Social Economy in Romania after Post-Communism Era. Present Challenges and Future Social Policies

Abstract

This paper shows that Romania, as a post-communist country until the '90 succeeded to embrace the social economy sector and accessing these opportunities for its own social-economic development of communities and social inclusion of vulnerable citizens. The social economy domain existed in Romania before communism, but it had different stages of development and characteristics due to its period of political regime.A mixed research method, combining secondary analysis of data, longitudinal analysis and local case study experience was conducted. The original value of the scientific field is by analysing the way the social economy entities from the European and Romanian levels have a common objective to bring sustainable community development using the mixed research method. Also, how in 15 years the number of social enterprises in Romania grew and offered real opportunities to citizens, such as job opportunities, program qualifications and support for dependent persons etc.

"Romanian Ngos’ Efforts to Advocate on Behalf of Marginalized Groups and Prevent Social Turbulence"

“…To be fair, Romania has legislation promoting the hiring of disabled persons, with most workplaces having an obligation to hire a certain number of disabled persons and to offer certain benefits. Also, many 'social enterprises' that offer opportunities to disabled workers have been set up and become a success, which offers a lot of hope for the future of this group in terms of employment (Geta, 2022).…”