CRIES - Resources Center for Ethical and Solidarity-Based Initiatives is one of the first organizations which promote social solidarity economy in Romania.
Established in Timisoara, in 2009, CRIES is involved in different initiatives which aim to sustain the involvement of citizens, public institutions, NGOs, and economic actors to make the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive society.
The main area of interventions are: education – pilot actions in sustainable development areas– advocacy – networking. We were involved in:
developing educational programs regarding sustainable development and responsible consumption: more than 3.000 people participated in our programs, organized for professionals, teachers, young people, volunteers, disadvantaged producers, and consumers.
initiating innovative pilot actions: CRIES initiated in Romania the CSA model (community-supported agriculture), a model which sustains Fair Trade practices for small producers and access to healthy food for consumers.
raising awareness and advocacy for Fair Trade, social economy, and combating food waste;
networking: the organization developed a solid partnership network with more than 120 organizations and public institutions from Romania and different European countries;
producing communication and educational materials about the social economy, community-supported agriculture. We mention here 2 materials produced in LA PAS/Slowing Down program: Manual for responsible consumption (2018), and The Guide for Sustainable Cultural Events (2018).
CRIES is a founding member of RIPESS Europe (www.ripess.org) and a member of RISE- Romanian Network of Social Integration Enterprises (https://riseromania.ro/)