Strategy for the Transition from Coal of the Jiu Valley

Strategy for the transition from coal of the Jiu Valley

Stakeholders engagement strategy

February 2020

SRSS/SC2019/119 SRSS/2018/01/FWC/002

Draft document, strictly private and confidential

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Table of Contents

Important message to persons not authorised to access this report ...... 2

I. Mission Statement ...... 5

II. Understanding the stakeholders ...... 6

Identification and mapping of key stakeholders ...... 6

Key issues among stakeholders ...... 9

III. Principles of the engagement ...... 10

Inclusiveness – engage all categories of stakeholders (public and private) ...... 10

Effectiveness – secure smooth execution to reach the results ...... 10

Accountability – raise awareness on responsibilities and roles ...... 10

Authenticity – understand the real problems affecting people’s life in Jiu Valley and get to know their utmost expectations ...... 11

Tailor-made – customize our approach to the local specifics ...... 11

Flexibility – promote various formats for interaction with the stakeholders ...... 11

Innovation – generate ideas and recommendations with potential for realistic implementation ...... 11

IV. Conflict sensitivity principles ...... 12

Activity planning and review ...... 12

Relationships with communities ...... 12

Relationship with the local authorities ...... 12

Feedback and accountability mechanism ...... 12

V. Approach to stakeholders engagement ...... 13

Objective ...... 13

Outcomes ...... 13

Engagement activities ...... 14

Tailored engagement ...... 15

VI. Main coordinates of engagement for the key categories ...... 16

Engaging central and local authorities ...... 16

Engaging the NGOs ...... 21

Engaging the business community in JVR (associations, entrepreneurs, other companies)...... 23

Engaging the religious cults ...... 25

Engaging the local unions/miners’ syndicates/former miners and mining companies ...... 26

Engaging the academia / schools / university and representatives of healthcare institutions...... 27

Engaging the informal community leaders ...... 28

Engaging the local media ...... 28

Potential engagement risks ...... 29

VII. Implementation, ongoing engagement and communication with SRSS (REFORM) and the Beneficiary ...... 30

VIII. Best practices - Lessons learned from stakeholders’ engagement in Slovakia (Horna Nitra) ...... 31

Lessons learned from Upper Nitra ...... 31

Best practices form other regions ...... 33

IX. Annex 1 – Stakeholder engagement analysis and plan ...... 36

I. Mission Statement

The “Strategy for the transition from coal of the Jiu Valley” is intended to bring a significant change in the overall dynamics of this ailing region, with critical developments on both social and economic dimensions, particularly to boost the morale and erase scepticism from the collective mental of the local inhabitants in parallel with identifying the most appropriate means for capitalizing on the strengths of Jiu Valley to reshuffle the economic situation towards the much needed development in many key areas for the day to day living. Given the complexity and specifics of this project, as well as its relevance for the future of the region and the life of local communities, engaging with all the categories of inhabitants, from public authorities to private individuals and associations, social groups and organizations (to be referred as “stakeholders”) is essential for achieving the above-mentioned goals. Aside from central and public authorities (county council, prefecture, city hall), based on our preliminary mapping, a large number of stakeholders will be engaged, representing important social categories for the problems and difficulties impacting realities in Jiu Valley as of today: NGOs handling social services, tourism, culture, education, local strategic engagement with the communities, business associations and individual entrepreneurs, syndicates and mining unions, former miners and mining companies, religious cults, members of the academic institutions and healthcare entities, media. The purpose of this document is to draft a strategy for engaging these stakeholders, highlighting the guiding principles and presenting why stakeholders engagement is crucial for the success of the project, who will be involved, what benefits will bring their involvement, how each category of stakeholders will be involved and when in the project their engagement will be relevant. It will provide guidance on every aspect of the stakeholders’ engagement to the project teams of DG-REFORM (“the Client”), the Ministry of European Funds (“the Beneficiary”) and PwC (“the Consultant”). It will also be useful for any internal or external stakeholder who wishes to understand the approach to stakeholder engagement in this project. Engagement aims to determine active participation from all interested parties in this project and will be conducted in line with some key principles grounding our approach along the entire project: inclusiveness, transparency, accountability, authenticity, customization, effectiveness, flexibility and innovation. Given the various categories of stakeholders and the diverse interests of each, as well as some preconceptions well-grounded in the collective mental with regard to any attempt to change the realities of Jiu Valley, they will be engaged in separate and collective activities – meetings and interviews, workshops, focus groups, questionnaires and surveys – with the ultimate goal of gathering consensus for the key stages and decisions to be taken in the project, as well as for enhancing the political endorsement needed to validate and further implement the Strategy for development and the related Action Plan. Stakeholders active engagement will be necessary and actively capitalized for the following deliverables:

• Stakeholders engagement strategy (the current document); • Analysis of challenges and opportunities in the Jiu Valley region; • Strategy for economic, social and environmental development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030; • Defining the governance structure for the implementation of the Strategy; • Elaboration of the Action Plan and a pipeline of realistic and feasible projects; • Organization of study visits in 3 European countries.

Our approach is based on the following steps we consider when engaging the stakeholders:

1. Identification of 2. Visualisation of 3. Mapping and 4. Profiling 5. Planning of stakeholders interdependencies analysis actions

II. Understanding the stakeholders

Identification and mapping of key stakeholders When working to identify and map the stakeholders we focused mainly on the key actors at local level, but also considered the central governmental stakeholders relevant for the success of the outcomes in this project. Mapping particularly for the local level was done based on desk research with thorough screening of public sources, then confirmed and expanded through direct meetings particularly with the 6 mayors in Valea Jiului and the active NGOs members of Coalition “Valea Jiului Implicata”. Given the complexity of the project and the economic transition required to boost development of the region, several stakeholders at central level should be involved in the process, considering the drivers of the main decision-making process. Consequently, aside from the Ministry of EU Funds as main Beneficiary, our stakeholders list includes the Romanian Government and Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration, the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment (which also includes tourism), the Ministry of Public Finance, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection with the relevant structures under their coordination. The detailed mapping is built on the following information:

• Name and surname; • Organization he/she represents; • Title/position in the organization; • Category of stakeholder in this project (Beneficiary, Civil society – for profit company, Civil society – NGO, Entrepreneur, Expert, Local activist, Local authority, Ministry, Public Authority, Union etc.); • E-mail (GDPR was signed or it was found on public domain); • Phone (GDPR was signed or it was found on public domain); • Physical location. When profiling the stakeholders, we targeted to understand specific interests of each category and the contribution/advantage they would bring in the engagement process based on their local power/influence and interest. We mapped a list of over 450 entities (as of the time of writing this Strategy) and persons categorized as follows:

• Priority to be engaged: low, medium or high; • Stakeholder’s interest: low, medium or high; • Stakeholder’s power: low, medium or high; • Stakeholder’s involvement: key player; non-key player.

Figure 1 – Stakeholders Mapping

In order to conduct an effective stakeholder engagement, we mapped the stakeholders in a matrix with 4 groups, based on a standard methodology used for stakeholder mapping. The stakeholder matrix is summarised in the scheme below:

High power Key players stakeholders The proper identification of stakeholders is important not - Consult regularly just from the perspective of undersanding who to engage, - Inform - Maintain good but also in order to identify the optimal ways to consult. - Keep satisfied relations - Monitor their - Manage their interests interests We defined the low priority stakeholders as those with low interest and low influential power. This group should be monitored and informed about the steps and decisions Low priority High interest

stakeholders stakeholders to be taken, but it is not the critical focus group. Its Level power of Level members are the cultural and sport associations – given - Monitor and inform - Regularly inform the relatively small impact they bear in the local peoples’ - General - Keep involved daily lives –, the local influencers – as they are oppinion communication - Consider their through website comments leaders only for their close followers, none of the and media influencers being nationally recognised – and finally the labor unions – as these organisations have the reputation Level of interest of serving the interests of the companies and not those of the workers, reason for which the workers are skeptical towards them.

High interest stakeholders might or might not have high influential power but they are highly interested in the project. This group requires to be informed regularly on the steps and decisions. Although they don’t always have the power to influence decisions, it is important to keep them informed and included to avoid them seeking to increase their influence. Our analysis revealed the 6 City Halls as being high interest stakeholders with high power, while the medium and small interest categories of stakeholders represent a mix of actors with various levels of power.

The high power stakeholders is a category that has to be managed the most carefully over the entire period of the project as it has the power to influence decisions. This group has to be kept satisfied in order to prevent them from raising interest in the project. We consider the central authorities as being the most powerful stakeholders, closely followed by the regional and local authorities, the MPs representing the region and the County Prefect, the religious cults, the mining company and last, but not least, the local media. The analysis revealed the social and environmental NGOs having a medium power, similar to those of the local businesses.

Since the beginning of the project, PwC’s team interactions with the stakeholders allowed us to identify a number of key players. This group has both high interest in the project and high or medium power to influence the decisions. This is the focus group for the engagement and should be included in the consultations to the maximum extent possible, they should be thoroughly managed and good working relationships should be established. Firstly and foremost, the local administrations who should be the drivers of the implementation of the projects that will be identified, followed by the local business owners who have the capacity to increase the momentum of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem and the social, cultural and environmental NGOs which can instil a positive mindset to the community.

Key issues among stakeholders Considering the various categories of stakeholders and the variety of interests, coupled with their perception on local developments, a proper engagement requires an insightful approach based on sensitive issues among stakeholders, be it private entities in the relation with public authorities or the private entities and civil society categories in relation to each other. Based on our initial analysis derived from discussions with the mayors and interviews/questionnaires with other categories of stakeholders (mainly NGOs who have a larger outreach within local communities), we identified the following preliminary key aspects to be considered when engaging the stakeholders:

• Lack of trust in the overall conduct of the local authorities (perception that individual interests are prioritized to the detriment of community ones); • Lack of transparency and limited implication of the Jiu Valley inhabitants in the decisions of the local authorities; • Limited support offered by the local authorities to the entrepreneurs and business community representatives in general, as well as to NGOs with focus on cultural/artistic projects; • Conditionality imposed by local authorities to some NGOs when promoting various projects; • Divergent views between local authorities and NGOs working on social services projects regarding funding needs and bureaucratic mechanisms for assessing and addressing the social needs. Given the incipient stage of the project, we plan to continue identifying sensitive issues that have blocked cooperation at times or are still perceived as obstacles in the relationships among various categories of stakeholders. These will mainly result during direct interactions with several categories of stakeholders and when gathering local authorities at the same table with different civil society categories. Such shortcomings with significant impact for a project like the current one could well translate into concrete risks for achieving our objectives. To avoid such situation, we will consider the above and the upcoming sensitive issues to be determined at a later stage as part of our conduct strategy in the interaction with the stakeholders from all camps and categories, in an attempt to change mentalities and approaches, to the largest extent possible.

