On the 27th of April 2020, in the village of Tomai, Gagauzia ATU, the Local Coalition for Participatory Budgeting was consolidated. The session was held online being attended by seven members, and further on new members were expected to join.
The Secretary of the Coalition, Mr. Chesea Dmitrii, opened the conference with a welcome speech, saying: “I am glad that you have chosen to become a part of this project, within this initiative we aim to contribute together to the better life of our village, to inform citizens about the processes how the budget of the town hall is formed up and used, but also to help the authorities to be more transparent at each stage of the local budget.”
Mrs. Tatiana Costev, the Programme Director of the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi), explained, “Today we are going to discuss Participatory Budgeting with you and get what is all about”.
A more detailed presentation in this regard about the project structure, implementation partners, available resources was made by Mr. Iulian Rusu, the Deputy Executive Director, Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) browsing together with the participants on Bugetulmeu.md project website.
“The project is implemented in 5 regions of the country, including the region of Gagauzia ATU and implies participation of 5 communities,” Iulian Rusu said.
The conference also approved and voted on the Regulation of the Local Coalition Activity, and Tatiana Costev congratulated the members of the Local Coalition, saying: “This is a win-win process for the whole community.”
As a reminder, the “My Budget” project aims to increase the engagement of civil society at the local level and to raise the transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the budgeting and execution processes through participation and monitoring by society.
The activity was organised by the partner organisation, the Institute for Rural Initiatives.
The project “Inform, empower and act! Civil society for better budget governance in Moldova” is implemented by the Independent Analytical Centre “Expert-Grup” as the lead partner, together with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung e.V. (KAS, Germany), the Centre for East European Studies (CSEE, Lithuania) and the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE). The project is implemented with financial support of the European Union and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung e.V.