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CSOs from Riscani district in dialogue with CSOs from Drochia district

CSOs from Riscani district in dialogue with CSOs from Drochia district

On April 23, 2021, the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) organized a webinar with the participation of 6 partner NGOs (3 from Drochia district and 3 from Riscani district) in order to exchange best practices and ideas on good governance at the local level.

The activity brought together virtually 22 participants – mostly representatives of civil society, members of local initiative groups, but also some representatives of local public authorities.

The event was also attended by Mrs. Mariana Bruma, the president of the Platform for Good Governance in Drochia district, who presented the work of the NGO Platform in Drochia district and encouraged NGOs from Riscani district to mobilize and form up a similar platform to advance the development agenda of participatory local governance.

“The members of the platform participated in 11 district and local council meetings between December 2020 and April 2021, and as a result we have 4 approved decisions, results that we are very happy about. Likewise, 2 other NGOs joined the Platform as new members.” – Mariana Bruma, president of the Platform for Good Governance, Drochia district.

“When there are civil society organisations at the local level, when there are initiative groups that from time to time come to the town hall and ask how things are going, we think it is a win-win situation, on the one hand, local authorities gain from the value, from the expertise of civil society, and on the other hand, civil society gets involved in the process of good governance at the local level.” – Ruslan Stanga, Rural Development expert, Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi).

During the event, civil society representatives shared with each other a number of good practices and challenges encountered at the local level in the process of cooperation with LPAs and other stakeholders.

“We make sure local officials elected by the people don’t miss anything, we attended the Academy of Good Governance at the local level. There are 15 of us and we call ourselves ‘community messengers’ who build this bridge between the ideas and issues that citizens have in our community and we take them to the LPAs.” – Aliona Ribac, representative of Speranta CO, village of Gribova, Drochia district.

“In our locality we’ve heard about the term of budget transparency and it has been put into practice following the initiative group’s participation in the Budget Transparency Academy courses. We organised both information sessions for citizens and public hearings at the local level to identify the most pressing issues. As a result of these actions, public meetings have become a normality for LPAs and citizens.” – Svetlana Savin, representative of Fortuna CO, village of Zgurita, Drochia district.

“The concept of good governance in rural communities practically does not exist. People were passive, the town hall showed no interest. When we created the initiative group, we knew that people didn’t have much time in the countryside, they were involved in farming, small businesses, but the training activities took people out of their comfort zone and they were interested in participating.” – Aurora Serediuc, representative of Bastina CO, village of Balanul Nou, Riscani district.

The LPA representatives which attended the discussion had the opportunity to interact with each other and share their own visions on how things are going.

“In the village of Mihaileni we have 7 NGO, some of them are more active, other are less active, but they work from project to project. We have associations that have brought projects the value of which is more than 2 million lei, but the technical base is 0 (zero). Thanks to iRi for their work in establishing these associations. We have organisations that have been working for 10 years and have no computer, no printer, but they come to the town hall and use the technical equipment there. I believe that once they are equipped, they will become even more active.” – Valerian Cecan, mayor, village of Mihaileni, Riscani district.

The initiative “Citizens Serving Citizens” is a logical continuation of the project “We Govern Together” tested by iRi in 3 localities of Drochia district, and later extended to 3 other rural localities in Riscani district with the aim of promoting the idea of good participatory governance at the local level.

The activity is part of the project “Citizens Serving Citizens” implemented by the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) within the grant programme “Development of civil society at the local level in the Republic of Moldova”, funded by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.


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