III. Principles of the engagement

Most of the population of Jiu Valley is highly dominated by a deep sense of mistrust, scepticism and pessimism, reaching in some cases the stage of increased denial of everything related to their surroundings and living environment. Several attempts made in the past to reinvigorate the region and to boost economic and social development failed. The mine closures had significant negative impact for many families and led to young ones leaving abroad or to other regions in Romania. Those who chose to stay or had no other option but stay have been put on pension at a young age and are now raising their children out of the respective pensions. Given the overall critical social situation, coupled with the lack of progress regarding economic development, the news about another attempt to elaborate a strategy is not yet fully perceived with trust. The young representatives of the NGOs are very positive and eager to cooperate, authorities express willingness to prove things can be done in the right way, nevertheless other categories of stakeholders are actively awaiting developments as we progress with our activities. Consequently, engaging with all these people of the Jiu Valley should be based on 8 principles, particularly governed by inclusiveness, transparency, effectiveness and accountability. Inclusiveness – engage all categories of stakeholders (public and private) It is vital that all those who will be impacted are engaged so that they understand the scope of the project activities, how these activities will impact them and how they can interact with the project team. We will work closely with both public local and central authorities as well as with local NGOs, business associations and entrepreneurs, religious cults, academia and healthcare institutions, unions and miners’ syndicates, local media and local influencers/informal community leaders.

All engagement during project activities should be sensitive of cultural, religious, and gender issues and consider how they will be received by marginalised and minority groups. The project will seek to ensure greater and more equitable participation of marginalised community members. Local knowledge and understanding will be harnessed to ensure awareness of practical barriers to participation (e.g. way of speaking, meeting locations etc.) Furthermore, the project will employ staff that are able to work safely and productively with the different groups, considering the complex dynamics and relationships in the region.

Transparency – conduct direct discussions based on an open approach. Our interactions with these various stakeholders will focus on transparency by presenting our intentions in the project and enhancing visibility regarding the upcoming phases. At the same time, we will seek to generate a simple non-sophisticated dialog or debate with the stakeholders to have them voice concerns and us answer all questions they may have in the most convincing, but realistic way.

Effectiveness – secure smooth execution to reach the results The engagement process should not be overly bureaucratic and burdensome to allow for easy participation and not to create excessive workload for the stakeholders.

Accountability – raise awareness on responsibilities and roles All categories of stakeholders will be engaged in a way so that they understand and assume their role in the transition process of the Valley. Their concrete involvement will be well addressed, their opinions listened to, but we will also raise awareness on the impact their decisions will have for the community life, as well as on the utmost need for gathering consensus.

Authenticity – understand the real problems affecting people’s life in Jiu Valley and get to know their utmost expectations We need to understand the issues that impact stakeholders before acting, therefore, to build trust, all engagement activities with stakeholders will concentrate on listening to their problems, considering their ideas and recommendations and keeping them informed about progress of the project.

Tailor-made – customize our approach to the local specifics As we understand the specifics of Jiu Valley and the sensitive aspects which well differentiate the region and its people from other regions in Romania, our project needs to be customized to local deepest realities. We will focus on understanding issues, interdependencies between stakeholders, consider various interests and expectations of all categories and design the Strategy, Action Plan, Governance Structure and Pipeline of Projects in line with the real needs of JVR.

Flexibility – promote various formats for interaction with the stakeholders In engaging with the stakeholders we will have a flexible approach and clarify that our project is not built on previously agreed steps in-between us as project team or with the local authorities or the Beneficiary with regard to final decisions, but will be designed based on thorough analysis of the outcomes of our interaction with all categories of stakeholders. To this end we will engage them in various formats – from one-to-one meetings and informal interviews to workshops and thematic focus groups, also considering public consultations for gathering consensus on the most sensitive issues should there be the case. At the same time, we will listen to their recommendations and bring to the same table various groups, both from public and private/civil society arena.

Innovation – generate ideas and recommendations with potential for realistic implementation We hope for this project to prove to be one of a kind, at least for Jiu Valley, if not at national level. Having tremendous impact on the life of people and us having to identify solutions to problems for a sound transition with palpable results, to innovate for Jiu Valley will mean proposing realistic measures to be taken by local authorities or other stakeholders, defining feasible projects with clear prospects for implementation, identifying the most appropriate and confirmed funding sources to be allocated for these projects and designing a functional governance structure with clear accountability roles.

Considering these principles that will guide our approach, we would also stress that engagement activities will be regularly reviewed. Continuous and ongoing review by the implementation teams and the senior management together with the key external expert will help insure that the engagement strategy is fit for purpose and is contributing to the aims of the project. This will help create opportunities to engage with and listen to all stakeholders and be held accountable.

IV. Conflict sensitivity principles

In line with the overall approach to conflict sensitivity, our stakeholder engagement will be minful of the local context in Jiu Valley so that activities do not risk causing conflicts or exacerbating sensitivities between communities or stakeholders. To this end we will ensure that those impacted by our project are engaged accordingly and understand our approach in the project. Central to implementing the project in a conflict sensitive manner will be the approach to relationship management with stakeholders who are both directly and indirectly affected by our project. We will identify role and activities of these stakeholders and seek to enhance constructive communication with and among different individuals/groups to ensure equitable engagement.

Activity planning and review We will constantly assess how our activities ae perceived by the local communities and whether there is any risk associated with this. A conflict sensitivity review will be conducted on a monthly basis to ensure that our activities and our approach are appropriate and are not increasing tensions between stakeholders.

Relationships with communities The participatory approach will help promote transparent and equitable relationships between our team and the stakeholders. Inclusion of the communities in the decision-making process is of particular importance. Engaging with the communities will help building community capacities to constructively deal with needs prioritisation.

Relationship with the local authorities The success of our project in Jiu Valley relies heavily on building proactive and strong relationships with the local authorities, mayors of the 6 municipalities but also officials with Hunedoara County Council, the Regional Development Agency West, the prefectures and the local deconcentrated agencies. We already started and will continue working closely with governmental stakeholders to develop their capacity for delivering to the expectations of the communities through ongoing advisory support. At the same time, we will capitalize on the relationship with these authorities to assess and monitor conflict dynamics at local level/among stakeholders.

Feedback and accountability mechanism Accountability is key for conflict sensitivity as it deals with constructing responsive relationships between our team, communities and the authorities. We will engage the stakeholders to provide feedback which will also help monitor conflict issues during implementation.

V. Approach to stakeholders engagement

Objective Our stakeholder engagement is intended for achieving the following key goals: • accurately understanding the realities in Jiu Valley with particular focus on sensitive aspects impacting peoples’ life; • identifying the key priorities that will help define concrete measures to be taken for a successful transition and for boosting economic development; • identifying the key priorities that will help define concrete measures to be taken to address the social problems affecting the Jiu Valley population; • helping authorities to build their capacities for effective action in several areas in support of Jiu Valley’s transition from coal; • helping the other categories of stakeholders to have a role in supporting this transition and to give local communities a sense of usefulness by actively contributing to the determining their better future; • selecting the most appropriate areas for developing sustainable projects that could contribute to the economic progress of the region, especially through the creation of new jobs; • designing tailored roles and responsibilities for the local authorities and for other stakeholders who could have effective contribution to implementing the strategy for local development; • selecting the most realistic funding sources for the projects to be proposed to secure their implementation; • drafting a realistic Strategy for development with a feasible Action Plan and an effective Governance Structure.

We define the overarching objective of stakeholder engagement as follows: “Engage with all relevant stakeholders to help achieve the goals of the project and to promote a positive attitude towards its utility and outcomes, with and for all beneficiaries.”

Outcomes To achieve the objective of the stakeholder engagement strategy there are a number of outcomes that stakeholder engagement activities are intended to achieve:

• Community engagement – communities’ capacity strengthened to be more effectively engaged in the community wellbeing and to be aware of their critical role for the success of this transition process. Successfully engaging with communities will help make sure the needs and requirements of community members are listened to and implemented when drafting the Strategy and deciding on the list of 10 strategic projects. Moreover, as a result of the project, communities will also be better informed and will be more capable to hold local government officials and service providers accountable for their performance.

• Ownership and sustainability – during the project, the Ministry of European Funds together with PwC team will promote a sense of ownership of the project within the communities in Jiu Valley region. This is particularly important in order to improve accountability and responsiveness of local authorities in the future stages, when the Strategy will have to be implemented.

• Learning and sharing results – as a major development investment and flagship project, capturing the views, perceptions and recommendations of both central and local authorities and the other categories of local stakeholders and sharing lessons learned together with best practices from other similar projects and the results of the project are key to ensuring sustainability, reliability, and accountability.

• Conflict prevention – community engagement and participation are an effective strategy for conflict prevention. Through fostering a participatory approach at all stages of the project, the project team will develop relationships with stakeholders that are based on trust, are equitable, and contribute to the peace building aims of the overarching “Strategy for the transition from coal of the Jiu Valley”.

• Coordination of key stakeholders / minimised duplication of effort – with a range of governmental authorities and non-governmental organisations active in the region, it is important that there is coordination between all entities to improve overall effectiveness of the project.

• Gathering consensus – address all key aspects with relevance for the final outcomes of this project and identify the core issues on which stakeholders have different views. Our team will stress the utmost importance of reaching consensus during all activities with the stakeholders and will take additional steps to organize appropriate gatherings and consultations by bringing to the same table those having opposed views in an effort to accommodate positions by explaining why this is critical to the project.

