How to increase awareness of the benefits of cohesion policy across Romania, reaching a maximum number of people through various media? This was the challenge met by the “Cohesion Policy Booster in Romania” project, managed by Freedom House. The project aimed at educating both journalists and the general public about cohesion policy in a campaign running from September 2020 to August 2021.
- 27 January 2023
By organizing two events for the journalists (one conference involving cohesion funding beneficiaries and public authorities, as well as one training on public procurement investigations) and one final public conference regarding the project’s results and comparative analyses between developing regions in Romania.
Through the 183 articles, interviews, and investigations, (as well as infographics and videos) produced by the journalists, citizens were informed about both completed and on-going projects financed through Cohesion funds, as well as the irregularities and challenges that come with the implementation of these funds and how to overcome them. Other topics explained include The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), and the national strategy for European funds management. The articles reached not only the general public, but also the local decision makers: following one of the investigations regarding the faulty management of the European funds in waste management in Dolj, the authorities of the county took notice of the issue and agreed to have a dialogue on possible solutions.
The communication actions implemented as part of “Cohesion Policy Booster in Romania” were very popular. The figures speak for themselves:
- 1 online kick-off meeting in which the partners (G4 Media, Ziarul de Iași, Viața liberă, Átlátszó Erdély) and journalists defined the editorial framework;
- 20 virtual newsroom meetings, coordinated by the editors-in-chief
- 1 webinar with a representative of the Ministry of Investments and European Projects Marius Vasiliu on the Cohesion funding lines and instruments;
- 183 investigations/ reportages produced and disseminated
- 80 000 average views per month on PressHub
- 1-day training for journalists, entitled “European Fund –Vulnerabilities and Opportunities in 2021”,
- 1-day training for journalists, entitled “Exchange of good practices for strengthening the relationship between civic activists and journalists”
- Final conference: “European solutions for waste management in Romania”