On June 20, 2011 the Institute for Rural Initiatives set the basis for a new partnership with local authorities of Cahul. The iRi team lead by Ruslan Stanga met with the Head of General Education Department of Cahul, Mr. Vladimir Calmic. The goal of the meeting was to inform the Education Department about a new iRi initiative on facilitating quality education for Roma kids of Zirnesti village, initiative to be accomplished through 3 types of educational vouchers in the village of Zirnesti for the period of September 2011 – June 2012.
Mr. Calmic welcomed the initiative while making a short overview about the situation in the filed of education in Cahul rayon. The official mentioned that the institution he leads is open for a partnership with the Institute for Rural Initiatives while being interested in improving the situation of Roma kids in the region. Also there have been discussed the possibility of replicating some of the project’s most succesful components in other schools of Cahul rayon.
Finally the Institute has been invited by the official to participate at the annual meeting of all teachers from Cahul planned for August 23-24, 2011 where iRi will have the chance to disseminate info about the project among teachers while proposing new educational methods for a better facilitation of the edcational process in Zirnesti.
The meeting is a part of the “Assisting quality educational processes in one school attended by Roma children in the Republic of Moldova” project accomplished with the support of Roma Education Fund (REF), Budapest.