OSCE Days în București vor reuni o serie de acțiuni ce reprezintă contribuția noastră la accelerarea procesului de tranziție către economia circulară. Partenerii noștri la organizarea evenimentului sunt  ASE, NOD Makerspace, Romanian Textile Concept Cluster și ARCUB. Ne propunem să facilităm noi forme de colaborare intersectorială la nivelul orașului și să re-imaginăm designul proceselor de producție pentru valorificare avansată a deșeurilor. 

OSCE Days este un eveniment organizat la nivel global, ce se întâmplă simultan în mai multe orașe din lume, în perioada 9-13 iunie 2016 (detalii la https://oscedays.org/).

Detalii despre programul celor două zile și modalitatea de participare sunt pe pagina evenimentului, la https://oscedays.org/bucharest-2016/.  Înscrie-te pana pe 7 iunie aici pentru a participa la unul dintre cele două ateliere de pe 9-10 iunie! 

>> Joi, 9 iunie, 10.00-13.00: Atelier deschis de dezbateri deschise pe tema formelor de colaborare inter-sectorială în domeniul economiei circulare și lansarea procesului de creare a unui Living Lab în București. 

• Locația: sala Virgil Madgearu a Academiei de Studii Economice din București (Piața Romană, nr. 6, parter, clădirea Ion Angelescu).

Din agendă:

• Vom dezbate de ce economia circulară oferă soluții viabile și cum poate contribui la transformarea modelelor economice actuale ;
• Vom face un brainstorming pe modele de cooperare inter-sectorială, proiecte din sfera economiei circulare care se pot include în Living Lab și următorii pași. 

>> Vineri, 10 iunie, 13.00-17.00: Atelier participativ de demonstrare a potențialului transformării deșeurilor în resurse. Vom imagina procese scalabile de colectare și valorificare avansată a deșeurilor textile și vom facilita crearea de oportunități de colaborare cu industria textilă și de confecții, pe principiile economiei circulare.

• Locația: Nod Makerspace, Splaiul Unirii 160, în fosta platformă Industria Bumbacului

Ce-avem în plan:

• Galerie cu idei/proiecte de valorificare avansată a deșeurilor textile – promovăm practici curente;
• Expunere de mostre de deșeuri din industria textilă și de confecții – stimulăm idei noi;
• Atelier de brainstorming și stat la sfat cu industria textilă și de confecții – găsim mecanisme de facilitare a valorificării avansate a deșeurilor.

Notă: pentru pregătirea atelierului din 10 iunie, căutăm designeri, makeri sau antreprenori interesați să dezvolte soluții creative de valorificare avansată a deșeurilor deșeuri textile. Dacă te numeri printre aceștia, trimite-ne ideile tale prin acest formular.

Rămâi la curent cu pregătirile de organizare ale OSCE Days în București abonându-te la evenimentul de pe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1107609615962841/

OSCEdays Bucharest is part of an open, distributed and globally connected event, happening at the same time in over 60 cities: https://oscedays.org/

 Industry representatives, designers, policy makers and innovators from across the globe – all enthusiastic supporters of the circular economy principles – share ideas and solutions for prototyping systems, products and designs for an Open Source Circular Economy.

 Bucharest edition updates and details on how to participate are here: https://oscedays.org/bucharest-2016/

9-10 June program:

>> Day 1 challenge: Building a living lab and cross-sector cooperation for the circular economy in Bucharest. Hosted by ASE. To participate, please reserve your place on Eventbrite. What we have in plan:

• Debates on why and how we can transform the current economic model with circular economy solutions;
• Challenge: How can we foster more collaboration on circular economy solutions in Bucharest through a cross-sector cooperation platform like a living lab? Brainstorming on circular economy projects that could be piloted as next steps.

>> Day 2 challenge: Textile waste as a resource. Hosted by NOD Makerspace and facilitated by Romanian Textile Concept Cluster. What we have in plan:

• Mini-gallery of textile up-cycling ideas and projects – to promote current practices;
• Display of textile waste samples – to stimulate ideas;
• Workshop with industry people and designers/makers – to facilitate joint work for upcycling;

If you are an interested designer, maker or entrepreneur, please complete our survey of ideas here by 5th of June! 