Engagement activities The “Strategy for the transition from coal of the Jiu Valley” will employ various methods of engaging with stakeholder throughout the life of the project. These can be categorised in the following way: • Project-led activities – these may be non-participatory planned project activities over the period – ongoing communication with the stakeholders • Consultative participation – involves seeking the views of the stakeholders on any specific issue/s related to the project to help decision-making, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Consultations will be used to gather information, to design the Strategy and to identify the strategic projects. We will organize interviews, workshops and thematic focus groups with separate categories of stakeholders but also with several groups. Public authorities will also be engaged together with representatives of the civil society/NGOs with the purpose of gathering consensus on important issues to be agreed. • Collaborative participation – involves the project team partnering with stakeholders in some capacity, working in partnership to make decisions and implement projects. The NGOs willing to be engaged in the strategic approach for Jiu Valley (Coalition “Valea Jiului Implicata”), as well as members of the local business associations or other business entities at central level such as RWEA who can support our efforts to define important projects such as reskilling the work force will be actively engaged as partners in the key phases of the project adapted to their profile. • Stakeholder-led participation – empowers the stakeholders to lead on activities or initiatives either individually or as part of groups. These activities will support the sustainability of the project objectives beyond the project end. It will be relevant for the general perception to have voices other than the local authorities take the lead in e workshops, promote initiatives that could translate into concrete projects for our envisaged pipeline.

We will select the engagement method depending on the specific objective, the profile of the stakeholders and the deliverable (stage of project). At the same time, we will agree with the Beneficiary on the best distribution channels to be used for consultations, level of interactivity and accessibility required, target audience and timing. Local authorities and NGOs having a very thorough understanding of the local perceptions will be consulted to provide guidance especially for announcing engagement activities line with the profile of the categories to be involved. The following methods will be used pending the context, scope of the activity and stakeholder profile:

• Publishing information on the website – we will keep the public informed with progress in the project and also post excerpts of some deliverables translated into Romanian on the dedicated website of the Ministry of EU Funds and also with the support of the mayors these milestones will be made available at the level of the local city halls;

• Publishing information in the local media – given that the local media active is already getting active about this project and some stakeholders (mayors, NGOs and University of Petrosani) released some information which turned into articles published in the local newspapers, we consider drafting some brief communiques to be released to the media mainly regarding important milestones reached in the project; pending specific contexts, we may also publish brief articles summarizing outcomes of some activities with the stakeholders. Our communication team will coordinate with the counterpart team of the Ministry of Eu Funds in this regard.

• Presentation – based on the stage reached in the project when we will organize larger meetings for consultations with the stakeholders, we will also present the relevant aspects related to the stage reached in the projects and the plans for the way forward; such presentations will be particularly important for key milestones in the project when some specific actions are agreed to be taken, policies or measures to be implemented, projects to be included in the pipeline. Presentations will be addressed to the target audience (selected staleholders) or wide audience (general pulblic);

• Consultations in writing – we already initiated collecting information by questionnaires via email with some categories of stakeholders and we will continue capitalizing on this feedback method pending concrete necessities in the project, particularly when information resulted during workshops is not sufficint or relevant or when some aspects will need further clarification.

• Workshops and focus group – we plan to organize several such interactive meetings with key stakeholders to collect feedback on a specific topic at almost all phases (deliverables) of the project.

• Public consultations – we will consider organizing open public meeting and consultations with the wide audiencewhen relevant to gather full consensus on key issues related to the Strategy, to the Action Plan and possibly for the pipeline of projects.

Tailored engagement Given the multiple categories of stakeholders in Jiu Valley and particularly the local sensitivities translating into constructive or less constructive cooperation between some categories, our engagement will be tailored to adapt to the profile of each stakeholder group. To this end we already started engaging the local authorities/mayors, the most active NGOs, the business community leaders in detailed communication to inform them on the purpose of our engagement, collect information on their profile, their local engagement so far, their interaction with other stakeholders and the role they would like to play in this project. Direct interviews and meetings were also coupled with detailed questionnaires for a thorough approach. These key actors also helped understand the status and role of other categories with lower voices in the communities but who are very relevant to consider for the overall approach in this project.

VI. Main coordinates of engagement for the key categories

Figure 2 – Project plan, in line with the Inception Report

Project phase / Deliverable Month Feb-20 Mar-20 Apr-20 Mai-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Week 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 1 Stakeholders engagement 2 Deliverable 3: Analysis of the key challenges and opportunities in the JV ? 3 Monthly progress report no. 2 4 Deliverable 4: Draft Strategy for Econ., Soc. & Environ. Dev. of the JV, 2021 - 2030 5 Monthly progress report no. 3 6 First Interim meeting 7 Deliverable 5: Proposal for a governance structure of the transition 8 Monthly progress report no. 4 9 Deliverable 6: Action Plan and pipeline of projects 10 Monthly progress report no. 5 11 Second interim meeting 12 Deliverable 7: Communication plan 13 Deliverable 8: Preparation of study visits 14 Final progress report 15 Presentation of the project and factsheet Engaging central and local authorities Context Working with the governmental authorities this year will be challenging because of the local elections to be held in June and general elections to be organized in November the latest. Considering the electoral context and the specific request we received from the 6 mayors to temporize activities around the time of the elections, we expect there is high risk for our project deadline to be extended beyond September 2020.

Under the circumstances, we will accommodate our approach and activities with the stakeholders to the best possible to avoid any negative impact in light of political changes. And even if delays will happen on political, but also bureaucratic considerations, we will try to finish the project by November/December the latest (within the maximum timeline envisaged at the RfP stage), but we will focus on having the Governance Structure, the Strategy and the Action Plan ready in due time, at least in final draft format.

Local authorities Project phase / deliverable Analysis of challenges and opportunities Objective Understanding the key challenges at local level, the measures/actions taken by the local authorities so far, especially after the mine closures and with regard to the problems derived afterwards; understanding mayors’ priorities and identifying best opportunities to be capitalized for further development Engagement Organize individual meeting with each of the 6 mayors and pending identified issues that may need to be accommodated in-between authorities and other stakeholders, the mayors, the President of Hunedoara County Council and representatives of prefectures will participate in a joint workshop with other stakeholders representing civil society; provide support by making available the needed statistical data required for this analysis in close cooperation with the Statistical Division of Hunedoara County. Timeframe 3 - 21 February

Project phase / deliverable Elaborate the Strategy for Economic, Social and Environmental Development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030 Objective Agree on the key sectors/areas that need to be assessed for development through concrete projects and design the pillars around which to build the strategy, discuss environmental and social aspects with impact for the 16

vision and agree on the options for the strategy vision (based on assessing needs and capabilities in correlation with funding possibilities); prepare authorities for the roles and responsibilities they will have to take to implement the strategy and set the stage for the public consultations. Engagement Organize workshop with the 6 mayors, then together with social and environmental NGOs, the business community and the educational institutions to agree on coordination of measures that will be taken in line with the following principles: • Local economic recovery is a long-term process requiring a long-term policy framework • Local intervention needs to be tailored to the weaknesses and potentials of the regions and built on indigenous strengths • Formulation of a strategy requires prioritisation and sequencing between objectives and priority should be given to national growth • Strategic policies should be comprehensive, mixing knowledge and human capital to achieve success. We will organize public consultations in close coordination with the 6 mayors to engage with the local communities and validate the coordinates of the draft strategy with the larger audience. Timeframe February – April

Project phase / deliverable Proposal for Governance Structure for implementing the Strategy 2021-2030 Objective Identify shortcomings related to the lack of a coherent governance structure, collect ideas on measures that are deemed to secure effectiveness of setting up a governance structure for the current transition process, particular issues that may block/support its efficiency, agree on players who should be actively engaged to support the local authorities and identify the best option that would gather consensus based on PwC presentation of European best practices; at the same time, we will consider the relevant aspects of ITI Delta Dunarii that could be capitalized for Jiu Valley and correlate them with lessons learned from other European countries; define the sectoral working groups that will have to be set up for an efficient approach to strategic projects in various areas (as reflected in the Strategy) and secure accountability for the roles to be taken by those who will be designated members of the Governance structure Engagement Organize separate and/or joint meetings/consultations with the mayors and the other local authorities (including joint session with the central authorities once a final option needs to be agreed and validated) and help designate appropriate representatives for the sectoral working groups. Timeframe May - June

Project phase / deliverable Prepare the Action Plan and Pipeline of Projects Objective Elaborate a specific set of actionable measures to secure the successful transition and development of Jiu Valley region (specific actions for each of the envisaged objectives of the strategy, concrete assignment of roles and responsibilities, deadlines and clear timeframe for the implementation of each measure, dependencies between actions and milestones, financing needs and sources for the realisation of these actions, assessment of the local impact of the proposed measures, potential risks and mitigation measures); identify 15 key projects from which to select the most appropriate 10, best tailored to the needs of the region and with predictable/secure funding sources; prepare political endorsement for the Action Plan and identify a “champion” to promote its implementation Engagement Organize consultations with the local authorities to discuss concrete actions and possibilities for further implementation and invite them to attend the thematic working sessions with other categories of stakeholders to define clear actionable measure for each selected area; with regard to the pipeline of projects, we will organize a joint workshop (authorities – other stakeholders) to address proposals of projects (based on discussions already initiated at the present stage of the project), identify the most suitable ones and agree on 10 projects to be selected by consensus from a list of 15 , discuss funding sources, prioritization and implementation/planning; local authorities will also be invited to attend consultations with the local business community and at the European Commission level (e.g.DG-REGIO). Timeframe June – July

Project phase / deliverable Organize 3 study visits in European countries with similar transition situation Objective Exchange of experience to capitalize on best practices in other countries in terms of performing outreach for the policy areas envisaged for the development strategy, learn details and best practices about the governance structure implemented in the respective countries and foster cooperation between the Romanian and international counterparts; assessment of best practices for potential adoption into our final Strategy based on:

• impact in addressing the challenges identified under Deliverable 3; • consistency with the measures already taken by the Romanian authorities; • efficiency of new initiatives that could be drawn from other EU countries. Engagement Organize preliminary consultations to brief local authorities on the situation in the respective countries and to agree on the set of issues/questions to be addressed to their counterparts; organize 3 study visits for the 6 mayors who will be accompanied by representatives of the Ministry of EU Funds Timeframe July (after the local elections)

Central authorities Project phase / deliverable Analysis of challenges and opportunities Objective Collect views and recommendations with regard to the opportunities that should be capitalized in Jiu Valley in light of funding mechanisms and instruments available at national and EU level, as well as based on the development policies agreed at central level to support development of regions such as Jiu Valley Engagement Organize individual meetings or a joint meeting with representatives of the Ministries of EU Funds, Economy and Regional Development (in consultation with the Beneficiary to activate the already formed inter-ministerial Technical Working Groups set up in 2019); provide support for collecting statistical data on various areas Timeframe 24 - 28 February

