History

The Foundation for Democratic Change (FDC) is a Romanian non-governmental, non-profit organization, legally registered in 1996. Following a series of seminars (1992-1995) on interethnic relationships between Romanians and Hungarians, the grounds of the Foundation for Democratic Change were laid in 1995 by a group of people concerned with the development of the rule of law, democracy and human rights in Romania This project was accomplished by KSZE Consult, a German NGO,in cooperation with the Berghof Centre for Constructive Conflict Management – Berlin.

From the outset, FDC has been carrying out the consistent promotion of mediation, as well asthe building of a system that allows for its proper application, along with the other alternative conflict resolution techniques , as adapted to the specifics of the complexity of the Romanian society. The experience gained by carrying out projects in partnership with the Romanian Police, a stakeholder with direct involvement in conflicts, the Ministry of Justice, Rroma organizations , local and national authorities as well as NGOs and representatives of institutions from countries in Southeastern Europe, has consolidated our authority in the field.

Goals

The general goals of the Foundation for Democratic Change (FDC) are:

  • Promoting new methods to solve conflicts that occur in the Romanian society, through the use of alternative dispute resolution techniques (facilitation, mediation, conciliation), by a neutral and impartial third party, in order to obtain a “win-win” result.
  • Contributing to improving communication between government and civil society representatives, in order to be able to identify and resolve economical and social development-related issues together.
  • Promoting cooperation with national and international NGOs specialized in conflict resolution, conflict transformation and conflict management.


The specific objectives for 2009 – 2010 are:

  • Promoting mediation as an alternative dispute resolution technique ;Influencing Local Public Policies for the Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts;
  • Increasing the number of mediators and their contribution to conflict resolution, regardless of the field in which conflict occurs.
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Organizational structure

Board Committee

The Board Commitee consists of 3 to 5 members nominated by the General Assembly from which elect 1 president and 1 vice-president to represent the foundation in this position.

 
 

Internal Auditor
(Censor)

The Censor is a specialized person who provides a yearly feed-back or report on FDC’s financial activity according with the strategy developed by the Board Committee and approved by the General Assembly.

 
 

Executive Structure

The Executive Structure is coordinated by the president that operates also as CEO. It includes the following departments:

a. Financial and administrative department, conducted by the Economic Director who coordinates the activity of the Accountant , Labour counsellor, Legal adviser and software specialists

b. Public Relations department conducted by a PR Director who coordinates the activity of PR Assistant Fundraising, PR Assistant editing/ publishing, Internet and Data – base specialists.

c. Program Coordinators coordinate activities by programs and work in close relation with one project assistant. The open programs of FDC for the time being are:

          i. Prevention and resolution of ethnic conflicts (Roma ethnics as target group and main beneficiaries)
          ii. Certificate program in Mediation (includes also promoting activities)
          iii. Networking and cooperation in South-eastern Europe (related activities to the SEE NGOs Network).

d. Scientific Unit, directly coordinated by the President, comprise activities of trainers, researchers and librarian.