The EU-funded action “Citizens’ Empowerment in the Republic of Moldova” presented its results

On 2 December 2021, the closing event of the Action “Citizens’ Empowerment in the Republic of Moldova”, funded by the European Union and implemented by GIZ, took place in Chisinau. The purpose of the event was to increase the visibility of the action by presenting its most important results and achievements, but also to communicate the conclusions and recommendations for other EU-funded programmes and projects.

The totalisation ceremony was attended by representatives of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, representatives of GIZ, and civil society organisations as implementing partners of the project.

Gintautas Baranauskas, Deputy Head of Operations Section, Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova stated “During the implementation of the project, I had the pleasure to participate in several regional events and been able to learn about the smart and innovative solutions that were brought to local communities with the support of the European Union. Empowering citizens and involving them has contributed to improving services delivery, and the same time, strengthen the sense of responsibility of LPAs and increasing local ownership. This will jointly contribute to better quality of life for the citizens and preserve the healthy environment for future generations.”

Petru Veverita, project manager “Modernisation of Local Public Services in the Republic of Moldova (MLPS)” said “Throughout the implementation of the MLPS project, which began in 2010, the involvement of citizens in all processes has passed like a red thread through all project actions, whether it was national level policies, involvement in a local participatory process or monitoring of some infrastructure investments. Thus, this EU action to empower citizens has been taken over and carried out with full confidence, because it has been perfectly in line with all the actions promoted by the MLPS.”

Representatives of partner CSOs expressed the gratitude of local communities to the European Union and to all EU citizens who contribute generously to actions aimed to improve the lives of the people of the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, the organisations pleaded for the continuation of the programmes to support the citizens, as well as for the development and capitalisation of all the resources and skills obtained by the civil society within the projects financed by the European Union.

The main objective of the implemented project is to empower citizens through the constructive participation of civil society organisations in local, regional, and national decision-making processes. Among the main results of the project are:

• 100 local and regional CSOs, including 15 newly created organisations, able to implement projects in the field of citizen involvement for sustainable local services, monitoring investment projects and organising awareness campaigns;
• 73 awareness campaigns on the sustainability of local public services;
• Over 3,000 citizens involved in the elaboration of local plans approved by the LPA;
• Over 200,000 citizens, informed about investments in infrastructure, public services and the relevance of tariffs;
• Over 15,000 children and students involved in non-formal education activities on public services, environmental issues, and their impact on climate change.

The total value of the project “Empowering citizens in the Republic of Moldova” is 4.9 million EUR granted by the European Union, including 3.75 million EUR for grants.

The “Citizens Empowerment in the Republic of Moldova” Action is funded by the European Union and implemented by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ in coordination with the project “Modernisation of Local Public Services in the Republic of Moldova.”

The project partners were: Pro Cooperare Regional and CASMED – for the North region, the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance ager and ADR Habitat – for the Centre region, the CONTACT-Cahul Centre – for the South region, the European Centre `Pro-Europe` in Comrat and the CONTACT Centre – for the UTA Gagauzia region, the Association of Independent Press – for information and awareness.