Three Romanian International Policy Fellows from IPF's 2005-06 "Policymaking in Transition Contexts" working group (see http://www.policy.hu/themes05/policy/index.html) welcomed a wide range of participants from Romanian government agencies along with university and civil society representatives to the public seminar held in May 2006. The event represented the first independent researcher/civil society-led discussion on policymaking reform in Romania. Participants praised the initiative and agreed on the need for the further involvement of independent civil society actors in key public management reform debates. The discussions opened the way for forward-looking research and advocacy initiatives in the area of government performance evaluation, education policy reform, European energy security policy and anti-corruption efforts.

The first panel addressed key challenges and reasonable expectations in policy management reform and ocused on lessons from international, regional, and Romanian experience; the market for policy analysis and evaluation outside government; means for creating widespread demand for better policy making; and the role of policy stakeholders (think tanks, media, and foreign assistance) in improving the output of the policy-making process. The second panel examined the key policy sector of education as an area offering relevant lessons about the ways in which public institutions should be reformed and staffed with capable people holding key competencies for a modern public administration. The issues addressed in the panel included the quality of public policy training in Romania, the quality of policymaking in the education sector, and what Romania's vision for its education system as a future European Union-member country.

The following draft policy studies resulting from the three Romanian fellows' 2005-6 projects were discussed:

• Toward a Culture of Quality Policymaking in Transition Countries: The Case of Education. Lucian Ion Ciolan
• The Learning Government Research Project: Assessing Policymaking Reform in Romania. Claudiu Craciun
• Corruption as a Symptom of Poor Policymaking: Several Reform Measures. Sorin Ionita

The IPF working group reconvened in Fukuoka, Japan, in July 2006 as an invited panel at the 20th World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) entitled Is Democracy Working? (see also http://www.fukuoka2006.com/en/).

Further information is available at http://www.policy.hu/themes05/policy/index.html