co-financed by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union.

On July 30, we met again full of emotion at the anniversary of our Foundation's 10 years of activity. Ambassadors, members, collaborators and dear people were with us in Iasi (physically or through video messages sent). It was a meeting of the soul, full of emotions, in which we shared experiences and feelings accumulated during these years.

During the 12 months of this year, we carried out dozens of activities, online and face-to-face meetings and enjoyed each new opportunity that mirrored our souls.

We thank you for everything you do for the communities in Romania and Belgium, for the energy and time you give with so much joy, and for the openness you have to our proposals for the activities on which we want to develop together with you.

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PROJECTS

A Better LifE - ABLE

The aim of the project is to increase the degree of socio-economic inclusion and personal development (empowerment) of women from rural areas from project partners countries.

The objective is development of knowledge, skills and working procedures within rural women's organizations in the countries of the project partners through co-creating an innovative working method "ABLE".

The project is implemented by organizations from Romania (The Open Network for Community Development Foundation - project coordinator and Romanian Women's LOBBY Association), Italy (Euro Project Lab Srls), Spain (Blue Room Innovation) and Portugal (Associação para a Ação Educativa Cultural e Desportiva Form2you).

Project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, Key Action 2, KA220-ADU - Cooperation Partnerships in Adult Education, project no. 2021-1-RO01KA220-ADU-000029747.

More info on the project website: a-betterlife.eu or visit the Facebook Page of the project: www.facebook.com/ABetterLifeErasmus.

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PROJECTS

SOS Fire! European Training Course for school pupils on fire prevention and first aids through civic engagement

Children are one of the most vulnerable target groups, especially children from disadvantaged backgrounds (Roma, immigrants, socio-economic problems etc.). For this, in October 2019, TON Foundation started the activities within the project ‘SOS Fire! European training course for students in the field of prevention and first aid through civic involvement’, a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, Key Action 2, K202 Strategic Partnerships for school education (project number: 2019-1-BE02KA201- 060 345).

The five partners in the project were: Fondation des Brûlés / Stichting Brandwonden (Belgium) - Project coordinator; The Open Network for Community Development Foundation (Romania); Sdruzenije Na Na Raboteshtite S Hora S Uvrezhdaniya (Bulgaria); Polytechnic Institute of Setubal (Portugal); Actie Dorpen Roemenië - Vlaanderen vzw (Belgium).

For a period of 30 months (01.10.2019 - 30.03.2022) this project aimed to create awareness among European school children about the risks caused by fire, its prevention and the most important measures to put in place in case of emergency and fire. Through this project, the partners developed and implemented an European training course for school children and for their teachers that will run in the context of a ‘SOS Fire! Campaign’ week that was organised in each participating European school.

In 2022, as we approached the completion of the project, we organized 4 multiplier events in Romania.

More info on the project website: www.sosfiretraining.eu/ elearning or visit the Facebook Page of the project: www.facebook.com/ SOSfiretraining.

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SOS Fire in schools

As a follow-up project of ‘SOS Fire! European training course for students in the field of prevention and first aid through civic involvement’, in January, we started the stage of selection of schools and teaching staff within the ‘SOS Fire in schools’ project, a project implemented with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Romania.

This project also aimed to create awareness among school children from Romania about the risks caused by fire, its prevention and the most important measures to put in place in case of emergency and fire. Through this project, TON Foundation developed and implemented a training course for school children and for their teachers in Romania that run in the context of a ‘SOS Fire! Campaign’ that was organised in each participating school.

During implementation time of the project (December 5th, 2021 - June 30th 2022), we had 25 partner schools and 56 participating teachers at the trainings and activities.

More info on our website: www.theopennetwork.ro/sos-fire-in-schools.

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OPPORTUNITIES - Crises as Opportunities: towards a Level Telling Field on Migration and a New Narrative of Successful Integration

PROJECTS

"OPPORTUNITIES - Crises as Opportunities: towards a Level Telling Field on Migration and a New Narrative of Successful Integration" project brings together migrants, citizens, and stakeholders on national, local, and regional levels in several African and European countries, encouraging them to listen to each other and to create shared narratives of migration.

The main objective of these cross-talks, a method of collaborative storytelling designed for the project, is to establish common ground for a fair conversation that seeks to integrate African and European perspectives. On national and transnational levels, we seek to introduce the notion of level telling fields, initiating a new debate on migration and integration.

As part of the project, TON Foundation started to analyze the situation of citizens from the Republic of Moldova who migrated to Romania in recent years.

The project will run for 48 months and is a project of the implemented by 14 partners from EU Member States (Italy, Romania, Austria, France, Portugal, Belgium) and African countries (Senegal, Ghana, Mauretania) and has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement n°101004945.

