Meet our Partner: Alba Eglesia Foundation - Romania

Alba Eglesia Foundation - Sustainable development of Transylvanian villages through education

Who are we?

Alba Eglesia Foundation was established in 1996 in the village of Viscri, a UNESCO Site from Romania. Our mission is to support the sustainable development of Transylvanian villages through education. We work in 4 priority areas: education and youth; cultural and natural heritage; sustainability; community development.

Discover our latest projects

Educational Centre (2023 - Ongoing)

We operate in the southern part of Transylvania, Romania, a region with a long history and rich cultural heritage. To preserve and promote the region’s tangible and intangible heritage and existing natural landscapes, several actors have contributed, in time, to the formation of an ecosystem in which people, NGOs, public institutions and companies are working for the development of local communities. However, the region still faces significant challenges, especially in rural areas. Lack of access to quality education, lack of adequate health care, problems of social inclusion, lack of infrastructure, transportation and lack of jobs are just a few issues.

In Bunești commune, of which Viscri is part of, the majority of the population has a low level of education, with at most 4 grades. Many of the inhabitants are unable to read and write, being deprived of access to education. In addition, living conditions are poor, with no access to running water and no sanitation. Most people in the commune do not have a secure and stable income.

We are aware that the first essential step in this process is education. The Educational Centre is the Alba Eglesia Foundation's response to the challenges of today. In 2023, we inaugurated the Educational Centre in Viscri, Bunești commune, Brașov county, Romania. At the centre, children participate in: educational activities, extracurricular activities and complementary projects of our local partners.

UNESCO WHV Viscri Action Camp (2023)

The Viscri Action Camp project was organised under the initiative of World Heritage Volunteers, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme. Alba Eglesia Foundation was a project partner. The 10 young volunteers aged 20-32 who participated in the project came from: Romania, Brazil, France, Italy, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom. As part of Viscri Action Camp 2023, children from Viscri and volunteers created the heritage corner at the education centre that included a map of Viscri interpreted through personal stories and memories about the village, the community and people who live here, collages and multiple DIY materials.

UNESCO WHV Viscri Action Camp (2024)

At the Viscri Action Camp 2024, children from Viscri participated with a group of new volunteers at the heritage education workshops run by the Pro Patrimonio Foundation - in which they learned about the meaning of heritage education, the value of inherited heritage and did creative exercises to rediscover this Saxon village, went on village trails to discover resources that can be used in heritage education activities and discussed with volunteers about their perspective on how it’s like to live in a UNESCO Site.

Erasmus+ RUBY - Italy (2024)

The Erasmus+ RUBY project was the first Erasmus+ project in which our foundation participated as a partner. The project "Youth Exchange RUBY: Rural-UrBan Youth Connection", acronym RUBY, which took place in Dicomano, near the city of Florence, Italy, was funded under the Erasmus+ Programme, KA151-YOU - Accredited Projects for Youth Mobility and focused on mass tourism and ways of promoting sustainable tourism. The project brought together 33 young people from the 5 partner countries: Italy, Croatia, Romania, Spain and Latvia, who participated in: workshops, debates, team-building activities, local trips, energizers, intercultural evenings with traditional cooking and dancing.

Local trip for children from the Educational Centre in Viscri (2024)

The local field trip for children was the first grant won within the Pepcolandia CSR Program run by Pepco Romania and implemented at national level by the Humanitarian Organisation CONCORDIA. 14 Beneficiary children from the Educational Centre went on a 1-day trip to the Praid Salt Mine in Harghita County and to the Black Lake in Sovata, Mureș County, where they could visit the salt deposits, the salt mine museum and the tyrolean zip line park and spent free time at the Black Lake. The 1-day local trip was followed by 3 days of painting and creative workshops led by the local instructor at the centre and a local exhibition at the Educational Centre held from August to September 2024.

Art camp for children and teenagers (2024)

The art camp for children and teenagers was our first project co-funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration in Romania. The beneficiaries of the training were children between the ages of 8 and 18, mainly from rural areas from Viscri and neighboring villages. Children and teenagers got in contact with the 5 Romanian artists, Irina Motroc - engraving, Daria Popa - ceramics, Simona Cîrlugea - drawing, Octavian Angheluș - photography and Mihai Ristea - music, and participated at training workshops that took place in Viscri. The children's creations from the camp were displayed in the public exhibition in Viscri called "Art and small hands" where visitors saw the world through the eyes of children and also traditional elements depicting the local heritage and characteristics of the village.

Erasmus+ POIESIS (2024-2026)

The Erasmus+ POIESIS project is a 2-year project, which started in 2024 and where the Alba Eglesia Foundation is a consortium partner. The POIESIS project promotes art and expressive arts for social inclusion, cultural revival and emotional stability among young people, especially from vulnerable backgrounds. The methodology used for the project is Expressive Arts. This methodology was specifically tailored to the main contexts and the communities in which the partnering organisation work: Austria is focused on immigrant and refugee communities, Romania is focused on cultural heritage and minority inclusion, Italy is focused on arts and environmental sustainability in rural areas. We will have pilot art workshops for young people from each partnering country, local exhibitions and a final exhibition within this project to be held in Vienna, Austria.

Erasmus+ Odyssey for a Great Event (2025)

The Erasmus+ Odyssey for a Great Event 2025 was a youth project focused on event management, combining theory with practice. Between 7th and 14th of March, 2025, participants learned to plan, manage and execute events, including aspects such as target audiences, goals and expected outcomes, logistics, coordination of volunteers, inclusion and accessibility, measuring the impact of an event, etc., culminating in a real event organised by the participants themselves in Ivančice, Brno-Country District, Czech Republic. The Alba Eglesia Foundation has participated in this project as a partner, with its own National Group of 4 participants. The project was followed by an online dissemination event that focused on the Erasmus+ programme and what the future of the programme might bring for young people in general.

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Contact us

If you want to know more about our organisation, do not hesitate to check our website and also to write to us at the following addresses:

Website: https://www.albaeglesia.org/

Email: contact@albaeglesia.org; laura@albaeglesia.org

President of the organisation: Mr. Octavian Anghelus