On December 15, 2021, the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) organized the first session within the “Talk Rural Development in Moldova” platform. The platform is an informal framework that offers space for dialogue and facilitation between citizens and institutions interested in the reformed rural development in Moldova.
The event was attended by representatives of several government institutions: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry – Mrs. Galina Petrachi, Agricultural Intervention and Payments Agency (AIPA) – Mrs. Diana Cosalic, ODIMM – Mr. Boris Dabija, USAID Moldova – Mrs. Diana Cazacu, CALM – Mr. Octavii Ivanov, representatives of civic society and local leaders from 10 districts of Moldova.
“We want the platform to gather institutions and key actors interested in rural development. iRi, together with a number of 10 rural partner NGOs already started a series of discussions around the reformed rural development. We aim to contribute to building a more correct and targeted perception of rural development in Moldova.” – Tatiana Costev-Cosuleanu, executive director, Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi).
“Indeed, the rural development policy is perceived more in terms of agriculture, which is not right. Now, we are in the process of designing the development strategy in agriculture and rural areas and as a result we will develop a rural development program that will include practical actions for 2023 – 2027, and such discussions are important to identify the stakeholders’ needs.” – Galina Petrachi, head of Rural Development Policy and Programs Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.
“Since 2020, when AIPA started the process of implementing the rural development policy, namely the policy of improving the standard of living and working in rural areas, there was a great interest from local authorities at level I to be potential beneficiaries of subsidies. The Central Public Authority, responsible for the rural development policy always identifies new sources to develop the rural communities and AIPA as an institution will support them, because rural development leads to improving the quality of life of the whole population.” – Diana Cosalic, deputy director, Agricultural Intervention and Payments Agency (AIPA).
The civil society experts, Ruslan Stanga, Valeriu Prohnitchi and Octavii Ivanov shared their views on this topic.
Ruslan Stanga shared with the platform’s participants the latest iRi studies and a broader context which requires a paradigm shift in the field of rural development in the Republic of Moldova:
“The goal of these sessions is to advance the agenda we proposed together with you, to discuss about the rural development, to make a step forward, to change the way of perceiving rural development in Moldova. We believe that the concept of rural development is not fully valued. We want that rural development in Moldova to be Rural Development – not just agriculture,” mentioned Ruslan Stanga in his speech.
The expert in economics, Valeriu Prohnitchi, gave an overview of some inadvertencies regarding the rural development policy in the Republic of Moldova and offered a series of recommendations that involve the transition from the classic sector-based approach built vertically to an inter-sector approach based on horizontal:
“We need rural development policy to be reflected horizontally in all sector-based policies. In fact, rural development policy as well as regional development policy is nothing more than a geographical reflection of sector-based policies. They must be adapted to the particularities of the rural environment versus the particularities of the urban environment.” – Valeriu Prohnitchi, economist.
On the other hand, Octavii Ivanov, expert at the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM), spoke about the importance of adjusting the rural development policies to the latest realities:
“I would like to mention a few current trends in rural development at local level that are very important at the moment: (1) new technologies development, (2) concentration of resources due to performance in agriculture, (3) encouraging local authorities to invite citizens to participate in the process of community development, (4) offering public services to the citizens.” – Octavii Ivanov.
The next discussion session within the platform will be organized in February 2022. Specialists/practitioners in the field of rural development from Italy, USA, Romania and Moldova will be invited to the dialogue.
If you are interested to be part of the platform, please contact iRi team: office@iri.md. For more info about the project go here.
The activity is part of the project “ReThink Rural Moldova”, implemented by the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) and local partners with the support of the US Embassy in the Republic of Moldova.