PAPI Mărişel might become a counselling office

05.08.2010

PAPI Mărişel coordinator Cătălin Mariş says the centre will create a plan to insure PAPI’s sustainability for the following three years. “Basically, we need to have a larger array of services the local community might benefit from. Such a bureau would mean getting to the next level”, Mariş says.

Practically, the local community will need to create an NGO that will ensure the legal framework for the office. The NGO will then become part of the National Association of Citizen Advice Bureaus (NACAB) and will get access to a network offering community services. The IT equipment at PAPI Mărişel and the internet access provided will allow employees of the local bureau to have access to the databases of the National Association.

Possible partnership with the League for the Defense of Human Rights

The citizen advice bureau might work with the help of the League for the Defense of Human Rights, a national NGO that has been granted the public utility status. It has already created a citizen advice bureau in Satu Mare and has two successful projects in Cluj-Napoca.

The first has been in operation since 1998 and is offering free legal advice for citizens. Many of the lawyers involved had very successful careers later, becoming teachers in Romanian law schools. Other went into public service. The best known example is Emil Boc, former legal adviser for the League and currently Romania’s prime minister. The president of the Cluj County Council, Alin Tişe, is also a former volunteer who has offered free legal advice for beneficiaries of the League.

Online promotion and legal advice

The second project is a website ensuring freedom of speech for people in Cluj, as well as free access to information, through the www.clujtoday.ro newsportal, published by a team of journalists working as volunteers.

Thus, the future office in Mărişel might have three big advantages. The first would be the administrative experience of the League for the Defense of Human Rights Satu-Mare. The second, that Mărişel residents could benefit from legal advice offered online by counsellors of the League in Cluj. The third: members of the local community will be able to make their voices heard online with the support of the ClujToday portal, published by journalists who have become members of the League.

The coordinator of PAPI Mărişel, Cătălin Mariş, believes the project might benefit from support from the three associations that already exist in the commune situated in the Apuseni Mountains.

Online resources:

New Youth Advice and Information Centre at PAPI Schela, Galaţi (RO)