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Vlad Bogdan is a blond-dyed-haired boy. He takes off his cap and you have the impression you are before one of Prodigy's posters. You involuntarily ask him why he doesn't take up singing. "Because I have no musical voice", the boy answers shaking his shoulders. His clothes are worn out by hard work and time. Mostly by time. They bear that unmistakable black out of color so commonly found on the seat of the old jeans when you decide to throw them away.Vlad Bogdan and Eugenia Micu are two post-institutionalized youngstres who share the same studio flat in Militari neighborhood of Bucharest. They were selected through "Beautiful Bucharest" Project out of other possible 3 thousand institutionalized teenagers in Bucharest.The number of these children reaches 40 thousand at country's level. Most of them have no chance in life when they get at 18 years of age.
"Beautiful Bucharest" Project's financial resourcesd rise to as much as one and a half million dollars, 350 000 of which are provided by the United Nation Development Progam (UNDP).
"Beautiful Bucharest" Project was made possible with the contribution of the European Union, The Municipality of Bucharest and Municipality of Sector 3, and of Hope Foundation.
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A blond-haired boy and his fair-haired dog: Bogdan and Rena
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On the whole, the succes of the project was the result of the collaboration between the UNDP, Hope Foundation, Romanian authorities and NGO's that financed all activities of social integration for youngsters coming out of orphanages.
The UNDP has traditionally been implemented in partenership with Romanian authorities even before 1989. It is a program that helps people eradicate poverty, regenerate environment, create jobs. The UNDP is the central coordinating organisation for UN development activities worldwide and has been present in Romania since 1971. At that time, Romanian political conditions required no unemployment, no poverty, sustained economy.
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Enlarging the family
At Yalta: Churchill, Franklin, and Stalin.
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February 1945.At Yalta, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt were discussing war strategy and postwar plans. On June 26,4 months later, China, France, The USSR, The United Kingdom and The United States ratified the Charter of the United Nations. "We the people of the United Nations, determined to save succeding generations from the scourge of war and reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights..."! was the text and the cornerstone of a new international order. Romania expressed its intention to be included in the new oredr on August 1946 through the chief of Romanian Delegation, Gheorghe Tatarescu. Under the circumstances of the cold war, Romanian intention was blocked for ten years, until 1945, when the UN Security Council recommended a group of 16 countries to be admitted.
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In 1971, The United Nations opened the United Nations Information Center in Bucharest. It was for the first tine that the United Nations were present in Romania. One year later, The UN European Center for Higher Education (UNESCO) was opened. The industrial revolution under the Iron Curtain called for technological development, and the modernisation of agriculture, transport, telecommunications. Social sector was nearly ignorated by the Supreme Ruler Romanian citizens saw on TV the whole day. The United Nations neede to adjust their programs and particularly financed industrial and energetic sectors. The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) was implemented in 1977. Through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) more than 23 million dollar were used to finance industrial and energy sectors between 1972 and 1991, whereas only 3 million dollars were destined to social sector. By this means, the UNDP could be seen as "an open window to the west".
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The USA, UNO, and visas story
SAfter Romanian Revolution, in oredr to meet the challenges of transition, a new agreement was concluded between Romanian Goverment and the UNDP.Romania changed its priorities. Starting 1992 till 1999 13 million dollar were invested in social sector and 4 million in industrial sector. The Un High Commissioner for Refugees was instituted to provide assistance to asylum seekers and immigrants entering Romania. Emigrants' problems and migration were being dealt with by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The fall of communism in Central and East Europe instituted the right to freedom of mevement again. " Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country", reads Art. 13 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 13 proved to be a lucky number that time. Thousands of Romanians left the country even to mere experience a previous forbidden thing: travelling. In the general chaos, th United Nations Information Center was more than once taken for United States Embassy. Romanians requesting visas knocked at United Nations door when least expected. The UNO, as well as the USA meant freedom, democracy, and the new world. The United Nations instantly turned from the "open window to the west" to the "open door to the west".
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'We the people'
'We the people' today makes for 188 nations worldwide. The Big Family was always open to new members during its 55 years of existence. Who will remember Bogdan and Eugenia in ten years time? Hardly anyone. But they will no longer be post-institutionalized youngsters. They have their own family, their own home. The trial was social integration. They are now making for the big family. If they made it at individual level, chances are so would people do at collective level. The people and the peoples are now making for the Big Family: The United Nations.
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