It’s not easy to summarize a whole year in 12 pictures, but we tried. This was PONT in 2019.
In January, PONT Group was nominated for the Cultural Entrepreneurship prize awarded by the Administration of National Cultural Fund (AFCN). This prize is awarded by the AFCN for “an organization with sustainable cultural projects that promoted the income generating potential of these”.
In February, individuals selected for non-reimbursable funding under the CRITBIZ Entrepreneurship Program stepped into mentoring. The purpose of mentoring is that at the time the company starts doing business, it has the maximum chances of being sustainable and prosperous.P eople selected for funding were mentored in Finance, HR, Marketing and Management by 8 mentors: Arros Orsolya, Danguly Csongor, Gál Sándor, Gáti Csilla, Gönczi József, Lőrincz Anna, Pop Alexandra and Vass Attila. By June, all 48 companies were established and they are functioning as of January 2020.
In March, the voting for young people’s initiatives was held in the Com’ON Cluj-Napoca participatory process for youth. Over 3000 people cast nearly 10000 votes for 123 initiatives, of which the top 37 were implemented during November 2019.
In April, a series of consultations for and with young people in the CIVIT program were conducted in eight cities: Botoșani, Buzău, Slobozia, București, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Deva, Sfântu Gheorghe and Baia Mare. Over 350 young people and decision makers took part in these consultations. The needs, wants and ideas of young people were put together in reports upon which county action plans will be formed.
>>http://comonromania.ro/
In May we coordinated INNOVATORY Sfântu Gheorghe, a program which aims to develop young people’s competences to identify problems in society and possible solutions to them, with the help of facilitators. A total of 64 students participated in this process and were supported by 9 teachers who also participated in a workshop where they learned about the Design Thinking method.
In June we closed the season of the K Plusz Talent programme with a conference tackling social and technological innovation, workforce and entrepreneurship.
The two-year strategic programme called Com’On Europe was concluded in July. One of the biggest outcomes is a resource center with a White Paper and a Toolkit on Participatory Budgeting for Youth in 8 languages.
In August, in the build-up of the final stage of Baia Mare’s bid for the European Youth Capital title of 2022, PONT Group and The Federation of Youth Organisations from Maramureș were selected to attend the 68th UN Civil Society Conference in the context of the Urban Youth Circle concept which addressed the topics of urban development, youth and sustainability in the context of Sustainable Development Goals.
In September we spent a week full of lectures, workshops and joy in the Castle in Transylvania Ambassador Camp. The participants were people already interested in castles and the camp aimed to help them get the bigger picture about Transylvanian castles in order to use this knowledge as “castle ambassadors”.
>>http://castleintransylvania.ro/
Un număr mare de inițiative s-au desfășurat (și) în octombrie în cadrul procesului participativ de tineret Com’ON Sfântu Gheorghe. Zicători, căței în grădinițe, picnic pentru familie și multe alte inițiative au fost puse în practică: >> http://ro.pontgroup.org/2019/12/04/comon-sfantu-gheorghe-astfel-de-initiative-vor-schimba-orasul-in-decursul-a-zece-ani/
Lots of events took place in October, too, in the Com’ON Sfântu Gheorghe participatory process. Porgrammes for families, picnics, dogs in kindergartens – a total of 30 initiatives were implemented.
>>http://comonsepsi.ro
In November we presented History is Our Story, the first interactive web documentary at the Castle in Transylvania Conference. The web documentary and the conference addressed issues such as owning a castle in Romania in the 21th century, the revitalisation of castles and the importance of the built heritage in Transylvania.
>>http://historyisourstory.ro/
In December, Castle in Transylvania organized, together with Zabola Estate, Transylvania an Advent event for the third time. In 2019 we had over 800 visitors!