Project phase / deliverable Elaborate the Strategy for Economic, Social and Environmental Development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030 Objective Discuss key aspects/ideas and recommendations for the vision of development as resulted from engagement with local authorities and other stakeholders, collect feedback and proposals for consideration based on policies at central level, specific mechanisms and procedures entailed for taking measures in some areas, brainstorm on topics such as (preliminary examples): • Strengthening the local entrepreneurial networks • Improvement of the local infrastructure • Improvement of “soft attractiveness” factors (cleaning up local pollution, land rehabilitation, internet access, educational opportunities for children, etc.) • Location of public sector activities in the region • Location of nationally-relevant innovation or energy projects in the region Preparing the authorities for the roles and responsibilities they will have to take to implement the strategy and setting the stage for the public consultations will be important during engagement at this phase. Engagement Organize workshop with the Steering Committee and the Technical Working Group (key Ministries of EU Funds, Public Finance, Environment, Labour and Social Protection, Regional Development, Economy) to address and agree on the key coordinates related to the vision; then set up a joint consultation between local and central authorities to agree on the final coordinates of the vision and the strategy itself and gather consensus required for political endorsement and in line with the four principles: • Local economic recovery is a long-term process requiring a long-term policy framework • Local intervention needs to be tailored to the weaknesses and potentials of the regions and built on indigenous strengths • Formulation of a strategy requires prioritisation and sequencing between objectives and priority should be given to national growth • Strategic policies should be comprehensive, mixing knowledge and human capital to achieve success. The Ministry of EU Funds will be engaged to support in preparation for public consultations by posting the draft strategy on the dedicated website. This deliverable will require a meeting with the Prime Minister/PM Economic Advisor to present the stage of the project, the key aspects to be included in the draft strategy and set the stage for political validation in the fall. Timeframe February – April

Project phase / deliverable Proposal for Governance Structure for implementing the Strategy 2021-2030 Objective Address aspects derived from European best practices related to such governance structure, correlated with elements already in place with ITI Danube Delta from a central coordination perspective and identify the best option for a structure that would work effectively and that would gather consensus, based on European lessons learned; define the sectoral working groups that will have to be set up for an efficient approach to strategic projects in various areas (as reflected in the Strategy), set grounds for political validation of the chosen option and secure accountability for the roles to be taken by the representatives of the Governance structure Engagement Organize workshop with the Steering Committee and the Technical Working Group to discuss the coordinates of the governance structure and import the most suitable aspects derived from European best practices and define the final option to be agreed and validated and help designate appropriate representatives for the sectoral working groups; organize a high level meeting with the Prime Minister and the Minister of EU Funds together with the 6 mayors in Jiu Valley as final step before political endorsement.

The following aspects will be addressed with both central and local authorities: • For the projects that concern the entire JVR area, the members of the Governance Structure must be selected from the ministries and county authorities who have direct connection with the actions and projects included in the strategy;

• For the projects that concern a locality or a group of localities, they must be chosen from the respective communities, with good knowledge of the realities of the respective areas;

• All members of the governance structure must have experience in implementing and monitoring community projects or they will have to undertake brief training sessions. Timeframe May - June

Project phase / deliverable Prepare the Action Plan and Pipeline of Projects Objective Address the specific set of actionable measures to secure the successful transition and development of Jiu Valley region as discussed with local authorities; select the most appropriate funding sources to support implementation of the projects and agree on 10 out of 15 projects to be most appropriate, best tailored to the needs of the region and with predictable/secure funding sources; secure political endorsement for the Action Plan and identify a “champion” to promote its implementation from central Engagement Organize consultations with the Steering Committee and the Technical Working Group to discuss concrete actions and possibilities for further implementation with particular focus on securing timely funding sources based on a realistic assessment of national budget situation and the available EU funds and supporting programs for regions in transition; organize a joint meeting with the local authorities to agree on the selected pipeline of projects and all required measures that will have to be taken by central governmental establishment to enhance successful implementation on the ground.

Funding needs and sources will be key in discussions with MEF and MPF and we will engage them to consider realistic options for funding (international and local funds) and review the state aid procedures applicable to this kind of project, as well as the eligibility and concrete amounts that could be accessed. We will also review the public-private partnership mechanisms for funding. The Ministry of EU Funds will be a main actor and decision maker and we will capitalise on the relationship built with this stakeholder to address all relevant

aspects related to the financing needs in the most effective manner, considering priorities for investments in the next period, particularly those in line with the potential actions required in JVR (infrastructure, energy efficiency, environmental protection, innovation etc.). The funding analysis will also consider other financial instruments and blended financing pertaining to the international institutions, similar to the loans already provided by the World Bank during the projects conducted some years ago in Jiu Valley. We will also look at other national schemes such as the Environmental Fund which could be a potential source for the objectives related to environmental measures. A meeting will be organized at Prime Minister’s Office level with the participation of all engaged Ministries and local authorities for the political endorsement of the Action Plan. Timeframe June – July

The Steering Committee and the central authorities/ministries who are part of the Technical Working Group will have a key engagement role particularly in the activities related to drafting the Strategy, choosing the Governance Structure option, drafting the Action Plan and defining the final list of 10 projects to be further implemented in Jiu Valley. Aside from the regular engagement per the above, these two bodies will be activated and alerted by us whenever deemed necessary in case of critical situations that may arise throughout the engagement with the other categories of stakeholders on the four deliverables mentioned above.

Based on mayors’ feedback to our questionnaire, they would prefer to attend the public consultations. Local authorities are willing to participate in sustainable development of the area as solution to revive JVR and overcome the current critical situation.

Engaging the NGOs Context / Profile The local NGOs are one of the most active (if not the most in some circumstances) category of stakeholders playing an important role in enhancing Jiu Valley’s visibility at European level, helping local mayors address various local issues and making consistent effort to support local communities by promoting initiatives and projects aimed at improving people’s life and the general conditions in the region. Our project kicked-off at a relevant moment as the most prominent NGOs in JVR joined forces to group under the umbrella of a Coalition significantly named “Valea Jiului Implicata” (Engaged Jiu Valley).

It gathers entities with activities in various areas (civil engagement, economic and urban development, education, culture, social services, tourism, environment) with the ambitious mission to foster cooperation for all non-governmental organizations and local, national and international civil groups to enhance implementation of projects for the economic, social and cultural development of Jiu Valley and to promote region’s assets at national and international levels. This Coalition singles itself as the sole platform for common dialog and action dedicated to the above-mentioned entities.

These NGOs are particularly preoccupied for bettering the future of the Valley and for materializing projects with real positive impact, showing utmost willingness to actively support our efforts and work with us throughout the project.

Project phase / deliverable Analysis of challenges and opportunities Objectives Understand the key challenges at local level, the measures/actions taken by the Government /local authorities prior and especially after proceeding with specific decisions such as closing mines and the problems derived afterwards most of which are still valid; trace the most sensitive social issues as perceived by local communities and the environmental matters that should be considered; identify some key priorities that could well turn into opportunities for future development

Engagement Organize informal meetings/workshops, cooperate closely throughout the entire phase of the project for additional information needed; capitalize on studies and reports drafted by NGOs in cooperation with international institutions or at local level; engage them to provide guidance for accurate sources of information, sociological studies and other relevant data bases that could be successfully used for this analysis. Timeframe 3-7 February

Project phase / deliverable Elaborate the Strategy for Economic, Social and Environmental Development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030 Objectives Discuss projects the NGOs have been or are involved in, relevant initiatives which could translate into projects, collect ideas on topics such as reform of public sector management (e.g. guide public relations to drive intra- regional support for the development agenda and to improve the image of the JVR), strengthening the business environment (e.g. encourage growth among new industries and mobilise human capital for the new industries), restoration of the natural environment (e.g. promote growth in winter sports and encourage investment by private enterprises) and investing in infrastructure will be only few propositions around which our options will develop; seek to get NGOs vision for strategic development on the three components. Engagement Organize dedicated workshop and also engage the NGOs to participate in focus groups with the local authorities and other categories of stakeholders; as “Valea Jiului Implicata” is very much interested in contributing to the local strategies, they may also provide concrete input for designing the options for the vision of development, with ultimate touch in the Strategy itself. Timeframe February – April

Project phase / deliverable Proposal for Governance Structure for implementing the Strategy 2021-2030 Objectives Collect feedback regarding the existing governance structure and recommendations for improvement with concrete measures that should be taken, key players who should be involved in the new structure, discuss European best practices to identify aspects that could be successfully imported and adapted to the specifics of Jiu Valley. Engagement Participate in an on-line survey/questionnaire as well as in focus groups with other categories of stakeholders to enhance consensus. Timeframe May - June

Project phase / deliverable Prepare the Action Plan and Pipeline of Projects Objectives Gather input with regard to assessment of current projects and existing capabilities of JVR (review projects and programs in which they are engage or to which they contributed in the past), specifically discuss two types of projects - those targeting the entire geographical area of JVR, mainly comprising road infrastructure, district heating, professional conversion etc. and projects targeting some areas or localities in JVR. There are currently 4 projects underway in different stages, regarding JVR area and several punctual projects referring to Petrila & Lonea, Aninoasa, Lupeni, Petrosani, Uricani. Engagement

Organize an informal meeting and also participate in sectoral workshops with representatives of the business community. Timeframe June – July

The NGOs are willing to be consulted by any formal or informal means, important for them being that the process of drafting the strategy is carried out as transparent and as inclusive as possible.

Engaging the business community in JVR (associations, entrepreneurs, other companies) Context / Profile The local economic environment is mainly represented by state owned companies, the remains of the networks created at a time when coal exploitation was at its highest. Entrepreneurs activate in traditional domains and have limited power, being directly impacted by the economic status of the region. Most of them are well prepared to contribute to the economic development and to support the civil society.

The private sector is highly fragmented, with an inward-looking orientation and generally consisting of very small firms, representing individual or family businesses. The share of firms working with clients and suppliers from outside the Jiu Valley or even from outside Romania is extremely low. The lack of managerial skills and overall business mind-set among entrepreneurs led to both fragmentation of the private sector, as well as the lack of supportive measures to develop entrepreneurship. The evolution of the private sector in the region is aligned to the overall trend in Romania, with a higher emerging share of greenfield businesses.

The most prominent gathering of business entrepreneurs is represented by the Association Jiu Valley Initiative Committee (ACIVJ), interested to also join Coalition “Valea Jiului Implicata”.