OSCEdays Bucharest are co-organized by: CRIDL – Romanian Centre for Innovation in Local Development, ASE – Academy of Economic Studies, NOD Makerspace, Romanian Textile Concept Cluster and Arcub. 

–          Beginning of 2013: the concept behind EduCaB is drafted; it’s not an NGO, it’s a platform, it’s intended to be a model of local development, by building capacity at the level of established / existing structures.

–          Spring of 2013: the concept is started to be tested as the Volunteering/CSR program of Ipsos Romania (the fourth largest research company in the World), starting with one county, i.e. Dambovita. The model was integrated into a larger organizational growth model;

–          Summer – winter 2013: established the contact with the district library, assessing the needs of over 100 libraries, in terms of book collections, physical infrastructure, and learning / educational programs; first projects started in pilot library, Crangurile;

–          January 2014: in Nepal, along with Dutch and Nepali partners, first field visit and brainstorming for testing the concept also in rural Nepal;

–          February 2014: the ’EduCaB’ name is first given to the concept started in Nepal, i.e. Educational Capacity Building in Rural Nepal;

–          Spring 2014: first discussions to form an EduCaB team to test the concept in Uganda; we have the team;

–          April 4th, 2014, EduCaB logo was ready, cooked by Neti team in Timisoara / Romania; here how it was introduced on Facebook: ’It’s about two things: 1. in these kinds of processes & projects there is no clear borderline of who is actually giving and who is actually receiving, and 2. the fact that we strongly believe and know that we are intricately connected, beyond our nationalities, races, opinions & believes, and various preferences.’

–          September 2014, the pilot library is launched in rural Nepal, in Dhading district, west Kathmandu, with a couple of hundreds of books sent from Romania, US, the Netherlands, but also from Belgium, Bulgaria, UK, and Germany; this is what we did; the local partner was in charge with the overall communication at local level, providing the furniture and pillows, sending the future librarian to certified training courses, and receiving the books; the local rural community was in charge with providing the space and arranging the library area. It was a true partnership;

–          February 2015, large-scale event at Impact HUB in Bucharest presenting the results of the two years model testing within Ipsos Romania Volunteering/CSR program in Dambovita; the goal was to scale up and go national, inviting other organizations, institutions, companies to get on board;

–          March 2015, eight more EduCaB teams were formed – we are now already nine counties in Romania; three counties have EduCaB teams from Ipsos, one from Ginger Group / Romanian National Bank, one from Leroy Merlin, one from AID-ONG, one from Preventis, and one from an environmental informal group.

–          March 2015, the name ’Romania EduCaB’ is first used to define the newly formed national platform in Romania; the international platform has now two active countries, i.e. Nepal and Romania;

–          April 2015, nine more communities from Dhading district were interested in starting EduCaB concept, the local partner plans going to the area and signing the official agreements;

–          On the 25th of April a massive 7.8Mw Earthquake hit Nepal; on the 2nd of May the EduCaB team gets to Dhading, and along with the local partner is securing shelter for around 1,200 persons, 1 tone of food, and professional medical assistance for around 600 persons; the school building with the library remained intact; the medical services were secured using the library space;

–          €37,277 were raised in April-May (from private companies and individuals); all funds were used through the local partner to cover subsequent expenses related to first aid interventions; one month until the Monsoon;

–          May and June 2015, a first temporary school is built in the pilot village in Nepal, other dozen of houses were provided with tin roof bundles;

–          June 13th 2015, Bangladesh EduCaB is established, aimed to firstly support finalizing the construction and launching of the first fully private funded library in Bangladesh – Masud Parves Library;

–          Middle June 2015, the Monsoon starts in Nepal, we have to stop most of the interventions;

–          September 2015, first discussions for starting Senegal EduCaB, the team is secured;

–          Middle September 2015 we have hired a team of architects from Kathmandu to make the plans for a whole school campus we will build in pilot village in Nepal;

–          September 2015, oil blocade imposed to Nepal by India, our plans to start the construction works after the Monsoon, are delayed;

–          End of September 2015, €1,000 are raised for Nepal EduCaB in a private fundraising event we’ve organized in Dordrecht, through the local partner in the Netherlands;

–          October 2015, national conference at the National Library in Romania for launching a national campaign for covering the needs of all the 626 libraries in the nine counties we are covering; we give ourselves 5 years for this; we start with one big event to calibrate and learn; and make mistakes;

