CENTRUL DE TRAINING, CONSULTANTA SI MEDIERE

The Association CTCM - “Mediation, Consulting and Training Centre" is a Romanian legal entity of private law, apolitical and non-profit (NGO) that promotes culture, foreign languages, sciences, arts, sports, new technologies, human rights, entrepreneurship, strategic management and leadership, alternative dispute resolution methods and sustainable development. Our association organizes, in partnership with various stakeholders, advocacy campaigns to raise the awareness of civil society and decision makers on educational policies, transparency, social entrepreneurship, sustainable development, respect and responsibility in dialogue. In the past, the Association CTCM has initiated and carried out campaigns to raise awareness and prevent violence in the school environment, to promote intercultural dialogue and develop creativity, socio-emotional intelligence and critical thinking of young people. The most relevant activities are the ones in which our association promotes and supports youth activities. Our association is the founder of SMILE Network (Strategic Management for Innovation and Leadership in Education) and one of the NGO’s members of CERT Network (Coaching for Efficiency of Schools Youth Networks). In the last 3 years our association has participated in two projects implemented by "There is a chance" Association with EEA grants: the CERT project (Youth Resource Center) and “Change the world!…because there is a chance” project in partnership with the association “Change the world” from Norway. Mrs. Virginia-Smărăndița Brăescu, founder and leader of the CTCM - Mediation, Consulting and Training Centre, has participated in writing and implementation of these two projects as a member of the project team. The CERT project has created at the local level the first infrastructure for youth - Youth Resource Centre (CERT) and the first network of NGOs - CERT Network. The main objectives were to strengthen the basis of volunteers and to encourage participation in the initiation and development of local youth policy. The direct beneficiaries of the project, namely students and young people, tacked part in the development of an initiative model for community. The CERT Model – Youth Education for Active Citizenship is the result of bilateral Romanian-Norwegian cooperation within the second project "Change the world!... because there is a chance". Thus, establishment of Youth Resource Center (CERT) creates a sustainable structure in order to develop those initiatives meant to facilitate active citizenship and responsible involvement of young people in community life and the development of coalitions and partnerships to set up the CERT network means of expanding cooperation and exchange of experience at regional and national level in the first stages and at an international level later for further stages. The president of CTCM association, Mrs. Brăescu Virginia-Smărăndița. is a french teacher at the high school The National College „Grigore Moisil” Onești. project manager, expert/trainer and speaker with certifications in psychology, conflict mediation, lobby and advocacy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). She is author and translator. She has participated on the development and publication of some magazines, books, methodological guidelines and a strategy on youth education for volunteering and active citizenship. She has translated several books of psychology and psychotherapy which were published on “Trei Publishing House” Bucharest. She has attended training courses on European topics with European Institute of Romania and other international training activities/courses in France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Spain and Greece. She has experience in implementation projects with European funding (EEA grants and ERASMUS +). She is also the coordinator of the Romanian project team în the Erasmus+KA2 project – „Europa: ti vedo e ti vivo” (2016-1-IT02-KA). This project ran from and brings together partners from 5 European countries: RETE Erasmus+, Historical Archives of European University Institute, Opera di Santa Croce onlus from Florence-Italy, and other European schools from Biarritz-France, Onești-Romania, Valencia-Spain and Piraeus-Greece. This strategic partnership is meant to stimulate in young people a reflection on the EU defining values. For this purpose students from 5 European countries of the project are requested to know history, objectives and EU institutions as ‘recent memory’ and to trace such values in the history of their own country as ‘deep memory’. The other key persons of CTCM association involved in the projects are well accustomed to team work, project management, new technologies, training programs and foreign languages.