Moldova: Civil Society & Inclusive Governance
People in Need Moldova aims to promote democratic values, inclusion of citizens in decision-making processes and transparency in the democratic process. We support local initiatives and encourage action groups to contribute to improving people's lives across the country. It is important to us that everyone knows their rights and freedoms and how they can contribute to the development of their communities.
Our projects include numerous disadvantaged people as beneficiaries, and we aim to include them in the active life of the country. We want them to be employed, to be part of local initiative groups and to have their voices heard by the authorities.
Transparency in decision-making is a fundamental pillar of democracy. Our projects aim to educate citizens about the media, combat misinformation and develop critical thinking. In this way, citizens can play an increasingly important role in local decision-making, as well as in monitoring budgets and projects implemented in their localities.
Young people play an important role in the life of every country. Moldova is facing an advanced braindrain phenomenon, defined as a massive migration of young and skilled people to more developed countries, where they can benefit from more opportunities for professional growth. On the other hand, many young people remaining in the Republic of Moldova prefer not to be involved in political processes and the proportion of those aged 18-25 participating in electoral exercises is relatively low. PIN Moldova aims to involve these young people as much as possible in the social life of the country, to encourage them to be active, to know their rights and to have as many opportunities for personal and professional development as possible.
Our main areas of focus:
Empowerment of Civil Society Actors: Locally-driven, adaptive approaches to support the organisational and technical development of civil society, including civil society organisations, informal civic groups and grassroots activists. In our civil society development programming, we coordinate and—wherever possible—share expertise with our Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
Youth Civic Engagement: The One World in Schools youth civic education and media literacy programming runs contextualised content adapted for formal and non-formal educational spaces and learners of all ages.
Inclusive Governance of Public Services: Participatory development and monitoring public services, including Social Services, Education, Water, Sanitation and Public Health.
Ongoing aidORPast aid programmes
Resilient Civil Society and Media Response to the Ukraine War
PIN sees local actors of change, such as CSOs, grassroots groups, and other actors of civil society, as crucial for maintaining an effective response to the impacts of the war in Ukraine. PIN aims to increase the capacities of CSOs to be able to deliver extended and more inclusive service provision and plans to disburse grants to CSOs.
Building Resilience in Children through Knowledge and Social Skills
People in Need (PIN) proposes a project that addresses the educational needs of Ukrainian children seeking refuge in Moldova. The main area of intervention focuses on creating a digital learning centre to ensure continuity of education for Ukrainian children and provide a child-friendly space to allow refugee and host community children to heal and learn. All activities are closely coordinated by PIN’s education and protection advisors and implemented in cooperation with local partners. Thus, PIN aims to improve access to quality education and psychosocial support for displaced Ukrainian children in Moldova and contribute to better social cohesion by involving host community children.
EU4Accountability – Empowered Civil Society for Increased Social Accountability in Moldova
The project empowers active participation and teaches key authorities to understand people’s needs better. More than 50 grassroots initiatives from 10 districts across the whole country will participate, monitor, and advocate for significant changes in public accountability. Selected NGOs will be trained in local budgeting, policy-making, and advocacy sessions and will have the opportunity to join networking workshops. A training series should help to reflect better and provide for the needs of communities and their members.
CSOs from Cahul, Cimislia, Comrat, Falesti, Floresti, Glodeni, Rascani, Straseni, Stefan Voda, and Telenesti districts will learn how to implement their own public policy monitoring projects, strengthen mechanisms for social accountability, and promote best practices; additionally, they will facilitate peer learning, exchange of experience and networking among local CSOs.
The project is implemented by three organisations: the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) and People in Need (PIN).
Building good governance by promoting transparency, digitisation and social inclusion in the south of Moldova
The project aims to provide more effective services to citizens, technical support and training for municipalities to be ready to use more transparent IT tools, financial support for local initiatives, and the implementation of the Participatory Planning for Social Inclusion Services (PPSI). The project will directly help more than 400 vulnerable citizens (including women, children, and disadvantaged people). The PPSI program is a multi-stakeholder participatory approach to effectively planning, implementing and evaluating social policies and services, ensuring that the most vulnerable are not forgotten.