–          October 2015, €20,000 are raised for Nepal EduCaB in Romania via Ipsos Interactive Services / I-Say community;

–          October 2015, an EduCaB team is formed in Constanta, through the Civic Resource Centre. This is the 10th county to implement the EduCaB methodology & concept;

–          December 7th, a fundraising event is organized in Bucharest for Bangladesh EduCaB, more than €1,000 were raised, enough funds to finalize the construction works and launch the library, four years after the project was officially initiated;

–          21st of December 2015, the official end of the national campaign in Romania, with over 35,290 volumes invested, over 42 companies, NGOs, publishing houses, bookstores, informal groups, universities, schools and public institutions involved to raise books within their own organizations; over 1,300 persons all over Romania investing personal books for the campaign; 128 PCs and laptops given to activate computer centers within libraries, over 858 furniture pieces collected to be given to the local public libraries; over 210 volunteers directly involved in growing this campaign;

–          January 2016, only one year and a half after launching, the pilot library in Nepal ranked 1st among the 45 libraries from Dhading district (in terms of the quality of the titles, their numbers, condition, the ergonomics of the space);

–          February 2016, Masud Parves Library, the first EduCaB supported library in Bangladesh is launched, in the presence of the EduCaB team; it’s very hard and takes long time to get there; very long time;

–          February 2016, field visits were made in Vietnam and Malaysia, networking for establishing EduCaB hubs in Hoi An (Vietnam) and two remote areas in Malaysia (not yet decided);

–          February-March 2016, discussions were started to start EduCaB in two more counties in Romania, i.e. Alba and Brasov;

–          March 2016, Indonesia EduCaB is established, with pilot project to be tested in rural area of the Flores island. 

–          Beginning of 2013: the concept behind EduCaB is drafted; it’s not an NGO, it’s a platform, it’s intended to be a model of local development, by building capacity at the level of established / existing structures.

–          Spring of 2013: the concept is started to be tested as the Volunteering/CSR program of Ipsos Romania (the fourth largest research company in the World), starting with one county, i.e. Dambovita. The model was integrated into a larger organizational growth model;

–          Summer – winter 2013: established the contact with the district library, assessing the needs of over 100 libraries, in terms of book collections, physical infrastructure, and learning / educational programs; first projects started in pilot library, Crangurile;

–          January 2014: in Nepal, along with Dutch and Nepali partners, first field visit and brainstorming for testing the concept also in rural Nepal;

–          February 2014: the ’EduCaB’ name is first given to the concept started in Nepal, i.e. Educational Capacity Building in Rural Nepal;

–          Spring 2014: first discussions to form an EduCaB team to test the concept in Uganda; we have the team;

–          April 4th, 2014, EduCaB logo was ready, cooked by Neti team in Timisoara / Romania; here how it was introduced on Facebook: ’It’s about two things: 1. in these kinds of processes & projects there is no clear borderline of who is actually giving and who is actually receiving, and 2. the fact that we strongly believe and know that we are intricately connected, beyond our nationalities, races, opinions & believes, and various preferences.’

–          September 2014, the pilot library is launched in rural Nepal, in Dhading district, west Kathmandu, with a couple of hundreds of books sent from Romania, US, the Netherlands, but also from Belgium, Bulgaria, UK, and Germany; this is what we did; the local partner was in charge with the overall communication at local level, providing the furniture and pillows, sending the future librarian to certified training courses, and receiving the books; the local rural community was in charge with providing the space and arranging the library area. It was a true partnership;

–          February 2015, large-scale event at Impact HUB in Bucharest presenting the results of the two years model testing within Ipsos Romania Volunteering/CSR program in Dambovita; the goal was to scale up and go national, inviting other organizations, institutions, companies to get on board;

–          March 2015, eight more EduCaB teams were formed – we are now already nine counties in Romania; three counties have EduCaB teams from Ipsos, one from Ginger Group / Romanian National Bank, one from Leroy Merlin, one from AID-ONG, one from Preventis, and one from an environmental informal group.

