Documentation, fieldwork, and an understanding of local identity—the blend of the man-made and the natural—formed the foundation of our collaboration with the people and institutions involved in developing the Letca Nouă commune.
It is a community identified in the Atlas of Marginalized Rural Areas produced by the World Bank as a marginalized area, which in formal terms means a low employment rate, a high school dropout rate, reduced incomes, improper living conditions, reduced access to social and medical services, and legal problems regarding identity documents, property, and so on. When we first visited the three villages in the commune to conduct a series of interviews and questionnaires, we found a fairly elderly population facing an acute feeling of loneliness, young people trying to find a job who had dropped out of school by lower secondary level, families with zero income, people who wanted change but did not know where to start and, despite all the hardships, a positive attitude and a community that promised us it would be a real partner in a broad project to improve the quality of life in the commune.
The project implemented by the Amfiteatru Foundation together with the town hall and the school in the commune proposed integrated measures aimed at responding to the problems of the most vulnerable members of the community. The project activities pursued: professional training, the creation of new jobs and the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities, the improvement of living conditions, the facilitation of access to health services, the running of an after-school program and educational extracurricular activities for students, individual meetings with parents and children for school counseling, as well as a mentoring system and informal education and good practice workshops for teaching staff. In technical terms, at the community level, there was an increase in income, living conditions, and the passing rate at the national evaluation, and a decrease in the degree of marginalization. The direct beneficiaries were 560 inhabitants of the commune, living in material deprivation and in households with low work intensity: 400 adults, 110 children, and 50 people over the age of 64.
Interventions in the labor field led to a 50% reduction in the number of unemployed (according to INSSE statistics) and the creation of 45 new businesses. Together with the community, we thus managed an improvement in the economic situation and social cohesion achieved by increasing the number of qualified people and increasing individual and household incomes, as well as developing the business environment by creating new jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. Letca Nouă commune currently has the largest number of businesses in the rural environment in Giurgiu County.
Another intervention, namely the improvement of living conditions, was achieved through rehabilitation, connection to utilities where applicable, sanitation, and thermal insulation. The works were carried out by utilizing the labor force from the three villages of the commune as much as possible and keeping in mind the preservation and reconditioning of traditional elements and the preservation of the local architectural specificity.
Primary social services had as a starting point the identification and evaluation of individual and family needs, in order to facilitate access to health services through collaboration with the family doctor and medical units in the area and beyond, granting assistance and support in accessing certain rights and facilities. Beneficiaries received allowances and health insurance, and were informed about the importance of prevention and following an appropriate treatment prescribed by the doctor, as well as the advantages of a healthy lifestyle. During the project, they had direct access to these functional services, and based on the sustainability assumed by the partnership of at least 12 months, the entire community will continue to benefit from them. The target group will also continue to have access to a socio-medical care service which will involve assisting and ensuring access to specialized services and specialized medical personnel depending on the health problems they face.
Interventions in the field of education focused on both students and parents and teachers. By running an after-school program, students managed to improve their school performance, and teachers and parents became our partners in encouraging the continuation of the school path and in increasing awareness of the importance of education, as well as remedying the low level of formal education by increasing interest in the subjects taught and supporting students in assimilating information. As a result of improving the professional training of teaching staff, a new pedagogical approach was used which also included informal education activities and school counseling methodologies. The extended impact of the implemented actions positively influenced the entire community. In addition, through the project we renovated the location where the after-school program takes place, which was equipped with a library, spaces and resources for reading, creative games, solving homework, and having meals.
For the success of the project and ensuring its sustainability over time, the town hall and the school in Letca Nouă commune were involved in the implementation. Throughout the implementation period, there was constant collaboration, and the activities attracted a significant number of residents. If at the beginning of implementation there was a feeling of distrust and reservation on the part of the community, by adapting the activities to the needs identified together with the partners and by enriching the interventions with resources outside the funding, an extremely favorable climate towards the project and the desire to find new ways of working together were created.
We thank the Letca Nouă community, especially the town hall and the school in the commune, for the trust it placed in us!
The Amfiteatru Foundation concluded the investment project framed within priority axis 4: social inclusion and combating poverty from the Human Capital Operational Program 2014-2020, belonging to the European Structural Fund. The project initiated integrated measures for the development and capitalization of the potential of Letca Nouă commune, Giurgiu County.
Included in the investment priority: POCU/20/4/2 Reduction of the number of marginalized communities (non-Roma) at risk of poverty and social inclusion, through the implementation of integrated measures, the project was carried out between 10.08.2017 and 09.02.2021 and benefited from a financing of 17,039,645.44 lei.