Mutual Aid After 1989. The Kolping Model in Romania

Abstract

Following the fall of the communist regime in 1989, Romania faced major social and economic challenges stemming both from structural changes in society and from the mentalities formed during the communist era. In this context, Kolping International and its European network initiated a complex process to support the transformation processes in the Central and Eastern European countries, providing emergency material aid and gradually evolving toward a “help for self-help” development model based on the establishment of local associations and their projects. In this context, the process of building civil society required an investment on social structures that were unknown after the communist era. Another objective was to launch enterprises that would offer new perspectives to the disintegration of the large state-owned conglomerates. The article analyzes the stages involved in building a network-based mutual aid social structure composed of associations and their enterprises. This article outlines the conditions under which such a social structure can become functional. It analyzes the complete cycle in which the recipient of emergency aid achieves a level of autonomy and can become a donor. The transition from a community dependent on aids and expertise to an independent structure that works efficiently and is self-sustaining (Association Journal, 2018) is relevant to the entire spectrum of association networks established in Central and Eastern Europe by the partners from Western Europe.