–          March 2015, the name ’Romania EduCaB’ is first used to define the newly formed national platform in Romania; the international platform has now two active countries, i.e. Nepal and Romania;

–          April 2015, nine more communities from Dhading district were interested in starting EduCaB concept, the local partner plans going to the area and signing the official agreements;

–          On the 25th of April a massive 7.8Mw Earthquake hit Nepal; on the 2nd of May the EduCaB team gets to Dhading, and along with the local partner is securing shelter for around 1,200 persons, 1 tone of food, and professional medical assistance for around 600 persons; the school building with the library remained intact; the medical services were secured using the library space;

–          €37,277 were raised in April-May (from private companies and individuals); all funds were used through the local partner to cover subsequent expenses related to first aid interventions; one month until the Monsoon;

–          May and June 2015, a first temporary school is built in the pilot village in Nepal, other dozen of houses were provided with tin roof bundles;

–          June 13th 2015, Bangladesh EduCaB is established, aimed to firstly support finalizing the construction and launching of the first fully private funded library in Bangladesh – Masud Parves Library;

–          Middle June 2015, the Monsoon starts in Nepal, we have to stop most of the interventions;

–          September 2015, first discussions for starting Senegal EduCaB, the team is secured;

–          Middle September 2015 we have hired a team of architects from Kathmandu to make the plans for a whole school campus we will build in pilot village in Nepal;

–          September 2015, oil blocade imposed to Nepal by India, our plans to start the construction works after the Monsoon, are delayed;

–          End of September 2015, €1,000 are raised for Nepal EduCaB in a private fundraising event we’ve organized in Dordrecht, through the local partner in the Netherlands;

–          October 2015, national conference at the National Library in Romania for launching a national campaign for covering the needs of all the 626 libraries in the nine counties we are covering; we give ourselves 5 years for this; we start with one big event to calibrate and learn; and make mistakes;

–          October 2015, €20,000 are raised for Nepal EduCaB in Romania via Ipsos Interactive Services / I-Say community;

–          October 2015, an EduCaB team is formed in Constanta, through the Civic Resource Centre. This is the 10th county to implement the EduCaB methodology & concept;

–          December 7th, a fundraising event is organized in Bucharest for Bangladesh EduCaB, more than €1,000 were raised, enough funds to finalize the construction works and launch the library, four years after the project was officially initiated;

–          21st of December 2015, the official end of the national campaign in Romania, with over 35,290 volumes invested, over 42 companies, NGOs, publishing houses, bookstores, informal groups, universities, schools and public institutions involved to raise books within their own organizations; over 1,300 persons all over Romania investing personal books for the campaign; 128 PCs and laptops given to activate computer centers within libraries, over 858 furniture pieces collected to be given to the local public libraries; over 210 volunteers directly involved in growing this campaign;

–          January 2016, only one year and a half after launching, the pilot library in Nepal ranked 1st among the 45 libraries from Dhading district (in terms of the quality of the titles, their numbers, condition, the ergonomics of the space);

–          February 2016, Masud Parves Library, the first EduCaB supported library in Bangladesh is launched, in the presence of the EduCaB team; it’s very hard and takes long time to get there; very long time;

–          February 2016, field visits were made in Vietnam and Malaysia, networking for establishing EduCaB hubs in Hoi An (Vietnam) and two remote areas in Malaysia (not yet decided);

–          February-March 2016, discussions were started to start EduCaB in two more counties in Romania, i.e. Alba and Brasov;

–          March 2016, Indonesia EduCaB is established, with pilot project to be tested in rural area of the Flores island. 

În luna februarie demarăm proiectul ALERT – Campanie de prevenire a pierderilor de vieți omenești în urma unui cutremur de intensitate ridicată. Proiectul ALERT urmărește să prevină pierderea de vieți omenești în urma unui iminent cutremur de intensitate ridicată, mobilizând puterea de generare de informații de către cetățeni, printr-o platformă colaborativă online. Intenționăm astfel să creștem gradul de conștientizare asupra pericolului, să colectăm și diseminăm resurse pentru cei afectați de risc și să stimulăm mobilizarea de fonduri și implicare din partea sectorului public.