More info on the project website: www.opportunitiesproject.eu or visit the Facebook Page of the project: www.facebook.com/proiectulopportunities.

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FORWARD: Fashion, Crafts and Design for Women Empowerment

In April, we announced the start of another wonderful project, "FOWARD: Fashion, Crafts and Design for Women Empowerment", a project co-financed by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union, project number 2021-2-IT02-KA210-ADU-000050772.

Four European organizations - FLO Società Cooperativa Sociale - coordinator and Fismformazione (Italy), The Open Network for Community Development / A.N.I.M.A OLF Drobeta Turnu-Severin (Romania) and D4C – Associação Design for Crafts (Portugal) joined forces for a period of 15 months to share current best practices, collaborating to develop, test and establish an innovative training programme specific for women coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The aim with its course is to engage women from disadvantaged backgrounds and introduce them to the world of fashion, to its rules and many unique aspects. The main objective is to give these women the courage, the self-awareness and confidence, the basic skills and notions that will allow them to create a possible future for themselves in the world of fashion. The women involved come from various disadvantaged backgrounds such as: women with physical and mental disability, women with a past of drugs addictions, women with economical and social difficulties, women struggling to come out of sex trafficking and immigrants.

More info on the project website: www.forwardfashioncraftsdesign.org.

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PROJECTS

Project implementation Concept Note Developing health mutual organizations in Romania “enhance citizenship to ensure quality – accessibility – affordability and increased solidarity in health” “swimming against the tide” Background: Romania lags behind on European level with most of the indicators highlighting the health status of the nation.

Main issues for poor outcomes of the healthcare system are:  Poor access to health and healthcare in most vulnerable groups  Chronic underfunding of the healthcare system  Lack of a citizen voice in shaping the policy arena  Resulting in poor quality of the services.

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The challenge to provide a timely model for a private non-for-profit insurance system is high and the stake is the health of the vulnerable population in Romania.

The past years we worked intensively on a further expansion of our ADAM Slatina-Timiș “Best Practice” mutual health organization in other places in Romania. This resulted in a Concept Note 2023-2025 with the intention to work on 4 mutual health organizations, spread over Romania and where we have as well a Belgian partner.

In 2022, we finished the “Implementation Plan” for this Concept Note that will start up in 2023.

The 4 places and Belgian partners are: Slatina-Timiș (Geel), Moldovița (Kruibeke), Bunești (Glabbeek) and Lăpușata/Lădești (Balen).

Main goals of this implementation plan are:  membership;  first line social-medical care;  homecare;  revalidation materials service;  commitment of local administrations;  collaboration with health insurance bodies;  Vizidom;  advocacy on different levels etc.

The idea is also to start in these villages and to spread out in the surrounding villages.

Basic financing of this project is foreseen by the Belgian Christian Mutuality through F.D.A.A.M. - Fundația Pentru Dezvoltarea Asociațiilor de Ajutor Mutual (Foundation for the Development of Associations of Mutual Help).

The whole project is a close collaboration between ADR-Vlaanderen, The Open Network for Community Development Foundation, F.D.A.A.M. and LCM.

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Forum Belgium – Romania on Decentralized Cooperation After a long and challenging period, the 8th Belgium-Romania Forum took place in Geel, Belgium. Thomas More College in Geel hosted us from 23 to 25 March 2022. With "Resilience" as the central theme, during the event, there was intense discussion about the ability to recover from failures and to draw positive lessons from them for the future.

EVENTS

This 8th Forum aimed to focus on the role of decentralized local action groups in implementing and delivering European and national priorities. The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the EU Long Term European Plan 2021-2027 and NextGenerationEU (also known as the Multi-Annual Financial Framework - MFF) will be our guide for concrete resilience projects between Romania and Belgium.

It was 3 days full of various activities, discussions, presentations, workshops and visits. A perfect context was created to discuss the state of decentralized cooperation between both countries after more than 30 years of collaboration.

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10 years Anniversary On July 30, we met again full of emotion at the anniversary of our Foundation's 10 years of activity. Ambassadors, members, collaborators and dear people were with us in Iași (physically or through video messages sent).

After we had the opportunity to watch a short film with the overview of TON's 10 years of activities, our members and collaborators shared their experiences and feelings from the last 10 years in each TON department.

We talked about the ‘Future of TON Foundation’ and TON Development: long and short term strategy for TON (Discussions in separate working groups: Health/ OLF/ OLB/ Youth/ Education/ Community Development/ Tourism/ Safety).

And we closed the day with a beautiful and tasty dinner, laughter and dance. It was a meeting of the soul, full of emotions, in which we shared experiences and feelings accumulated during these years.

