Applicants are advised to read the separate AFF Application Instructions before completing this form.

Please submit your application form in English. If this is not possible, please use French or Spanish.

Preferiblemente recibimos su solicitud escrita en inglés. Si esto no es posible, utilice francés o español.

Nous recevons de préférence votre candidure écrite en anglais. Si ce n’est pas possible, veuillez utiliser le français ou l’espagnol.

1. Name organisation, country of applicant, name project

Name organisation: Confeuropa Consumers Romania Association, in collaboration with Association for advising consumers of financial products “ARD”

Country: Romania

Name project: TIP – Financial advice accessible to all Romanians upon returning to the country

(SFAT – Sfaturi financiare accesibile tuturor românilor la reîntoarcerea în ţară)

2. Objectives

The proposal must be focused on one of the following AFF objectives.

Please tick one of the boxes

☒        Financial services

   ☐             Food

   ☐             Digital

   ☐             Consumer Justice and Protection

   ☐             Drugs and Health

The proposal must be clearly linked to one or more of the eight Consumer Rights:

Please tick one or two of the boxes

   ☐             Right to safety

☒        Right to be informed

   ☐             Right to choose

   ☐             Right to be heard

   ☐             Right to satisfaction of basic needs

   ☐             Right to redress

   ☐             Right to education

   ☐             Right to healthy environment

What are the specific objectives for your project?

Please formulate no more than three main objectives

1. Creating a guide that includes financial advice and guidance for all Romanians returning from Italy to Romania
2. Research of the financial situation in Italy that determines Romanians to return massively to the country
3. Dissemination of the guide to Romanians in the target group through identified stakeholders

Please explain the choices you have made and why these choices are the right ones for your organisation (no more than 200 words).

According to the data of the 2021 Population and Housing Census in Romania, a number of 440,000 Romanians who had declared their last residence abroad returned to Romania (https://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-finante_banci-26571656-harta-romanii-intorsi-acasa-din-strainatate-cati-sunt-din-tari-venit-judele-care-stabilit.htm ).

This situation is difficult because consumers have to face a new reality, different from that when they left.

Adapting to the new reality involves the constant impact with financial problems, such as: managing the financial resources obtained, obtaining social assistance from the state / child allowances or family support, making investments or obtaining financing (loans) or other funds to support the family, managing the family budget or financial support offered to vulnerable people within the family (elderly,  children, people with disabilities), looking for a job corresponding to the experience gained abroad, recognition of studies.

All these challenges require appropriate advice and information, which they could receive through the guide created within this project, which will be made available to consumers by partner entities/stakeholders in the project because they are in direct contact with people in the target group.

The guide will respond through practical applications and the way of presenting the current financial problems faced by Romanians returning to the country, being of significant utility for them.

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3. Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s – A quantifiable measure used to evaluate success) (no more than 200 words, maximum 5 KPI’s)

What are the KPI’s for the next 12 months? Please formulate no more than 5 KPI’s  and quantify your KPI’s as much as possible. A KPI could be: number of consumers informed about a certain issue/topic, number of consumer issues resolved etc. Can you explain (briefly) your measuring method?

What will success look like? How will you know when you have achieved it? (No more than 100 words)

• Through the quality of the information in the guide that will be elaborated in accordance with the objective realities, both in the country of origin (Romania) and in the adoptive country (Italy).
• By editing the guide in appropriate graphical conditions and in an accessible language;
• Through the feedback received from consumers as a result of accessing the site and consulting the guide in paper format

How do you measure the KPI’s over the 12 month period of the project? (No more than 100 words)

Through consumer satisfaction resulting from the application of questionnaires.

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4. Activities and timeline (listed in chronological order, no more than 1,000 words)

List the start and end of the planned activities in a calendar.

Provide, if necessary, further explanation for each activity (no more than 200 words).

Please find an example calendar below:

5. Team (no more than 300 words)

Give an overview of the team working on this project and how their combined skill set meets the needs of the project.

In addition, use the table to list:

• the different roles
• the amount of staff time per role (i.e. Full Time Equivalent%)
• whether the team member is already on your staff or if you are hiring them, especially for this project.

6. Budget (in Euro, maximum 10,000 Euro)

Please specify what materials (promotion, equipment, etc.) you will need to purchase for this project including, travel expenses, rental costs for venues, catering, staff costs by position – differentiate between the existing staff who will work on the project and new staff, outsourced work to other companies (e.g. promotion, it development) etc. We would like to indicate here that the grant from AFF is primarily intended for external costs.

Please find an example budget template below:

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7. Stakeholders

Which stakeholders (persons and/or organizations) will be involved in this project? Why have they been chosen? How important do you expect they will be? Please use the rating 1 to 7.        (1 = minor important, 7 = most important). What results do you expect from this co-operation?

If possible, please mention the names of the persons involved.

Why do you think they are willing to offer help, support or otherwise?

Because of their duties and competences.

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8. Sustainability (no more than 300 words)

What will happen after the project is finished? What will continue, what may stop?

We appreciate that, by carrying out this project, a significant number of Romanians who have returned or will return back from Italy to Romania will find useful and accessible financial information to help them in the entire reintegration process.

We also believe that disseminating the information from the guide to be made, both on physical support and through social media, will have a positive impact on consumers who want and need to inform themselves about the financial decisions they make, both daily, habitual and those that impact their lives and their families. 

What will you do to enhance the impact of the project beyond the 12 month period of the project?

In order to increase the impact of the proposed project, we believe that the dissemination of information through a large number of stakeholders, from different environments of action, will generate a continuous and constant propagation of the specific financial information contained in the guide for Romanian consumers returning from Italy to Romania.

What possible positive ripple effect may be expected?

We expect an improvement in the activity of all stakeholders, who, by coming into contact with informed and informed consumers, as a result of the implementation of the guide, will be more operative and responsive in their activities. Also, a beneficial effect should be felt in every family that has come into contact with financial information, manages its budgets better and acts with more confidence and resilience.

The project fills the gaps in consumers’ financial education at European level and is all the more useful as the new Consumer Credit Directive has express provisions and attaches maximum importance to pre-contractual information, the project preparing the ground for the transposition and application of the Directive. 

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