Project: Romania

Country Overview

Romania is located at the crossroads of central and southeastern Europe. With a population of over 21.5 million people, it has the 7^th largest population and is the 9^th largest country in the European Union. Romania formed when the territories of Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united at the end of World War I. With partial occupation by the Soviet Union, the country became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Since, Romania has become a stable democracy and marked by its induction into NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007.

As of the late 2000s, 43 percent of Romania’s population lived in rural areas and almost 10 percent of the population lived in absolute poverty. Consequently, the challenge of getting produce to markets as created a negative trend in livestock and farms while the demand for agricultural products in on the rise. Heifer’s work in Romania focuses primarily on advocating for small farmers and linking them to markets in need of their products. 

Heifer's Work in Romania

Heifer in Romania was established in 1991 and approved the first project, “Angora Goat Production on Family Farms in Romania”, in 1992. Five years later, in 1997, Heifer Romania office opened. Since then, Heifer International has operated an authorized office in Romania and has spread its activity all over Romania and the neighboring countries of Moldova (since 2002) and Bulgaria (since 2007). Heifer Romania  Country  Program  operates  through  the  legally  registered  Romanian foundation “Fundatia Heifer Project pentru Romania”. Presently Heifer Romania has 40 historical and 20 active projects, mainly characterized by diversity. 

Key Services Heifer Provides:

Sustainable agricultural production: Improving the environment and promoting organic agriculture; Building durable connections between groups formed by different cultural, ethnic and religious groups

Post-harvest management and processing: Project monitoring and evaluation

Market development: The transition from a communist system to a free market economy; Micro-credit loans; Agrotourism

Technology: Artificial insemination projects

Nutrition: Milk for Orphans Program