PIN has over 20 years of experience with the PPSI program. It is conceived in accordance with local legal and policy frameworks and working structures. It aspires to develop committees as effective platforms for social services policy planning and implementation. These committees are then strengthened through capacity-building activities of representatives of selected civil society organisations who act as facilitators of the working structures. As a result of these processes, the project will facilitate the development and approval of a community social services plan and provide financial support for the development/improvement of services identified in the plan.
EU COVID-19 solidarity programme for the Eastern Partnership
The aim of this project is to mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19 and to contribute to longer-term socio-economic resilience of vulnerable groups in Eastern Europe. Under the implementation of People in Need (PIN), and in partnership with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) and AFEW International (AFEW), the project aims to propose a set of interventions in several countries, including Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
PIN recognises the critical role local civil society organisations (CSOs) and independent media play in service delivery, community mobilisation, awareness raising, policy engagement, and advocacy for the protection of human rights and civic freedoms during and after the pandemic. We support the CSOs and other civic actors to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations by empowering them with services and access to accurate information.
PIN capitalises on its in-depth field-level knowledge to support CSOs that focus on community-level initiatives, watchdog programmes, and local independent journalism. Our partners NHC and AFEW are specialised in activities to improve human rights protection for responsible persons in closed institutions and key populations at risk for public health concerns like HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis. PIN provides grant support to NGOs working with these beneficiaries and assists them in developing strengthened monitoring, reporting, advisory, agenda-setting, and advocacy work.
Civil society actors as drivers of change in South Caucasus and Moldova
This is a regional project, involving several countries from South Caucasus and Moldova, united by the common aim of supporting newly established civil society organisations, grassroots organisations and civic initiatives, or social and cultural movements in order to strengthen their role as trusted actors advancing the democratisation process.
The project team has been working closely with selected civic initiatives to develop a strategy for each of them regarding their path and position in the society. The civic initiatives are taking part in trainings, coaching, mentoring, consultations, study visits, and fellowships. They establish and improve connections with their supporters and volunteers; and network with peers and partners in Armenia, Georgia or the Republic of Moldova and abroad.
The selected civic initiatives have the opportunity to get support for research and building thematic expertise, as well as get involved in policy dialogue at local, national or international level. During their participation in the project, the newly established civil society organisations will find out if, why and how to engage with the private sector for potential cooperation, and will find effective, transparent and accountable ways to self-organize and manage resources. The project aims to ensure access to funding opportunities for the internal development of selected civic initiatives or for carrying out campaigns designed by them.
Community planning of social services through public dialogue
Social services should meet the real needs of people, including the vulnerable groups. That is why the local people need to be involved in planning of services at the community level. This project supported local public authorities from Cahul, Glodeni and Strășeni districts to plan the social services together with the beneficiaries and representatives of civil society, using the principles and advantages of a public inclusive dialogue.
The main activities that were implemented within the project included: sharing the experience of Czech public authorities with the community planning of social services; analysis of capacities and resources for planning and providing social services; preparation of the methodological guide for community planning and its dissemination among authorities and social services providers; training of public administration staff responsible for the preparation of community plans; involving the public into the process of planning social services; approving the community plans; capacity building of local civil society organisations on strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, participatory budgeting and advocacy.
The project was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection.
Increasing integration of people with mental disabilities into society
The goal of this project was to contribute to better integration of persons with disabilities into Moldovan society. Due to the high level of institutionalization and lack of support from state, persons with disabilities face prejudices from the majority society and several types of discrimination. The project aimed to provide adequate material and personal conditions for three new houses with supported living for persons with mental disabilities and to support their active engagement in community and professional life in the North of the country.
Development of civil society and local self-governments
Over 30 non-governmental organizations from 20 districts in Moldova have been supported. Examples of local non-governmental organization projects supported include the opening of a canteen for abandoned elderly people, repair and opening of a playground for children, repair and equipping of a school canteen, support of a campaign against violence towards women and the support of a leisure time club integrating children with disabilities.