Pe scurt, vom dezvolta o platforma de crowd-sourcing de informații culese de cetățeni și voluntari cu privire la clădirile aflate în risc seismic din București. Voluntarii proiectului, sau simpli cetățeni, vor putea încărca automat și în timp real, pe o harta digitală, date (text, poze) din care să reiasă informații despre clădiri aflate în risc. Vom avea în vedere în principal date despre numărul de persoane care locuiesc în imobilul respectiv, dar și alte tipuri de informații: dacă imobilul mai există sau e deja demolat/părăsit, dacă sunt imobile locuite în imediata proximitate care pot fi afectate de prăbușirea celui vizat, dacă sunt diferite funcțiuni (ex. magazin, birouri ș.a.) unde lucrează oameni și/sau există circulație zilnică de clienți. Astfel, intenționăm să facem un ”recensământ” al oamenilor aflați în risc.

Intenționăm să lansăm această platformă spre finalul primăverii. Între timp, am început lucrul pe partea de programare și grafică și ne extindem echipa cu un coordonator de proiect.

ALERT se înscrie în interesul nostru de a testa puterea noilor tehnologii – aici cu o aplicație de crowd-sourcing de date de la cetățeni – pentru a veni în întâmpinarea provocărilor cu care se confruntă comunitățile locale.

Proiectul este finanțat de Telekom în urma concursului de proiecte Te Implici și este implementat ca demers în parteneriat al CRIDL și Make Better.

Puteți urmări o scurtă prezentare a proiectului ALERT aici.

Foto: Câștigătorii campaniei de selecție de proiecte TeImplici a Telekom România

In February we kick off the project ALERT, a campaign to prevent casualties in case of an earthquake of high intensity. ALERT is an eartquake risk mitigation project aiming to mobilize citizen engagement in data and resource gathering through an online collaborative platform. The project is designed to raise awareness on seismis risk in Bucharest, collect and disseminate resources to those affected by this risk and advocate for mobilization of funds and public sector action.

In brief, we will develop a data crowd sourcing platform from citizens and volunteers on seismic risk buildings in Bucharest(so called red dot buildings). Project volunteers and citizens will be able to upload real time data on a digital map (text & pictures) showing information about buildings at risk. We specifically target raising data about the number of people living in such buildings, as well as other types of information such as: whether the property is still in place or it’s already demolished, whether there are other residential building in close proximity to these that can be affected in case of collapse, whether such buildings or neighboring ones host different functions (eg. shops, offices, etc.) where people are working or visiting, as customers. All in all, we wish to make a “census” of people at risk.

Our team will be working on this platform and plans to launch it towards the end of spring. Meanwhile, we seek to expand our team with a deisgnated volunteer and campaign coordinator.

ALERT is alliged to our core interest to test the power of new technologies – in this case, a data crowdsourcing application – to meet challenges faced by local communities.

The project is funded by Telekom, following TeImplicy project competition and is implemented in partnership by CRIDL and Make Better.

Watch our brief ALERT project presentation here.

Photo: winners of the projects selection campaign Te Implici, ran by Telekom Romania in December 2016

We are super happy to announce that we have selected the 18 companies we will be working with during the next 6 months.

RICAP is designed to help tech entrepreneurs to boost their businesses and get their innovations globally. The novelty of this edition is that we have 2 tracks: RICAP Academy where we have selected 15 companies to help them validate their technologies and boost their potential and RICAP Accelerator where we have selected 3 companies to work with and support them to grow faster and get on the international market.

The program is at its 3rd edition and we could see during the process that both the technology, both the companies have become more sophisticated, covering specific need and having a better understanding on the market needs. This is why we are sure that the national innovation ecosystem is growing and programs like RICAP are needed in order to support startups with global potential.

Stay tuned for news and take a look of the companies selected for this edition.

We are super happy to announce that we have selected the 18 companies we will be working with during the next 6 months.

RICAP is designed to help tech entrepreneurs to boost their businesses and get their innovations globally. The novelty of this edition is that we have 2 tracks: RICAP Academy where we have selected 15 companies to help them validate their technologies and boost their potential and RICAP Accelerator where we have selected 3 companies to work with and support them to grow faster and get on the international market.

The program is at its 3rd edition and we could see during the process that both the technology, both the companies have become more sophisticated, covering specific need and having a better understanding on the market needs. This is why we are sure that the national innovation ecosystem is growing and programs like RICAP are needed in order to support startups with global potential.

Stay tuned for news and take a look of the companies selected for this edition.