Project phase / deliverable Analysis of challenges and opportunities Objective Gather insights on the macroeconomic situation, including labour force and value chains in Jiu Valley, address key aspects related to status of the infrastructure (transport, utilities and telecommunications), address issues and shortcomings, potential opportunities that could be capitalized and get a business focused overview on the key economic sectors (agriculture, energy, services, tourism, culture, R&D, trade, investment level etc.). Engagement Organize workshop with the most prominent members of ACIVJ; organize meeting with RWEA (address opportunities they already identified in JVR and possibilities for concrete economic development). Timeframe end-January; 3-7 February

Project phase/deliverable Elaborate the Strategy for Economic, Social and Environmental Development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030 Objective Analyse key assets of the region and possible options for development, as well as shortcomings, with the aim of getting feedback in support of setting general and specific objectives for the vision for development – agree on the most appropriate economic sectors to be developed; identify “champions” as action-driver and to actively promote the vision through the local communities. Some relevant aspects that should be addressed in this context (not limited to):

• The possibility of recovering the surfaces affected by the mining activity at the 11 mining perimeters with ceased activity. Works started in 2002 are still in progress. Thus, surfaces of more than 250 ha could be recovered and handed over to the local authorities for reintroduction into productive circuit.

• Cleaning of former mining sites would substantially contribute to restoration of the initial surrounding landscape.

• The possibility to transform some former mining sites into museums or touristic complexes, similar to the former Aninoasa mine or Petrila culture mine, which consists of a museum, a memorial house and venue for annual festivals and conferences.

• The opportunities provided by the surrounding mountains where three resorts for winter sports and tourism are located should also be considered for analysis.

• Premises for the development of a strong private sector, by capitalising on the resources of the area such as wood, building materials, animal products an agriculture. Shortcomings to be considered when assessing the way forward to agree on the key pillar sectors for development (not limited to):

• The poor infrastructure (access roads to the East and West are not modernised and consequently hardly accessible); • The polluted land and weak urban development policies, coupled with poor management of municipal waste (mining settlements are characterised by degraded and high-density housing, crater-like industrial landscape); • Low human capital (limited skills, low rate of labour participation and low social capital – collapse in mining activities and corresponding drop in revenue impacted the employment level, JVR being encapsulated in a low-revenue/no-job cycle); • Mono-industrial structure with limited private initiative and poor business environment. Engagement Participate in sectoral workshops, in dedicated meetings and also in joint consultation sessions with other stakeholders. Timeframe February – April

Project phase / deliverable Proposal for Governance Structure for implementing the Strategy 2021-2030 Objective Gather feedback on shortcomings related to the lack of a coherent governance structure and proposals for setting up a n effective one based on European models and lessons learned; identify possibilities of support to be provided by the business community to the authorities within the governance structure and the roles to be assumed Engagement Participate in joint consultations with other stakeholders, on-line survey Timeframe May - June

Project phase / deliverable Prepare the Action Plan and Pipeline of Projects Objective Collect concrete ideas of measures and responsibilities to be included in the action plan and conduct a thorough assessment on the projects to be included in the pipeline with all relevant technical aspects; identify synergies 24

with potential investors; when addressing the pipeline of projects, a 3-phased approach will be considered for analysis: • assessment of current projects and existing capabilities in JVR (review of business initiatives, programs and projects, to address needs and capabilities and draft a long list of potential initiatives/projects to address the gaps); • solution design and prioritisation (understand local experts views of implementation costs and other issues, quantify implementation costs and social impact for each project, prioritise project proposals – short list of 10 projects); • budgeting and implementation aspects/planning (discuss potential financing sources, calculate potential budget needed, consider implementation plan for each project, identify milestones, define tentative timelines). When drawing up the list of projects, we will consider two types of projects: those targeting the entire geographical area of JVR, mainly comprising road infrastructure, district heating, professional conversion etc. and projects targeting some areas or localities in JVR. There are currently 4 projects underway in different stages, regarding JVR area and several punctual projects referring to Petrila & Lonea, Aninoasa, Lupeni, Petrosani, Uricani. Engagement Organize dedicated workshop and meeting with potential investors, then participate in joint thematic sessions (based on the selection of economic sectors included in the Strategy) with other stakeholders to secure consensus Timeframe June – July

The business community is willing to be consulted especially through formal meetings, attended by the members of the business associations. Business owners are also willing to participate in public consultations with other categories of stakeholders, especially with the local administrations.

Engaging the religious cults Context / Profile Jiu Valley is characterized by a large ethnic and religious diversity, with a significant number of churches and other religious entities spread in each of the 6 municipalities. It also hosts Sinoni church, one of the oldest wooden church in Romania and the oldest in Jiu Valley, point of attraction for Romanian and foreign tourists where religious services are organized only three times a year at key religious events in order to preserve its historical value. Religious cults play a relevant role in the life of the local communities and work closely with the local authorities for specific projects. In 2019 Hunedoara County Council allocated 967,000 RON representing non-reimbursable funding of projects in Jiu Valley as requested by the religious cults, sport clubs, cultural and youth associations, with the cults benefitting of the largest amount of 470,000 RON.

Project phase / deliverable Analysis of challenges and opportunities, Elaborate the Strategy for Economic, Social and Environmental Development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030 / Action plan and pipeline of projects Objectives Gather information on the state of play in the region looking at social and economic problems from a religious perspective, address projects of interest to the religious cults, their status and obstacles in realization; understand sensitive community issues that ordinary people in the region would like to voice and solve; address their cooperation with the local authorities and the role cults would like to play to support the implementation of the Strategy

Engagement Organize a meeting with the most prominent representatives, then invite all the cults to attend consultations sessions with several stakeholders to agree on the objectives and directions to be incorporated in the Strategy and to contribute to the selection of projects. Timeframe February - July

The PwC team will consult with representatives of the religious cults in the Jiu Valley initially in a joint workshop, with possibility for the representatives of the religious cults to choose if they prefer to be consulted in the same format in the future or if PwC will have to organize separate consultations with each cult.

Engaging the local unions/miners’ syndicates/former miners and mining companies Context / profile The collapse of mining activities and the corresponding drop in revenue had a significant impact on the region’s overall employment level. Consequently, JVR records a lower share of effectively employed people and a higher dependency ratio than the rest of the country. Jiu Valley has long operated under a mono-industrial structure, with the hard coal mining industry as the driving force behind most economic activities. Although this industry has been in a severe state of decline in recent years, the region continues to exhibit a high dependency towards mining activities, with one third of families in the region relying on mining as their main income source. There remains a horizontal spill-over effect as the coal fired power plants are located in the same region with the fuel suppliers. Such developments have impeded the region’s ability to establish a new system of economic development. The high level of specialisation in hard coal extraction, combined with the absence of other economic drivers (such as industries with potential horizontal impact), generated contrast in performance. This is triggered by the fact that the share of service sector in the JVR is much lower than the national average. Given the increased unemployment triggered by the mine closure process initiated in 1995, a series of major labour conflicts have erupted between the representative mining union and the Government. Under the pressure of street protests, in 2002 the Government approved GD 646/2002 regarding the Strategy for the socio- economic development of the Carboniferous Basin of the Jiu Valley. Actions and projects that were to be assumed by various central and local authorities led to considering the following policies: (i) creating new jobs, (ii) the restructuring of the mining company in JVR, (iii) the green policy, (iv) training the available labour force, (v) attracting investors in the area, etc. Following the Government reshuffle of 2000 this strategy was partially abandoned. At present there are many former miners living on pensions they got at a young age, raising their children on pensions, having no other working option and being no longer hopeful that things could change. Miners interests are represented by associations such as Mining Syndicates League of Jiu Valley, the Union of Mining and Energy Syndicates in Petrosani, Association “Consortium for the Reconstruction and Development of Jiu Valley Mining Area. Project phase / deliverable Analysis of challenges and opportunities, Elaborate the Strategy for Economic, Social and Environmental Development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030 / Action plan and pipeline of projects Objectives Get better understanding of the most pressing social issues, collect perception about past and present efforts to improve situation in the Valley and concrete expectations from our project; address types of projects deemed appropriate by this category of stakeholders and raise awareness on the role they could have in securing the success of this transition Engagement Organize a meeting with the most prominent representatives of syndicates/unions, then invite them at public consultations on the Strategy and the projects to be considered for the Action Plan; given the involvement of

companies such as RWEA association in initiatives related to reskilling the local workforce, we will consider organizing a dedicated workshop for the former miners and other unemployed categories to discuss opportunities. Timeframe February – July

The PwC team will consult with representatives of the local unions / miners' syndicates / former miners and mining companies in a joint workshop or with hold separate sessions with each, depending on their availability. They are expected to be active in public consultations as well.

Engaging the academia / schools / university and representatives of healthcare institutions Context / profile For more than two decades already, Jiu Valley is experiencing a significant population decline due to a decrease in the number of yearly births and because of a high rate of emigration to other regions of Romania or to other countries. The regional educational infrastructure was designed for a significantly larger number of students, reason why it covers the entire educational spectrum, from kindergarten to university. University of Petrosani is the only one in Romania located in a city which is not the county’s administrative capital. It has to be noted that the teaching capacity of the Jiu Valley’s educational system has diminished since the nineties given the low budgets and scarcity of skilled teachers. Moreover, the worsened standard of living of the population contributes to a dramatic increase in the dropout and illiteracy rates.

In Jiu Valley are currently 12 kindergartens, 4 primary schools, 18 secondary schools, 5 high schools and 5 colleges, and one university. The difference between the significantly lower number of primary schools than that of secondary schools might be explained by secondary schools offering primary education as well. The financing of the pre-university education units includes the basic financing, the complementary financing and the additional financing.

The state provides the basic funding for all preschoolers and for all students in primary, secondary and high schools. The basic financing of a school unit is the standard cost / student * specific coefficients of the school unit * the number of students and is approved annually by Governmental Decision. The complementary financing comes from the local budget and covers costs that are not included in the basic financing, such as: investments, capital repairs, consolidations; subsidies for boarding schools and canteens; expenses for national periodic assessment of students; expenses with students' scholarships; expenses for the transport of students; expenses for the teacher's shuttle; etc. The local councils contribute to the additional funding, granting subsidies to the educational units, based on their own methodology.