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How we work, Network structures

We promote and facilitate the implementation of community development best practices by:  Exchanges of experience at national and regional level through courses and workshops  Development of projects in partnership at local, regional, national and/or international level  Online Newsletter/Facebook Page/Website  Network of regional and national trainers TON is an extended team made of volunteers, local coordinators, regional trainers, professional workers and administration council members, mostly from Romania, but also from Belgium.

TON founders are 5 Belgian citizens and 4 Romanian citizens - presently, all members of the administration council.

The national coordination of the various projects and initiatives is ruled by an executive director which, together with 3 other professional workers (responsible for the online promotion and development of internal communication and projects), apply the decisions of the Administration Council.

Furthermore, 26 Regional trainers cover all the 8 administrative regions of Romania, facilitating the top-down communication and collaboration (between the members of the Administration Council, professional workers and the coordinators of the local organisations), as well as horizontally (between the members of the local organizations and the Belgian partners).

Not lastly, the team of the TON is formed of all the local volunteers, specialists and coordinators involved in the development of different structures/organisations, in more than 35 municipalities, all over Romania.

Local Women Organisation (OLF) is an informal or formal group (association) of women from a community that implements activities leading to personal development of members and/or the development of the community. At national level, we have 22 OLF member groups.

Local Men Organisation (OLB) is an informal or formal group (association) of men from a community that implements activities leading to personal development of members and/or the development of the community. At national level, we have 14 OLB member groups.

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Local Youth Organisation (OLT) is an informal or formal group (association) of youth that is encouraged by adults from the same community from school, to meet and to organize activities for the local community and for the personal development of each participant. It is recommended that each group have an adult of support. OLTs are parts (or not) of one of the two umbrellas members in TON: Local Youth Groups Association - AGLT (37 groups) and Together Everyone Achieves More Association - TEAM (31 groups). These umbrellas are national organizations.

Local Development Committee (CDL) is a group of citizens who, through their common work (in a group or in an informal association) aim to develop a sustainable community.

Each CDL develops its own logo and functions as an independent body within TON Foundation. In a CDL can be involved anyone from the community who wants to invest time, energy and expertise to contribute to her/his community sustainable development.

A CLD can develop a variety of activities taking into account the priorities and needs of their community, receiving support from the TON Foundation for models of social organization in different areas of development, such as: community development, health (CLS, ADAM), tourism (social), development of civil society (OLF, OLB and OLT), education programs (workshops, training, entrepreneurship) etc.. 14 such structures are members of the TON Network.

Local Health Committee (CLS) is a formal or an informal group constituted by Community representatives’ persons, which primarily aims to increase the health level of the community members through integrated actions (punctual local initiatives to change health policies).

CLS is a multidisciplinary working group but does not develop any medical activity. When a CLS is authorized to develop medical action, turns his statute into an ADAM. There are 4 such structures in The Open Network.

The Mutual Help Association (ADAM) is a non-profit organization that provides medical and social services at community level, based on the identified needs of its members.

Each ADAM has a very strong structure (associative), enhanced by the development of OLF, OLB and OLT and the implementation of socio-medical activities. The most important concepts that are developed in an ADAM are: medical and social services of high quality; services affordable for community members; solidarity; mutual respect and volunteering. At this point, we count 3 members of the ADAM in The Open Network.

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Where we work map

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Membership, Fundraising, Resources

How to become a member?

1. Send a message to info@theopennetwork.ro and ask for an ‘Official request for TON membership’; 2. Fill in the ‘Official request for TON membership’ and sent it back to info@theopennetwork.ro; 3. In maximum 2 weeks you will receive the answer to the ‘official request’ submitted by the Administration Council to the TON Board; 4. If the ‘official request’ received a positive answer, you may transfer the annual membership fee into the official account of TON; 5. You will receive the TON member card and you will be part of our TON Network.

TON network has 4 types of members:  Active Members: members (natural persons or organizations) that are active at local level, that have a Belgian partner or not, that work with one of our models;  The Individual Active Members: will be encouraged to develop their own organization (informal/formal group in the community), in one year after they decide to be TON members.  Supporting Members: members who pay the membership fee and are informed on what we do. They may participate in our training programs by paying the training fee. The supporting members are our future project partners.  Members of Honor: these members are invited by the TON Board to join us as members of honor due to their presence, activities, expertise and experience.

Who can become a member?

Each individual and institution (public authority, association, enterprise), all who want to commit efforts, energy, time, for a better life in the community, through sustainable development.

Membership fee Individuals: 10 RON/10 EUR

Local authorities, Associations, small businesses: 50 RON/50 EUR Large structures – NGOs, enterprises: 400 RON/100 EUR

Redirect 3,5%

• What it is and how it works? Every year, YOU can choose to have 3,5% of your income tax redirected to a non-profit entity. We propose you to support the development of associations at the local level, in rural and small urban communities, all over the country. Local volunteers have the insight, capacity and willingness to transform their communities. Little support is all it takes to see them blossom. At this time, we are working in about 25 communities. With your help, 2023 may be the year when we go further.