Our main focus for this stage is to securing funds and starting the reconstruction works for the first school campus in the area, organizing a second medical camp in Dhading (hiring both GPs and dentists), making a plan and finding the right partners for starting a permanent medical point in the area, while also networking for grasping ways of collaboration with other development organizations in Nepal. 

We are also interested in starting the Nepalese chapter of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP).

I. Relating to funding our initiatives, we had two main events: 

a. During August – December, a second donation campaign was launched within i-Say community (powered by Ipsos Interactive Services), raising €19,286.

b. On the 29th of September, we have organized one fundraising and networking event in Dordrecht / The Netherlands, managing to raise around €1,000.

II. Other actions that were completed:

a. starting preparing the construction site in Dandagaon village for building the new school campus.

b. having a team of volunteers helping clean the old school.

c. contracting a team of local architects in Kathmandu to making the blueprints for the first school we will build in Dhading.

Next action to be started in January – February

a. starting the construction works for the school campus in Dandagaon.

b. organizing the medical camp in Dhading district while also networking for establishing a permanent medical camp that will serve all the area in Dandagaon and the surroundings. 

c. meeting and getting the OIM team and other international organizations to the region in order to grasp opportunities for collaboration.

d. finalizing the reconstruction works at the guest house in Dandagaon, where we host the volunteers.

e. networking in order to activate the Nepalese chapter of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) via ASAP Romania.

Quick overview of the general intervention, started in April 2015

As a response to the critical situation in Dhading district, 64 km. West of Kathmandu, following the Earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25^th, The Romanian Centre for Innovation in Local Development urgently initiated an intervention in the area, consisting of 8 villages, 300 households, with around 1250 persons.

The strategic partners for the intervention we are undertaking are: Cold Feet Foundation & Cold Feet Adventure Trekking in Kathmandu (for all phases / coordinating the local team & actions), Dordrecht Community Task Force in Netherlands (mainly for the reconstruction phase with engineering expertise). During our intervention, we are also in communication with the representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM Romania / IOM Nepal) and the ones of the Romanian Ministry of Internal  Affairs. We are thankful to all those that supported our actions for the first stage of intervention. We are also counting on the involvement of i-Say Community, powered by Ipsos Interactive Services, using financial resources from Ipsos respondents. 

The area we are covering is the one we are implementing Nepal EduCaB (Educational Capacity Building in Rural Nepal), a development program started in January 2014, aiming to establishing and activating library capacity at the level of rural schools in Dhading district / Nepal, as a mean of starting self-sustainable community development projects & social enterprises, while providing learning & best practices opportunities for those supporting the initiative.

For any financial assistance to the CRIDL emergency campaign in Dhading District / Nepal (April 2015 – February 2016), our team is providing all data needed: copy of invoices, details on the supplies that are and will be bought, photos, contact data of the community leaders in Dhading villages, timely updates with activities that are undertaken.

For any additional details please contact us at: mihai.lupu@cridl.org or info@coldfeetadventure.com. Also consider the Nepal EduCaB page for the journal of our interventions.

_____________

_{^{*Disclaimer: this intervention is initiated by the Romanian Centre for Innovation in Local Development (CRIDL), in partnership with the Cold Feet team in Nepal. Since the accounts we have opened are public, anyone can donate, therefore, please note that our activities do not reflect in anyway the views and/or the affiliations of any sort of the supporters / donors (institutions or individuals) that contributed to our cause. We are a non-profit, non-governmental, apolitical and independent organization, therefore all our actions are subject to the strategy and action plans designed and undertaken by our team and the professionals we have hired.}}

Our main focus for this stage is to securing funds and starting the reconstruction works for the first school campus in the area, organizing a second medical camp in Dhading (hiring both GPs and dentists), making a plan and finding the right partners for starting a permanent medical point in the area, while also networking for grasping ways of collaboration with other development organizations in Nepal. 

We are also interested in starting the Nepalese chapter of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP).

I. Relating to funding our initiatives, we had two main events: 

a. During August – December, a second donation campaign was launched within i-Say community (powered by Ipsos Interactive Services), raising €19,286.

b. On the 29th of September, we have organized one fundraising and networking event in Dordrecht / The Netherlands, managing to raise around €1,000.