In parallel with the educational system, we recognize the importance of the health system to the wellbeing of the population, especially given the increased incidence of occupational diseases specific to the mining activity, such as silicosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, spine conditions etc. In Jiu Valley are three hospitals (Petrosani, Vulcan and Lupeni) with Petrosani Emergency Hospital being the largest and two small medical clinics (Petrila and Uricani). It is worth mentioning that Vulcan hospital is not accredited by the Ministry of Health. Accreditation of a health unit is not required for its operation, but once accredited, this gives some advantages. (confirmation that a medical unit has the professional resources and competences necessary to provide medical care). Similar to the educational system, the scarcity of skilled medical doctors and nurses affects the performance of hospitals, forcing the population to look for further diagnosis and treatment outside Jiu Valley area.

Project phase / deliverable Analysis of challenges and opportunities, Elaborate the Strategy for Economic, Social and Environmental Development of the Jiu Valley 2021-2030 Objectives Collect accurate local data and information, studies and reports for the state of play in Jiu Valley with focus on education, schooling and healthcare; understand key challenges and obstacles faced by institutions in these areas, collect ideas on priorities and project proposals to be considered for the Action Plan; address relevant social issues as directly felt by schools and local clinics/hospitals Engagement Organize informal meeting with each category, then invite their representatives to attend the public consultations and contribute to the design of the future Strategy for development Timeframe February – April

Engaging the informal community leaders Profile / context Informal leaders play an important role in small communities, especially in regions affected by economic and social problems or where the voice of the simple people is hardly heard in the public arena. Based on our interviews with local stakeholders so far we identified some prominent personalities with various profiles and activities in several spheres ranging from business to culture who are well respected by the locals in the communities of the 6 municipalities in Jiu Valley, whose voice is heard and recommendations are taken into consideration by both local authorities and civil society communities. These informal leaders could significantly support us in the relation with the locals to pass relevant messages related to our project and also gather feedback. Project phase / deliverable At all stages throughout the project, particularly in the key phases related to the Strategy, Governance Structure and the Action Plan Objective Secure timely distribution of clear, accurate, motivating messages related to the decisions to be taken in the project at key stages, clarify misunderstandings or misinterpretations at the community level; provide ideas for our deliverables in line with communities’ expectations, collect and pass feedback from some community members to our team on specific issues, signal potential risks related to perception of our approach and decisions in the project, facilitate our direct interaction with the communities Engagement One-to-one meetings, participation in relevant workshops to be organized with several stakeholders Timeframe February – August

Engaging the local media Profile/context According to Hunedoara County Council, there are 34 local and regional mass-media entities, the majority of them being located in Jiu Valley. The online newspapers represent the most common channel, followed by TV and Radio stations.

Given the general socio-economic environment, the news tend to be about negative or depressing subjects, in line with the most common feelings of the population. Political news is highly broadcasted, followed by subjects related to the mining company. We have already seen an increased interest of the local media in this project and we plan a consistent but careful engagement with the journalists.

Project phase / deliverable Throughout the project, particularly in the key phases related to consultations on the Strategy, Governance Structure and the Action Plan, Communication Plan Objectives Gather support to raise awareness on proposed initiatives and the relevance of this project for the Valley, make sure the initiatives and projects promoted are accurately understood and reflected in the media, ensure commitment of the stakeholders particularly as activities in this project are followed by several press articles and communiques and generate action in a constructive way for implementing the agreed Strategy; gather support for the measures to be developed in our Communication Plan Engagement Media will be invited to attend all relevant public sessions – workshops, focus groups, public consultations; our specialized communication team will engage them throughout the project as appropriate and for coordination on elaborating the Communication Plan. Pending specific requests, we may get or should we identify categories of potential stakeholders who have not been included in the above activities, our team will organize accordingly to engage them as well. Timeframe February - September

Local media has a high demand of information and requires to be present as much as possible during the meetings with any stakeholder categories. PwC team will engage with local media representatives in a formal meeting, followed by constant interaction during all the phases of the project that include public consultations.

Potential engagement risks When working with all these categories of stakeholders, we should consider potential risks such as:

• stakeholders risks (e.g. unwillingness to engage, lack of balance between weak and strong stakeholders, technical/bureaucratic barriers, impediment to their participation in events we plan); • organizational risks (criticism, conflicts of interest, internal disagreement). To avoid such risks or minimize their effect the expectations and demands, not just of direct beneficiaries, but also of wider communities and non-beneficiaries must be carefully managed. This is important as it will contribute significantly to the further success of implementing the projects identified in the Strategy. The risk of raising expectations which are not met can result in a variety of responses, for example:

• community members who actively engage with the project may expect cash incentives as a reward; • disengagement and withdrawal of support for the Strategy; • dissatisfaction with the strategic projects identified; • damage to beneficiary’s reputation which might affect future relationships; • conflict outbreak and increased concerns or disrupted project progress. It is therefore extremely important to proactively manage these expectations from the start by clearly setting out the objectives of the project, the engagement required, and the benefits for the community in doing so. Until now, the Ministry of European Funds and PwC had only positive interactions with all the stakeholders and every time the purpose of the interaction was clarified from the beginning and put in project context. Sustaining commitment – there is a risk that initial interest in and engagement decreases over the course of the programme, particularly if stakeholders do not see immediate and visible benefits or encounter difficulties. Sharing details of the planned activities, the expected timelines, and progress updates is important. Ensuring all voices are heard – one of the biggest challenges with engaging with communities is finding ways to ensure that it is not only the articulate or the powerful community members whose voices are listened to. As outlined in this strategy, the project will employ various methods of ensuring all community members are engaged with in meetings, through formal and informal channels, and through the feedback mechanisms.

Working with the mayors, the cult leaders, the teachers and other local informal community leaders will help to engage with wider communities. For example, involving cult leaders can provide an effective dissemination of information related to the implementation of the Strategy with the wider communities through their sermons and social interaction in different forums in their communities (weddings, other celebrations & community events etc). Maintaining trust and support – the project teams will engage with many government and community stakeholders and will develop and build important relationships. It is essential to maintain these relationships through continuous engagement. Equally important will be ensuring that engagement is always undertaken appropriately. For example, if there are nominated contact persons for a stakeholder, the project teams must always engage with the stakeholder through them. When engaging with communities, in order to maintain the trust of the communities the project teams must deliver when they commit to or provide appropriate reasons for being unable to. Planning engagement in line with the seasonal and political calendars – the project is expected to unroll until September 2020, with high expectation for a slight extent of at least 2 more months after this deadline given political/electoral and bureaucratic reasons. Therefore, all actions must be planned around important dates to ensure effective engagement with relevant stakeholders, taking into consideration religious and environmental events e.g. public holidays, religious dates and local elections (which will cause a significant decrease of stakeholders’ engagement). GDPR and other organizational constraints – we consider GDPR a significant risk during the project. The number of stakeholders identified until now is significant and we take all the reasonable measures to make sure all their GDPR rights are granted.

VII. Implementation, ongoing engagement and communication with SRSS (REFORM) and the Beneficiary

Throughout implementation per the activities above, the project teams will be working closely with all the stakeholders to secure appropriate and timely engagement. Given the local dynamics and the multitude of stakeholders, the engagement activities may be adjusted at times and expanded. Implementation of this stakeholder engagement will expand throughout the entire project with us being sensitive to incorporating feedback and recommendations from SRSS (REFORM), the Beneficiary or the stakeholders themselves. We will communicate in clear and transparent manner at all times and report periodically on the progress with this engagement and lessons learned, also signalling potential anticipated risks. Communication/Feedback with/from SRSS (REFORM) and Ministry of EU Funds will be essential to us during stakeholders engagement. We will particularly focus on thorough analysis and assessment of the relevant aspects for the core outcome of the project, on raising the level of awareness among stakeholders and gathering their consensus, as well as on best capitalising on the best practices related to the specific aspects targeted in the assignment. The Project Steering Committee (PSC) who will include SRSS representatives, the Beneficiary and PwC will organise monthly meetings (in person, by video or audioconference) to provide appropriate senior level oversight and escalation management, to secure timely decisions for progressing with all activities and to enhance consensus at all levels of engagement. Should particular aspects arise or potential risks are identified, the PSC will hold ad hoc meetings aside from the regular monthly ones. 30

The Ministry of EU Funds will be engaged in all activities or informed about the results of those which they could not attend. We will organise status meetings with the Beneficiary to validate adequacy of work, share information, discuss drafts of documents, provide recommendations and set concrete steps for smooth cooperation with all parties. SRSS will be regularly informed about the progress during the periodic status update calls or ad-hoc if special situations may arise.

VIII. Best practices - Lessons learned from stakeholders’ engagement in Slovakia (Horna Nitra)

This section summarises the lessons learned from the stakeholder engagement from our recent project – Action plan for the Transition from coal of the region of Upper Nitra as well as additional best practices for stakeholder engagement in major public sector projects with significant impact on various stakeholders and general public. The section identifies, what approaches works well and what to avoid in stakeholder engagement in order to make sure that all groups of stakeholders are properly managed throughout the project and to ensure the key stakeholders’ buy-in for the project and its outcomes.

Lessons learned from Upper Nitra Involvement of local stakeholders The main lessons learned from the project in Upper Nitra were the involvement of local stakeholders and involvement of public. The key issue at the beginning of the project was that various local stakeholders felt not to be involved enough in the discussions on the development of the action plan and transition vision and some of the key stakeholders (such as major energy producer in the region) were not actively involved, although their role was crucial. An important step in stakeholder engagement was the establishment of a formal workgroup for the transition from coal, which included several key stakeholders at central government level and local level, mining and energy generation company and couple of key NGOs. This helped to formalise the communication links between the central government and the region, as well as between various stakeholders. The workgroup held meetings on a regular basis, discussing progress of the coal transition activities, approving actions and was acted also as the first body for the revision of draft reports in the project. In addition to the official workgroup, additional key stakeholders were identified, who were invited to key meetings and/or were active in the local work teams formed to cover different aspects of coal transition – infrastructure development, environment, economy, energy and quality of life. These stakeholders and work teams actively participated in the analysis of the coal transition and in preparation of the high-level strategy and action plan for coal transition. The stakeholders therefore acted as an extension of the consultant’s expert team and the main elements of the transition strategy were co-developed together with these stakeholders. This helped to improve the engagement of the stakeholders in the process and to ensure their ownership of the transition strategy and action plan. The local stakeholders and work teams also helped to actively promote the project, disseminate project information and working documents and to collect feedback from wider stakeholders and from public. They also had a crucial role in communication with additional local stakeholders, SMEs and even citizens, who were not formally involved in the official working groups, not in the work teams. This assistance was particularly important 31

in the process of collecting inputs on the potential coal transition projects from local stakeholders and entrepreneurs. Publishing information on the progress of the coal transition activities and milestones of the project was also done through local NGOs and municipalities, which helped to inform and engage general public.