• Determined to support us? Ask the 230 Form at the Financial Administration from the municipality you belong to, fill it in with the enclosed information and submit it until May 25.

• Give us a chance to thank you! Notify us by email at info@theopennetwork.ro if when you have submitted the form, we’d love to say ‘thank you!’.

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The Open Network for Community Development Foundation is an umbrella organization providing support for Romanian and Belgian partners (twinned or under way to collaboration), supporting the sustainable development of Romanian communities and their members.

Since TON Foundation wants to help the sustainable development of members, we realized over time many tools that our members can use to promote their activities and products they make.

You can support regional and national meetings, the trainings of our much needed foundation for the development of TON and not least local activity of each group member.

Be Connected in The Open Network and watch the actions carried out by TON volunteers.

Already for 10 years TON publish bimonthly newsletter. You can subscribe to the info@theopennetwork.ro. If you are a TON member you can as well promote yourself and win visibility.

You love what we do? Follow us on Facebook! You have access to our newsletter, you can see pictures of activities, events and we invite you to interact with more than 1200 fans www.facebook.com/TheOpenNetwork.

Want to know more about us? Visit our website, discover electronic resources, and find information about courses and trainers www.theopennetwork.ro.

For contributions or 3,5%: Fundația The Open Network for Community Development Address: no 3 Mircea Eliade Street, 1st Floor, Valea Lupului Commune, Iași County, Romania CUI: 30474995 EUR IBAN Account: RO86 BTRL 0240 4205 7388 44XX RON IBAN Account: RO40 BTRL 0240 1205 7388 44XX Bank Transilvania S.A. Agency PODU ROȘ, BD SOCOLA NR 2, IAȘI, RO SWIFT: BTRLRO 22 21

TON Foundation’ Sponsors and Funders

ADR-Vlaanderen (ADRFlanders) is an abbreviation for ‘Action Villages Romania Flanders’. Action Villages Romania unites people with a heart for Romania. ADR brings the experience of thinkers and doers together. Website: www.adrvlaanderen.be.

VZW Geels Roemeniëkomitee – The city of Geel adopted Slatina-Timis in 1989. A committee was created. In 1992 an official twinning was signed and the VZW Geels Roemeniëkomitee founded in 1994. Many ‘Best Practices’ have been set up in the past with focus on different topics. VZW Geels Roemeniëkomitee also provided the start capital for TON in 2012. Website: www.slatina-timis.be.

Christelijke Mutualiteit (Christian Mutuality) is a healthcare and benefits insurance group. It calls for the implementation of a global health policy that integrates all health-related determinants, solidarity, equity, quality and accessibility for all so.

Foundation for the Development of Associations of Mutual Help - F.D.A.A.M. – offers support for the improvement of health, in the benefit of all Romanian citizens, no matter the address, health condition or financial conditions. The Foundation is now concentrated on the setup and further development of “health mutual organisations” in Romania in cooperation with TON. The basic idea of these health mutual organizations is “solidarity” between people, taking care of each other with special attention for the weaker groups.

Website: www.fdaam.ro.

BIORACER is a speed wear company from Belgium with a branch in Beiuș, Romania - RACETEX. Aerodynamics, biomechanics, muscle compression… Today all of these terms have become common items.

Today nobody can deny the fact that sports have become an exact science.

Website: www.bioracer.com.

Somepro vzw is a non-profit making association. Somepro is the abbreviation of ‘Steunpunt voor Oost - en Midden - Europa PROjecten’ (Point of support for Eastern and Central European Projects). Through the link with the Romanian operations, Somepro is primarily active in Romania. Somepro is the organizer behind all the international contacts, internships, courses, adult courses etc. Website: www.somepro.be.

European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program of the European Commission and Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Belgian Romanian Chamber of Commerce - BEROCC is an accredited Chamber of Commerce that aims to promote the Belgian Romanian trade and investment by supporting and defending the interests of their members and in the same time to provide information about doing business in Belgium and Romania. Website: www.berocc.com.

Rotary Club Keerbergen Rotary is an international organization where camaraderie and service are central.

Rotary brings men and women together with different professions to discuss all kinds of topics and to develop humanitarian initiatives in the local and international community.

Website: www.rotarykeerbergen.be.

Samdam Group was established in 1994 in Belgium, with the object of activity the import and distribution of promotional items. The company's expansion strategy on the European market was supported by the establishment of offices in the Netherlands, France, Romania, as well as a procurement office in Hong Kong.

Website: www.samdam.ro.

Embassy of Belgium in Romania.

Website: romania.diplomatie.belgium.be.

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