The Local Development, Poverty Reduction, and Increasing Roma Inclusion (Local Development) program is implemented by the RSDF and is funded under the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021.

The total budget of the Programme is 91,941,176 Euro, of which 78,900,000 Euro comes from grants awarded by Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway  and 13,041,176 Euro represent public co-financing national.

The Programme covers 5 of the 23 program areas covered by the EEA and Norway Grants, respectively:

• Local Development and Poverty Reduction
• Roma Inclusion and Empowerment
• Human Rights – national implementation
• Children and Youth at Risk
• Good Governance, Responsible Institutions, Transparency

The general objective of the Programme is to actively contribute to strengthening social and economic cohesion at the national and local levels in Romania. By facilitating cooperation and partnerships between Romanian and Donor States entities, the Programme will also contribute to strengthening bilateral relations between the Donor States and Romania.

Pursuing the objectives of the five areas of action, the Programme aims to improve the inclusion and empowerment of Roma and the social inclusion of children and young people at risk, to intensify the use of social services by disadvantaged groups, to increase knowledge of central and local government implement the principles of good governance and increase the implementation of the recommendations made by the European Court of Human Rights for Romania.

In order to achieve these objectives, 5 specific calls for project proposals will be launched within the Program, in the following areas:

• Local development
• Poverty reduction
• Children and young people at risk
• Roma inclusion
• Human rights

In addition to calls for project proposals, the Program also includes two small grant schemes:

• Access to finance
• Priority interventions

–> For more information visit the section dedicated to the Local Development Program: https://dezvoltare-locala.frds.ro/