Romanian Village in Global Dynamics: Between Contemporary Pressures and the Preservation of Local Identity
The Strategic Dialogue for Global Affairs Initiative (SDGAi) is organizing the first edition of the Annual Forum on Rural Resilience, a forum for discussion dedicated to the transformations that Romanian villages are undergoing: depopulation, infrastructure deterioration, peri-urban pressure, the erosion of local heritage, and, at the same time, the concrete ways in which rural communities preserve their identity.
Friday, August 28, at 5:00 p.m. — Ciceu-Giurgești Cultural Center
Opening ceremony, featuring an inaugural address by Dr. Ecaterina-Elena Mațoi, President, Executive Director, and Founder of SDGAi, and remarks by Dr. Bogdan-Gruia Ivan, former Minister of Energy and member of the Romanian Parliament, Prof. Sorin Cheval, Ph.D., Mr. Vasile Iuga, mayor of Ciceu-Giurgești, and Father Dan-Constantin Iftimi, Ph.D., of the “Saints Michael and Gabriel the Archangels” Parish in Ciceu-Giurgești. The evening concludes with a traditional dinner.
Saturday, August 29, starting at 10:00 a.m. — Lorin Guesthouse, Cristeștii Ciceului
The Forum’s academic sessions: three panels in Romanian and two in English, featuring over 20 presentations. Case studies from Bistrița-Năsăud, Maramureș, Iași, Ilfov, Giurgiu, Dolj, Alba, Buzău, and Mureș are complemented by comparative analyses from Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Levant—ranging from collectivization and post-communist divergence to heritage tourism, the urbanization of villages, and language as a marker of territorial belonging.
Institutional partners: Ciceu-Giurgești City Hall, Bistrița-Năsăud County—official partner of the annual event, 2026 edition; Middle East Political and Economic Institute (MEPEI); Political Science Institute, Varna, Bulgaria.
Media partner: Financial Intelligence. Sponsor: Enterit by Flaely Grup SRL. (https://enterit.ro/)
Online Participation — By Prior Registration
The scientific sessions on August 29 can be viewed online. Access is granted exclusively upon written request, sent to office@sdgainitiative.com, including your full name, institution/affiliation, and the sessions of interest (Romanian, English, or both). The login link will be sent individually via email prior to the event. Deadline for submitting requests: August 27, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.
Partnership · Dialogue · Resilience
Compendium of Case Studies – A Perspective on the Romanian Village and the Transformations of the Contemporary Rural Environment
Within the SDGAi Annual Forum, the compendium of case studies dedicated to the transformations and resilience of rural areas represents one of the event’s principal intellectual contributions. The document seeks to provide a realistic and multidimensional perspective on the realities facing rural communities today, drawing on concrete experiences from Romania while extending the analysis to other geographical areas and historical, social, and political contexts.
The compendium brings together 15 case studies focusing on villages and rural communities in Romania, alongside 8 comparative perspectives from Central and Eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. This structure gives the document particular value: the Romanian village is not examined in isolation, but rather in relation to processes and experiences that, in different forms, can be found in rural communities across other regions of the world.
The document starts from a fundamental reality: contemporary rural areas are at the intersection of multiple pressures – depopulation and migration, demographic ageing, economic transformations, the deterioration of public services, infrastructure challenges, climate change and pressure on natural resources, as well as the changing relationship between tradition, identity, and modernization. At the same time, the case studies show that these communities should not be viewed exclusively through the lens of decline. Many demonstrate significant capacity for adaptation, local initiative, heritage preservation, innovation, and new forms of solidarity and development.
The compendium is therefore not intended as a simple inventory of the problems facing Romanian villages. Instead, it seeks to address a broader question: what does rural resilience mean at a time when communities are simultaneously required to adapt to demographic, economic, climatic, technological, and cultural change? The findings suggest that resilience cannot be measured solely by population figures or economic indicators. Rather, it must be understood through the relationship between heritage and traditions, infrastructure and services, institutions and community, economy and trust.
The comparative dimension of the document is therefore essential. Experiences from Romania are placed in dialogue with rural transformations in Bulgaria, Poland, and Eastern Germany, with modernization processes in Bangladesh, and with the particular circumstances of rural communities in Syria. These comparisons make it possible to identify common patterns while also demonstrating that each community develops its own forms of adaptation according to its history, institutions, culture, and available resources.
In this context, the scientific session on Saturday, 29 August, provides the framework within which some of these studies will be presented and discussed by their authors and participants, in a hybrid format. The presentations therefore represent a natural extension of the document, giving participants the opportunity to engage directly with the researchers and explore in greater depth the case studies brought together in the compendium.
The document is intended equally for researchers and the academic community, local and central authorities, rural development specialists, civil society representatives, students, and all those interested in the future of rural communities. Above all, it proposes a shift in perspective: the village should be viewed neither as a space condemned to disappear nor as an idealized image of the past, but as a living space undergoing a continuous process of transformation, negotiation, and adaptation.
SDGAi’s Annual Forum on Rural Resilience Programme
The event programme can be consulted below: