Contacts: Mariana Moarcăş: +40-21-20.10.311
Mmoarcas@worldbank.org
Cristina Zirimis:+40-21-20.10.328
czirimis@worldbank.org Bucharest, April 7, 2008 - Romania’s Rural Education Project won the World Bank’s first annual “Improving the Lives of People in Europe & Central Asia” award for its outstanding results and impact in Romania. "It is the dedication of the Romanian Ministry of Education, its Project Management Unit and the World Bank team that led to the success of Romania Rural Education Project. We are very proud that Romania was able to build on the vast World Bank experience in so many countries, learn from these lessons in designing this project, at the same time tailor it to the specific needs of poor rural communities in Romania. Such an approach brought innovation into the Romanian education system. The positive results in education achievements of students in rural areas fulfill the World Bank mission to fight poverty in the best possible way. We are also particularly pleased that the experience in Romania is attracting attention elsewhere in the world, and is being shared with other countries such as the People’s Republic of China. This is a great testimony to the success of Romania in successfully implementing innovative solutions to important problems, and we are glad to witness this sharing of experience and knowledge across middle income countries" said Benoît Blarel, the World Bank’s Country Manager for Romania. In 2003, the Romania Rural Education Project was initiated to support improved access to quality education for rural students, as evidenced by higher achievement scores and completion and transition rates. To date, the project has successfully advanced towards achieving its objective through professional development of teachers in rural schools, improvement in learning conditions of rural schools both with respect to adequate minimum facilities and provision of basic teaching-learning materials, promotion of school-based innovation programs and improvement of policy making capacity of local and central education authorities.  "It was wonderful to visit the school in Stoenesti village and to meet the teachers and pupils - this project is really making a difference to the lives of people in rural communities. I was very impressed with the dedication of everyone involved in this project, which has not only brought together lessons from across the world, but it has also created new ideas and experiences that can be shared in other countries", said Orsalia Kalantzopoulos, Director, Central Europe and the Baltic Countries.
The World Bank event was held Tuesday, April 1, in Washington and focused on 19 awards selected by the World Bank panel of judges for a total of 22 activities across the Europe and Central Asia Region. The winning entries showcase results and real impact, as well as the project’s dedication to solid work in monitoring and evaluating those results. They illustrate the value of innovation, solid implementation, and sustainability. “These winning activities from across Europe and Central Asia show the results that client countries and the World Bank can achieve together as partners in supporting countries’ development efforts,” said Shigeo Katsu, Europe and Central Asia Region Vice President, World Bank. “Increasingly, governments and other stakeholders alike demand evidence to guide policy decisions. They want us to demonstrate that our support to programs and projects improves the outcomes for their citizens, and they want to see that capacity building and knowledge work help them deliver development. The World Bank teams have worked hard to improve results and the ability to measure them and these winning entries show that the effort is paying off for the people in the Region. However, we are also very aware that documenting the impact of capacity building and knowledge work is more difficult than that of traditional lending, so we have only scratched the surface in that area and need to do more.” The projects reflect the World Bank’s strategic themes laid out by World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick, including: Helping overcome poverty and spur sustainable growth in the poorest countries Fragile and post-conflict affected countries Development solutions for middle income countries An active role in regional and global public goods Fostering a knowledge and learning agenda
The ECA Results competition will be held annually to celebrate the impact of projects and programs in the Region.
###
For more information about the World Bank's work in Romania, visit
http://www.worldbank.org.ro |
RSS