Last week seventeen business women and women managers representing seven association members of the Coalition of Women Business Associations (CAFA) in Romania got together in Bucharest for a work meeting.

The Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Romania (AFIR) Galati, which has been in charge with the CAFA secretariat in 2011, presented an activity report and highlighted some of the major activities they carried out this year. Notable CAFA events held in 2011 include the annual conference held on June 3-4, the workshop on how to communicate with public officials held on October 15 and the conference organized by the Association for Women Entrepreneurship Development (CAFA member) on October 27 which featured a CAFA presentation.

The participants remarked on the increasing visibility of the coalition and the improvement of its internal communication.

After the presentation of the activity report for 2011, the CAFA secretariat was handed over to the association “Business Opportunities for Women”. This association will be responsible for the secretariat for next year. It is to be noted after the first two years of activity (2004-2005) in which CAFA received support from CIPE’s Romania Office, it has been a stand-alone entity and each year the secretariat is managed on rotation by a different CAFA member.

The participants also discussed about the work plan for 2012, which includes a workshop on association governance, the tenth edition of the annual conference, networking events and advocacy to modify the Fiscal Code and to introduce the law on social economy.

It sounds like the Coalition of Women Business Associations in Romania will have a busy agenda for 2012. We wish them success in all their endeavors and look forward to their accomplishments.

Carmen Stanila
CIPE Regional Office

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