ROMANIA

The Society for Education on Contraception and Sexuality (SECS) 

The Society for Education on Contraception and Sexuality (SECS) is a Romanian non-political and non-governmental organization that was founded in 1990 from the enthusiasm of professionals who have recognised the immediate need of the population for education that allowed them to lead fulfilling lives in healthy communities. SECS’s vision is of creating a society where each  individual has access to information, education and quality services. Therefore, through all of its activities the organization promotes the principles of associative life and equal opportunities for all citizens regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion, whilst respecting their cultural differences.   

True to the belief that people’s access to information and education should be an ongoing process, SECS initiated programs of community mobilization and training in both rural and urban areas through strategic and sustainable programmes. SECS has been involved in the formation of 600 community leaders or promoters and 260 peer educators among communities at risk. These individuals are acting as changing agents and role models for their communities and are representatives of both the young and adult population.

KEY CAMPAIGN ACHIEVEMENTS:

• SECS worked in partnership with the Romanian Anti-Trafficking Commission ANITP, the Education Authority and Department for Health Promotion to develop the TLG film and materials and to disseminate the TLG campaign amongst teachers, Roma health mediators, social workers and the local police. The campaign will be piloted in the Arges district with a view to being rolled out across the country.
• 136 educational counsellors from schools in the Arges district have been trained to use the TLG film and materials in their work with young people.
• SECS has run workshops with Red Cross volunteers in Bucharest, training 36 peer educators to use the TLG film and materials in their work with underpriveleged young people in the capital. 
• SECS has run anti-trafficking workshops using TLG with 42 high schools students 
• TLG materials were disseminated at the International Symposium on ‘Human Trafficking and forms of trans-border organised criminality’, attended by 150 NGO workers from across the country.

A second phase campaign is currently underway in Romania led by:

CPE (Centre for Partnership and Equality)

CPE is committed to mainstreaming the principle of equal opportunities for women and men into public policies and associated practices, as an integral part of democratisation and the creation of an open society, in order to re-define the status and improve the condition of women in Romania.

CPE supports initiatives and runs programs and projects that aim to raise awareness within Romanian society in regards to women’s present condition and the role they can and must play in the social development of Romania. The rights it advocates for are: non-discrimination in relation to women, the right to education, the right to be free from violence, equal opportunities for women and men, reproductive and sexual rights, a gender -inclusive approach to development, economic rights for women and women’s active involvement in public life.

We will post updates and information about the campaign as it progresses. For further information about the campaign please email emma@twolittlegirls.org