Humanitarian assistance and crisis response

Romanian experts are currently working in South Sudan, Indonesia, Nepal or other places affected by natural disasters, war or severe economic and social crises. With conditions that make the country prone to all types of natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, landslides), existing individual expertise is vast, in both public and private sector, despite public administration lagging behind in some areas for lack of resources or political will. Romanian emergency services in particular have gained international renown and requests for training and capacity-building expertise have been pouring in from every corner of the globe. Its experience with pilot projects dealing with refugee integration is also proving particularly useful these days.

After being a beneficiary country for almost two decades, Romania became a development assistance donor when it joined the EU in 2007. It has since been able to use its knowledge of the other side of the coin to best tailor its response to local needs. Humanitarian relief, civil emergency intervention and crisis response are sectors in which it has developed the most advanced expertise, based on its own rough circumstances which it has had to battle and on a genuine understanding of economic hardship, severe social disparities and political challenges.

After the fall of the communist regime, Romania has adapted its legislation and intervention mechanisms, successfully transforming its existing crisis response structures in accordance with international standards and in line with organisations such as the UN (UNHCR, UNDP), EU (ECHO) and NATO. Despite the country’s difficult economic situation during the transition period, civil society in the field and public institutions alike experienced a flourishing period, being involved in a wide range of fields from integrating refugees to providing assistance in regions affected by floods. Numerous local, regional and national NGOs continue to play a key role in crisis response and humanitarian assistance, complementing government action.

We invite you to further explore this pool of individual and institutional experts who have contributed to Romania’s development in this field as well as to international missions and are willing to continue to share their knowledge with counterparts elsewhere.