Involvement of public Usually, general public is not involved and engaged in strategic initiatives in Slovakia, although there are already some examples of good practices in engaging citizens at the municipal level. The issue of coal transition in the region was a hot topic and there were conflicting opinions also among the general public to a degree when the topic became part of the regional political discussion and was one of the key topics in municipal elections, splitting the citizens into two opposing groups coal mining supporters and coal phase-out activists. It was therefore important to gain also wider public support for the coal transition and involve the general public in the general discussion. To manage this, the general public was involved in the discussion and preparation of the vision and action plan for transition in an extent that is not usually applied for similar strategic initiatives in Slovakia. In addition to active involvement of key stakeholders and local work teams, general public was involved in the process through a series of public hearings and extended informal public consultation process.

Consultation process and update of action plan was done in several stages ~150 comments from Seeking informal feedback ~20 stakeholders from stakeholders Participative approach

Presentation and feedback Release of Updated from public the first draft draft Stakeholder comments 5 public hearings in towns in Upper Nitra

Final draft is being Public prepared hearings Final Final draft comments

Approval by the end of June

Official public Government Final action approval consultations plan

The consultation process included 2 rounds of informal consultations – first within the official working group and second within the group of key stakeholders (local stakeholders, work teams as well as central government institutions). This was followed by a series of 5 public hearings organised in 5 towns in Horná Nitra region – in Handlová, Prievidza, Nováky, Partizánske and Bojnice. Following the public hearings and update of the action plan, official public consultations were conducted, and further comments were collected, evaluated and incorporated into the action plan. The local working groups assisted in the promotion and organisation of the public hearings. Thanks to that, the public hearings were well attended. The hearings were organized in convenient locations (local cinema, cultural center, etc.) and in convenient time (starting at 4 pm) to allow the attendance of wide audience. The people from the region had a chance to get to know the details of the action plan, express their concerns and opinions, as well as to raise questions and comments. These were also evaluated, and where appropriate, incorporated into the final version of the action plan.

The role of the project manager Although not quite obvious, the role of the project manager is also very crucial in to ensure the proper stakeholder engagement. In coal transition region there might often be opposing interest groups of coal mining supporters and coal phase-out activists. These two groups need to work together for the common goal of successful coal transition, however the communication between them is often complicated. The project manager has to therefore establish a professional relationship with all stakeholders and act as an independent advisor and become a trustful point of contact. The involvement of an independent advisor helps to create trust among the stakeholders, which is necessary for productive discussions. The independent expert acts also as a single point of contact during the project for all the stakeholders – both in the region as well as at the central government level.

Commitment from the top The commitment of the central government to the issue of the coal transition helped to get the stakeholders involved in the case of Upper Nitra. Although the coal phase-out had supporters in the local government and municipalities, there was initially a lack of advocates at the central government level. There was no pressure on the coal phase-out from the top, and therefore the activities of the local working group in the development of the action plan for transition from coal were not supported by the changes in government strategies and policy, and were reduced to the volunteering activity of local activists. In December 2017, EC launched the “Coal platform” to accelerate transition towards low-carbon economy. The region of Upper Nitra become one of the pilot regions for the transition from coal. At that time, the topic of coal phase-out became an agenda for the central government. The support from the central government gave the topic of the coal transition its importance and allowed for cooperation of different ministries as well as managing authorities of different operational programmes on the transition process.

Best practices form other regions Several other coal transition regions stressed out the importance of stakeholder engagement among their lessons learned. For example, in the case of the coal transition of the Ruhr region, stakeholder engagement was highlighted as key lesson learned, claiming that unilateral decisions mean no decisions and that all stakeholders should sit around the same table, discuss, suggest solutions, confront each other and achieve consensus1. Stakeholder engagement was also among the five key lessons from the German Coal Commission. Their lesson learned says that multi-stakeholder engagement is essential for countries where phase out debates are complex and contentious. It was identified that the inclusion of the relevant stakeholders helps to improve the legitimacy and ownership for the coal transition process. The involvement of various stakeholders, including those from the regions, ensures the representation of the specific regional challenges and opportunities in the process of the development of the coal transition strategy and action plan2. The Coal Commission in Germany can also be used as an example of the stakeholder engagement in coal transition process. The Coal Commission brings together different stakeholders, including federal ministries, regional governments, municipalities and other stakeholders participating in the transition process. For the German coal regions of Lusatia, which is one of the main coal regions that will undergo the transition, a special commissionaire for transition was established whose role is to coordinate the activities related to the transition directly in the region and communicate with central government institutions.

1 http://www.just-transition.info/just-transition-is-possible-the-case-of-ruhr-germany 2 https://www.e3g.org/library/a-role-model-for-european-coal-phase-out-five-lessons-from-the-german-coal 33

According to the experience of the Polish coal region of Silesia, dialogue and engagement of various stakeholders is important for several reasons3:

• It helps to get a more complete picture of the situation directly in the coal mining region • It supports the exchange of the experience and knowledge • It helps to coordinate activities of various parties in the coal transition process • It inspires new activities, joint projects and potential partnerships • It increases the consistency of multi-level development management In Silesia, a formal Regional Team for Coal Regions in Transition developed from previous informal coal transition activities. The Regional Team works on the preparation of the action plan, preparation of projects, coordination of transition activities, monitoring of the implementation progress and organisation of meetings and workshops. The team consists of approx. 40 stakeholders, including local government, Association of Mining Communes, mining companies, Association of Private Employers, Association of Polish Green Network Associations, Polish Wind Energy Association, miners unions, trade unions, universities and research institutes and similar. Similar approach to stakeholder engagement is taken also in Czech region of Usti nad Labem, where the Regional Permanent Conference was established as a cooperation platform for the stakeholders. The stakeholders involved include for example the regional government, Union of Towns and Municipalities, Agency for Social Inclusion, regional labour office, regional chamber of commerce, regional university, Association for Rural Reconstruction, cities from the region, Associations of Local Self-Governing Authorities and NGOs, The work is organised in working groups for 5 areas – employment, infrastructure, economic development, tourism and education. Such Regional Permanent Conferences are established also for other 2 regions in Czech republic – Moravian- Silesian region and Karlovy Vary region. Together with the regional working groups, they are part of the overall governance structure of the transition programme RE-START. The programme is governed by the Ministry of Regional Development in cooperation with the Ministry if Industry and Trade. The executive branch of the programme then consists of the Executive team at the Ministry of Regional Development and Advisory team consisting of representatives of other ministries and of regions. At the operational level, there are different experts at the level of ministries working in work groups for various priority areas and cooperating with the regional working groups. The scheme below illustrates the organisational structure of the RE-START programme, showing also the regional stakeholders4.

3 https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/4.3._country_teams_x_change.pdf 4 https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/4.3._country_teams_x_change.pdf 34

IX. Annex 1 – Stakeholder engagement analysis and plan

Stakeholder Priority to be Stakeholder interest Stakeholder power Stakeholder Purpose of engaging with them Impact the stakeholder can have on the Impact the project can have How should they How often engaged in the project (Low/Medium/High) involvement (Non- project on the stakeholder be engaged? should they (Low/Medium/High) (Low/Medium/High) key player; Key be engaged? player) Central Authorities High High High Medium Provide all necessary activity and Provide strategic review and direction The project will contribute to a • E-mail • At least monthly • Prime Minister’s office planning information; regarding the strategic projects identified. more stable and inclusive • Phone • Ministry of European Monitor project activities when required; society. • Meetings Funds Enable Central Authorities to effectively • Minister of Economy, manage, monitor and / or provide Provide feedback and assistance to the The project can contribute to • Reports Energy and Business governance to activities part of the beneficiary, the consultant and the Jiu Valley the ministries’ development Environment Strategy or to the future strategic projects municipalities as and when required, during objectives. • Ministry of Public that will be identified; Strategy development and afterwards during Finance implementation of projects; The project can contribute to • Ministry of Public Works, Facilitate coordination between Central the ministries’ social objectives Development and Authorities or between central and local Coordinate, where appropriate, with other (regarding health, education, Administration authorities; central authorities in order to facilitate future social protection etc.). • Ministry of Labor and funding and implementation of strategic Social Protection Facilitate coordination between Central projects; The project aims to improve the • Ministry of Environment, Authorities, the beneficiary and PwC in capacity of the Jiu Valley’s Waters and Forests order to identify areas for increased Coordinate between them in order to minimize municipalities to plan and • Hunedoara County impact; duplication of efforts; deliver services to their Council communities. Share lessons learned in order to Issue policies which will support the long-term improve project impact; objective of the project;

Increase engagement and support in the Incorporate Jiu Valley’s strategic priorities into project; their annual plans based on the available resources; Advocate for policy changes as appropriate. Without political support, the Strategy will not achieve its objectives. Local administrations High High High High Provide all necessary activity and Coordinate at local level; The project will deliver • E-mail • At least monthly • Petrosani City Hall Petrila planning information; improvements in the lives of the • Phone City Hall Access national and European funds for community. • WhatsApp • Vulcan City Hall Facilitate coordination between local strategic projects in JVR; • Lupeni City Hall administrations and / or between local The mayors will capitalize on • Questionnaires • Uricani City Hall administrations and central authorities; Build infrastructure as required in order to help the positive effects of the • Meetings • Aninoasa City Hall the Strategy reach its objectives; strategy, raising their chances • Reports Build capacity of Municipal staff and for re-election. and their subordinated / systems; Mobilize people and financial resources; affiliated institutions (hospitals, schools, fire departments, Advocate for effective policies and Give incentives and / or local tax reliefs if this police stations) systems to improve the ability for will be beneficial to the Strategy. communities to be engaged in developing and implementing the Strategy;

Ensure that the inputs on which the Strategy is based are in line witch the needs of the community.