II. Other actions that were completed:

a. starting preparing the construction site in Dandagaon village for building the new school campus.

b. having a team of volunteers helping clean the old school.

c. contracting a team of local architects in Kathmandu to making the blueprints for the first school we will build in Dhading.

Next action to be started in January – February

a. starting the construction works for the school campus in Dandagaon.

b. organizing the medical camp in Dhading district while also networking for establishing a permanent medical camp that will serve all the area in Dandagaon and the surroundings. 

c. meeting and getting the OIM team and other international organizations to the region in order to grasp opportunities for collaboration.

d. finalizing the reconstruction works at the guest house in Dandagaon, where we host the volunteers.

e. networking in order to activate the Nepalese chapter of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) via ASAP Romania.

Quick overview of the general intervention, started in April 2015

As a response to the critical situation in Dhading district, 64 km. West of Kathmandu, following the Earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25^th, The Romanian Centre for Innovation in Local Development urgently initiated an intervention in the area, consisting of 8 villages, 300 households, with around 1250 persons.

The strategic partners for the intervention we are undertaking are: Cold Feet Foundation & Cold Feet Adventure Trekking in Kathmandu (for all phases / coordinating the local team & actions), Dordrecht Community Task Force in Netherlands (mainly for the reconstruction phase with engineering expertise). During our intervention, we are also in communication with the representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM Romania / IOM Nepal) and the ones of the Romanian Ministry of Internal  Affairs. We are thankful to all those that supported our actions for the first stage of intervention. We are also counting on the involvement of i-Say Community, powered by Ipsos Interactive Services, using financial resources from Ipsos respondents. 

The area we are covering is the one we are implementing Nepal EduCaB (Educational Capacity Building in Rural Nepal), a development program started in January 2014, aiming to establishing and activating library capacity at the level of rural schools in Dhading district / Nepal, as a mean of starting self-sustainable community development projects & social enterprises, while providing learning & best practices opportunities for those supporting the initiative.

For any financial assistance to the CRIDL emergency campaign in Dhading District / Nepal (April 2015 – February 2016), our team is providing all data needed: copy of invoices, details on the supplies that are and will be bought, photos, contact data of the community leaders in Dhading villages, timely updates with activities that are undertaken.

For any additional details please contact us at: mihai.lupu@cridl.org or info@coldfeetadventure.com. Also consider the Nepal EduCaB page for the journal of our interventions.

_____________

_{^{*Disclaimer: this intervention is initiated by the Romanian Centre for Innovation in Local Development (CRIDL), in partnership with the Cold Feet team in Nepal. Since the accounts we have opened are public, anyone can donate, therefore, please note that our activities do not reflect in anyway the views and/or the affiliations of any sort of the supporters / donors (institutions or individuals) that contributed to our cause. We are a non-profit, non-governmental, apolitical and independent organization, therefore all our actions are subject to the strategy and action plans designed and undertaken by our team and the professionals we have hired.}}

La începutul acestei luni am lansat a doua ediție a programului RICAP și abia așteptăm să cunoaștem inovatorii în tehnologie cu care vom lucra în perioada următoare.

RICAP oferă antreprenorilor în tehnologie 6 luni de mentorat personalizat cu specialiști din Statele Unite și România, acces la vasta rețea internațională adusă de partenerul american, Larta Institute, workshop-uri și traininguri în vederea dezvoltării instrumentelor de comercializare, conexiuni importante în industrie, parteneriate pentru dezvoltarea tehnologiei și investiții directe.

Aplicațiile se pot face online pe www.ricap.ro până pe 5 decembrie și pot aplica antreprenorii, cercetătorii și reprezentanți ai spin off-urilor care au dezvoltat o inovatie tehnologică în domenii ca ITC, agritech, cleantech, medtech și nu numai.

Aflat deja la a doua ediţie, RICAP a sprijinit până acum 30 de antreprenori în tehnologie să își valideze inovația, să aibă acces la resurse și instrumente despre piață, să intre în contact cu parteneri și investitori. A fost un parcurs intens atât pentru noi, cât și pentru companiile participante care și-au dezvoltat business-ul, au interacționat cu specialiști reputați la nivel internațional și au dezvoltat conexiuni cu parteneri și investitori.

Anul acesta, RICAP propune un program extins, cu o componentă nouă de accelerare, pentru antreprenorii în tehnologie care au dezvoltat produse inovatoare cu potențial de comercializare la nivel global.

