The SARD Programme aims to boost the collaboration between central and local authorities, as well as among the regional organizations from ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district, so as to foster the social-economic development of the region and of the Republic of Moldova as a whole. The Programme contribute to development of the agri-food sector, promotion of local entrepreneurship, creation of jobs, and increasing the income of the population living in ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district.

- Enhanced Dialogue and Community Empowerment.
- Support for local entrepreneurship initiatives and SMEs’ development.
- Infrastructure Refurbishment and Promotion of Inter-Municipal Cooperation.

- 41 communities (100 per cent of targeted region) capacitated to deliver better public services through the received capacity building and community development support and through 41 institutional support grants.
- Targeted support was provided in writing project proposals and identification of potential financial sources: LPAs of targeted region managed to substantially upgrade their fundraising capacities: 248 concept projects were developed, of which 42 project proposals were approved for financing, 78 rejected and remaining 128 are at various stages of evaluation.
- The first in Moldova 8 pilot Local Action Groups (LAGs) were established and formalized, putting together 44 localities from ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district, as well as several villages from the Cahul, Cantemir and Basarabeasca districts that started joint implementation of rural development projects in the basis of the European LEADER concept.
- 24 workshops and trainings on EU LEADER concept were organized for the representatives of Local public administrations, business community, civil society, as well as decision makers from central and regional levels.
- 69 people participated in study visits to Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Italy to learn from best practices of these countries in implementing the EU LEADER concept.
- 170 LPAs participants (91 women, 79 men) representing LPAs from all targeted region communities learned from best LPA and IMC experiences in communities inside and outside target area through four in-country local and information-sharing visits.
- The administrations of ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district were assisted in development of Social Economic Development strategies for 2017-2022 period.
- 31 Local Development Strategies were developed and 10 were updated.
- The socio-economic development strategy of ATU Gagauzia were developed and the socio-economic development strategy of Taraclia district was updated.
- An Intervention package to upgrade the business support infrastructure was designed based on a thorough Review, 2 Cross sectoral Business associations were established and support provided.
- As a result of open competition, 30 startups and experienced entrepreneurs from ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district have received the grants and consultancy/coaching support for business development, which already generated 80 jobs (total 150 jobs expected).
- 120 women and men from ATU Gagauzia benefited of qualified support for initiating and developing a business or employment, at seminars supported by the Syslab Center in Comrat. As a result, the employment rate of those trained reached 81%. Out of the 40 beneficiaries of the Entrepreneurship Program, 11 received financial support for starting the business.
- 26 community infrastructure refurbishment projects have been finalized and 14 infrastructure projects are under implementation. Seven inter-municipal cooperation projects are in the process of implementation. All these projects will improve the living conditions for approximately 36,000 people from ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district.
- Over 20 million Moldovan Leu (MDL) (€1 million) cost-sharing contribution was leveraged from local/regional authorities for support of infrastructure and intercommunity cooperation projects.