Stakeholder Priority to be Stakeholder Stakeholder power Stakeholder Purpose of engaging with them Impact the stakeholder can have on the Impact the project can have • How should they • How often be engaged? should they engaged interest in the (Low/Medium/High) involvement (Non- project on the stakeholder be (Low/Medium/High) project key player; Key player) engaged? (Low/Medium/High) Regional entities Medium Low Medium Low Provide all necessary activity and Coordinate activities to ensure efficiency, good Following the strategy, the • E-mail • When • Phone needed • Regional Development planning information; programming, and non-duplication of efforts. regional development in the • Questionnaires Agency West JVR will increase. • Meetings • County’s Statistics Institute Facilitate coordination between • County Council regional agencies and local • authorities;

Obtain relevant data about the JVR.

Business associations High High Medium Medium Better understand the challenges Decide to hold accountable the europarlamentars Provide them technical advice • E-mail • When • Phone needed E.g.: and opportunities in JVR; from Hunedoara county regarding legislation that and instruction on how to • Questionnaires • Association of the Jiu the Strategy will identify as beneficial to be obtain financing through the • Meetings Valley Initiative Committee Build engagement, participation and implemented; EU programs identified; • Workshops • Romanian Wind Energy accountability in the Strategy Association through sharing of project plans and Obtain valuable strategic progress; information about the future of JVR, helping themselves to Identify strategic projects in JVR. adapt to future conditions.

Improve the economic conditions and grow their member’s businesses as a result. Hunedoara County Prefect High Medium High Medium Better understand the challenges Coordinate at local level; Following the strategy, the • E-mail • When • Phone needed and opportunities in JVR; regional development in the • Questionnaires Coordinate activities to ensure efficiency, good JVR will increase. • Meetings Build engagement, participation and programming, and non-duplication of efforts. • Workshops accountability in the Strategy through sharing of project plans and progress;

Identify strategic projects in JVR.

Hunedoara Members of High Medium High Medium Better understand the challenges Coordinate, where appropriate, with other central Following the strategy, the • E-mail • When • Phone needed Parliament and opportunities in JVR; authorities in order to facilitate future funding and regional development in the • Questionnaires implementation of strategic projects; JVR will increase. • Meetings Build engagement, participation and • Workshops accountability in the Strategy Push policies which will support the long-term through sharing of project plans and objective of the project; progress; Incorporate Jiu Valley’s strategic priorities into Identify strategic projects in JVR. their plans based on the available resources;

Local businesses and High High Low Medium Better understand the challenges Collaborate with other stakeholders in order to Provide them technical advice • E-mail • When • Phone needed entrepreneurs (including regional and opportunities in JVR; create integrated projects in JVR; and instruction on how to • Questionnaires utility companies) obtain financing through the • Meetings E.g.: Build engagement, participation and Deliver services which will help the Strategy to EU programs identified; • Workshops accountability in the Strategy reach its objectives; • Transelectrica through sharing of project plans and Obtain valuable strategic • E-Distributie Banat progress; Provide valuable data that will be useful when information about the future of studying projects’ feasibility. JVR, helping themselves to Identify strategic projects in JVR. adapt to future conditions;

Increase the marked demand for products and services;

Increase the competition on the market;

Grow their equity and profit as a result of better economic conditions. Cults High High High Low Build engagement, participation and Help maintain the support of communities in The project will deliver • Phone • When • E-mail needed E.g.: accountability in the Strategy Strategy drafting and implementing; improvements in the lives of • Questionnaires • The Orthodox Church through sharing of project plans and their parishioners. • Meetings • Catholic Church progress; Reinforce positive behaviours in the community. • Protestant Church • Pentecostal Church Reach other parts of the community; • Adventist Church • The Jewish Church Reinforce positive behaviours.

Mining company Medium High Medium Low Provide all necessary activity and Help maintain the support of communities in The project will deliver • E-mail • When • Phone needed planning information; Strategy drafting and implementing; improvements in the lives of • Questionnaires • Hunedoara energy their employees. • Meetings Complex Reinforce positive behaviours. Reinforce positive behaviours in the community.

Social NGOs High High Medium High Disseminate information about the Collaborate with other stakeholders in order to The project will deliver • E-mail • At least • Phone monthly E.g.: Strategy to JVR’s population; create integrated projects in JVR; improvements in the lives of • WhatsApp • Valea Jiului Involved the community. • Questionnaires Coalition Better understand the challenges Deliver services which will help the Strategy to • Meetings • Urban Lab Valea Jiului and opportunities in JVR; reach its objectives; • Bankwatch Romania Association Build engagement, participation and Mobilize people; • Association of the Jiu accountability in the Strategy Valley Initiative Committee through sharing of project plans and Incorporate Jiu Valley’s strategic priorities into • Social Institute Jiu Valley progress; their annual plans based on the available Association resources; • Petrila Planet Identify strategic projects in JVR. • Caritas Petrosani Provide valuable data that will be useful when • Colonia Merry Association studying projects’ feasibility; • New Horizons Fundations • Jiu Valley Alpin Club Help maintain the support of communities in • University of Petrosani Strategy drafting and implementing; Students' Union • Cu Verdele'n Sus Reinforce positive behaviours in the community. • Save the children Petrila • Autism Helping Hands

Environmental NGOs High High Medium High Better understand the challenges Collaborate with other stakeholders in order to The project will deliver • E-mail • At least • Phone monthly E.g.: and opportunities in JVR; create integrated projects in JVR; improvements to the • WhatsApp • Greenpeace Romania environment. • Questionnaires Build engagement, participation and Deliver services which will help the Strategy to • Meetings accountability in the Strategy reach its objectives; through sharing of project plans and progress; Mobilize people;

Identify strategic projects in JVR. Incorporate Jiu Valley’s strategic priorities into their annual plans based on the available resources;

Provide valuable data that will be useful when studying projects’ feasibility;

Help maintain the support of communities in Strategy drafting and implementing;

Reinforce positive behaviours in the community. Labor unions and former miners Low Low Medium Low Provide all necessary activity and Reinforce positive behaviours in the community. The project will deliver • E-mail • When • Phone needed E.g.: planning information; improvements in the lives of • WhatsApp • Mount Union their members. • Questionnaires Reinforce positive behaviours. • Meetings Cultural associations High High Low Low Better understand the challenges Collaborate with other stakeholders in order to The project will deliver • E-mail • At least • Phone monthly E.g.: and opportunities in JVR; create integrated projects in JVR; improvements in the lives of • WhatsApp • Ianza Art Inter-Cultura the community. • Questionnaires Foundation Build engagement, participation and Deliver services which will help the Strategy to • Meetings accountability in the Strategy reach its objectives; through sharing of project plans and progress; Mobilize people;

Identify strategic projects in JVR. Incorporate Jiu Valley’s strategic priorities into their annual plans based on the available resources;

Provide valuable data that will be useful when studying projects’ feasibility;

Help maintain the support of communities in Strategy drafting and implementing;

Reinforce positive behaviours in the community. Sport associations Low Low Low Low Better understand the challenges The project will deliver • E-mail • At least • Phone monthly E.g.: and opportunities in JVR; Deliver services which will help the Strategy to improvements in the lives of • WhatsApp • Petro Aqua Association in reach its objectives; the community. • Questionnaires Petrosani Build engagement, participation and • Meetings accountability in the Strategy Mobilize people; through sharing of project plans and progress; Incorporate Jiu Valley’s strategic priorities into their annual plans based on the available Identify strategic projects in JVR. resources;

Provide valuable data that will be useful when studying projects’ feasibility;

Help maintain the support of communities in Strategy drafting and implementing;

Reinforce positive behaviours in the community.

Tourism associations Medium High Low Medium Better understand the challenges Collaborate with other stakeholders in order to The project will deliver • E-mail • At least • Phone monthly E.g.: and opportunities in JVR; create integrated projects in JVR; improvements in the lives of • WhatsApp the community. • Questionnaires • Association of the Center Build engagement, participation and Deliver services which will help the Strategy to • Meetings for Research and accountability in the Strategy reach its objectives; Development for through sharing of project plans and Education Culture Tourism progress; Mobilize people; and Youth Identify strategic projects in JVR. Incorporate Jiu Valley’s strategic priorities into • Sky Turism Pro Parang their annual plans based on the available Mountain Association resources;

• Mountain Tourism Provide valuable data that will be useful when Association Via Retezat studying projects’ feasibility;

• Tourism Studies Group - Zarand - Vulcan Branch

• Foundation for the Development of Agrotourism in the Jiu Valley

• Association for the Promotion and Development of Tourism, "Discover Straja"

Local Media Medium High High High Disseminate information about the Mobilize people; The project will deliver • E-mail • When • Phone needed E.g.: Strategy to JVR’s population; improvements in the lives of • WhatsApp Provide valuable data that will be useful when the community. • Questionnaires • Accent Media Better understand the challenges studying projects’ feasibility; • Meetings • Adevarul and opportunities in JVR; The project will represent • Antena 1 Deva Help maintain the support of communities in • Avantul Liber Build engagement, participation and Strategy drafting and implementing; • Cronica Vaii Jiului accountability in the Strategy • Digi24 Timisoara through sharing of project plans and Reinforce positive behaviours in the community. • Gazeta de Dimineata progress; • Glasul Hunedoarei • Hunedoara Libera Identify strategic projects in JVR. • Hunedoara Mea • Hunedoara Plus • Informatia Vaii Jiului • Jurnalul Văii Jiului • Kapital TV Petrosani • Mesagerul Hunedorean • Mondo TV Petrosani • Nyugati Jelen • Oficial Media • Palia Expres • Radio BIG FM; on facebook; • Radio Color Orastie • Radio Mondo FM Petrosani • Radio Timisoara • Renasterea Banateana • Replica Info HD; on facebook; • Servus Hunedoara • Stiri din Vest • Stiri Hunedoara; on facebook; • TV Parang Petrosani • Valea Jiului • Ziar de Hunedoara • Ziarul exclusiv • Ziarul Hunedoreanului • Ziarul Vaii Jiului Local Influencers Low Low Medium Low Disseminate information about the Mobilize people; The project will deliver • Phone • When • WhatsApp needed E.g.: Strategy to JVR’s population; improvements in the lives of • Meetings Avram Iancu Provide valuable data that will be useful when the community. Ion Barbu Better understand the challenges studying projects’ feasibility; and opportunities in JVR; Help maintain the support of communities in Build engagement, participation and Strategy drafting and implementing; accountability in the Strategy through sharing of project plans and Reinforce positive behaviours in the community. progress;

Identify strategic projects in JVR.

42 Strategy for the transition from coal of the Jiu Valley