RICAP va avea două componente: RICAP Academy care sprijină antreprenorii să își valideze tehnologia, primind feedback și mentorat personalizat, astfel încât să fie pregătiți pentru piață și RICAP Accelerator, primul accelerator în tehnologie din România, adresat companiilor mature, oferindu-le servicii prin care să își perfecționeze propunerea financiară, să intre în legătură cu investitori și să obțină finanțare pentru următoarea etapă de dezvoltare.

Ce oferă RICAP?

Fiecare companie din Academy va avea dedicat un mentor român cu experiență în zona de business și tehnologie, cum ar fi Sergiu Neguț, Dan Mihăescu sau Andrei Pitiș și un mentor din Statele Unite pentru a dezvolta un management toolkit (strategia de go to market, strategia de comercializare și alte instrumente adaptate la nevoile fiecărei companii), vor avea acces la un workshop intensiv în București cu speakeri internaționale cu privire la comercializarea inovării, webinarii, industry saloons și, la finalul programului, sesiuni de feedback cu specialiști din Statele Unite și un eveniment tip Demo Day.

Pentru companiile din RICAP Accelerator, programul propunere coaching și consultanță one- on-one pe zona de dezvoltare strategică și atragere de investiții, servicii specializate de suport: juridice, financiare, proprietate intelectuală și marketing, investiții directe de până la 30.000 de Euro pentru companiile selectate contra equity (7- 10%), spațiu de lucru în București, două vizite de business în Statele Unite pentru conexiuni strategice și pitching și, la finalul programului, un eveniment de pitching în care vor fi invitați investitori și VC.

Elementul de noutate pe care îl aduce RICAP completează ecosistemul antreprenorial autohton, adăugând componenta de accelerare propriu- zisă. Aceasta implică un angajament al programului de a acorda pachete de finanțare de până la 30.000 de Euro pentru companiile selectate, în schimbul unei cote de participare în acționariatul firmelor (equity) de 7- 10%.

Dragoș Pîslaru, director de program

După procesul de aplicare, deschis până pe 5 decembrie, se vor selecta până la 20 de companii – 15 companii pentru RICAP Academy și între 3 și 5 companii pentru RICAP Accelerator.

În ultima vreme am lucrat la un nou design pentru programul RICAP, bazat pe experiența din ediția anterioară și feedbackul celor din program. Așa că, great things are about to happen!

RICAP este un ecosistem construit în jurul unei rețele internaționale bazate pe tehnologie, care ajută antreprenorii să își valideze tehnologia, să primească feedback relevant de la profesioniști din domeniu și să aibă acces la mentori, adviseri și investitori.

Atunci când am început RICAP, în 2013, provocarea a fost de a conecta antreprenorii în tehnologie la o rețea internațională, astfel încât să vină pe piață cu produse valide. Tocmai de aceea, am creat un program care le oferă acces la informații legate de piață, know- how și capital, astfel încât să își dezvolte business-urile și să își pregătească produsele sau serviciile pentru piața globală.

Asta a făcut RICAP pentru 30 de antreprenori în tehnologie și asta va face, din această toamnă, RICAP Academy – sprijină antreprenorii să își valideze tehnologia, să primească feedback și mentorat personalizat, astfel încât să fie pregătiți pentru piață.

În acești 2 ani absolut fantastici, am descoperit antreprenori pasionați și companii solide care aveau nevoie de mai mult. Aveau nevoie de acces la parteneri și investitori, la capital, la resursele principale pentru a-și dezvolta mai repede companiile. Astfel, am dezvoltat RICAP Accelerator, pentru companii mature care să le ajute să își perfecționeze propunerea financiară, să intre în legătură investitori și să obțină finanțare pentru următoarea etapă de dezvoltare.

RICAP Academy și RICAP Accelerator au în comun obiectivul de a se adapta la nevoile antreprenorilor români în tehnologie, pentru a-i ajuta să dezvolte business-uri solide, oferind mentorat și servicii personalizate. Abordând aceste nevoi, RICAP ajută antreprenorii în tehnologie să ajungă pe piețe internaționale.

Așadar, se anunță o perioadă intensă și fascinantă pentru antreprenorii români în tehnologie.

Stay tuned! Much more to come!