The Rhubarb Festival

The Transylvanian Highlights is a tourist destination comprising seven national and Natura 2000 sites and the second largest protected area in Romania after the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. It neighbours Sibiu, Braşov, Făgăraş, Rupea, Sighişoara and Mediaş, along the valleys of Hârtibaciu, Târnava Mare and Olt, covering over 267,000 hectares and with a population of 90,000 inhabitants in its 44 villages in three different counties (Sibiu, Mureș and Brașov). The Transylvanian Highlands are associated with a mediaeval landscape, with high hills and valleys with terraces and meadows, multicultural villages and fortified citadels and churches, some of which are UNESCO world heritage sites. Its centuries-old sessile oak forests are iconic, and its meadows and grasslands have great natural value on account of the preservation of traditional methods for grazing and haymaking. The Transylvanian Highlands are an active destination, with a network of 500 km of hiking and cycling tracks, taking visitors to over 60 towns and villages. Visits to artisans' workshops and local producers, including of food, can also be organised.

The Rhubarb Festival was held in these parts at the beginning of May. Bianca Ştefănuţ, senior communications expert from WWF Romania, told us more:

"The Rhubarb Festival, which was held in Saschiz, is in fact an example of good practice organised by the local community. It brings together people and is an opportunity to promote cultural, natural and gastronomic values. The rhubarb has a whole tradition in these parts, it's a plant that grows well and which is well taken care of in the Transylvanian Highlands and used in many ways, from soups to various drinks and some delicious pies."

How can people and the local authorities respond together to the needs of the community? How can they preserve traditional and natural values, while also making a financial profit? These are all valid questions to which these communities are trying to find an answer. Bianca Ştefănuţ again:

"WWF Romania together with our local partners in the Transylvanian Highlands, a total of 11 organisations, are trying to educate, inform and bring together residents and communities from the Transylvanian Highlands so as to live harmoniously with nature and at the same time have a say in the decision making process at the local level. So we are trying, through a project called PACT2020, which is carried out by WWF Romania in partnership with the Mioritics Association and the Mihai Eminescu Trust and with financial support from Active Citizens Fund Romania funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the SEE 2014-2021 grants to learn from the local communities about how they get organised, what their main needs are and to guide them through a process of education to become more active and more sustainable."

Bianca Ştefănuţ tells us how the Saschiz community has grown in recent years:

"Saschiz is a great example of civic action. I'm thinking of the Women's Neighbourhood in Saschiz, an association established in 2015 which has contributed greatly to the prosperity of the community, not just of the local women and families, who were the main target, but the entire community. This Rhubarb Festival forms part of this, it's a model for other communities in Romania and elsewhere."

Before tucking in to the rhubarb pies, the visitors to the Rhubarb Festival in Saschiz discussed about an information and awareness raising project to be attended by 150 persons from 10 communities in the counties of Brașov, Sibiu and Mureș. Bianca Ştefănuţ tells us how we can find out more about the development of the project:

"WWF Romania will provide updates on how the project unfolds, both on its social media and on the project's website, at colinele-transilvaniei.ro/pact 2020, where you can find information that can help you and your communities. You'll find collections of good practice, useful information about how to speak to the local and regional authorities and how to better deal with the challenges that may appear in the community."

Such projects aim to develop in the long term the sustainability and ability of the civil society sector, intensifying its role in promoting active citizenship and human rights and consolidating at the same time the bilateral relations with the donor countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The general objective is to reduce economic and social disparities between those living in these areas and to consolidate bilateral relations between the areas benefiting from the grants and the donor states.