ECMI signs co-operation agreement with the Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center (EDRC), Cluj, Romania
On 6 October 2010, ECMI Director Dr. Tove H. Malloy and the Executive Director of the Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center (EDRC), Cluj, Romania, Dr. Levente Salat signed a Memorandum of Understanding laying out intentions of intensified co-operation. The Memorandum is seen as an opportunity for both institutions to come closer together on European minority research and project work as well as to support each others ongoing efforts and programmes. A particular effort to create joint projects in the area of Roma research has been identified.
The mission of the EDRC is to contribute to the construction of democracy in Romania, by improving the country’s interethnic climate and promoting the principles of ethnocultural peace and justice. EDRC is one of the successor organizations of the Open Society Foundation Romania, Cluj Branch. Its activity is based on the experience gained in the past nine years in managing programs in the field of interethnic relations. The Center’s activity is of relevance for the efforts Romania has made to align European values, especially in the context of the European Union's enlargement to Eastern Europe. EDRC manages a considerable number of programs in the field of interethnic relations, by supporting and implementing projects and initiatives directed towards various aspects of accommodating ethnocultural diversity: research on common history, cultural exchanges, socio-demographic databases, community-level interethnic relationships, good governance of multiethnic communities, publications, etc. For more information, see at www.edrc.ro.
The ECMI cooperates with several European institutions with foci of similar nature as ECMI’s. For an overview of the ECMI’s current partners, see here.