On February 27, the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) organized a round table with representatives of the 1st and 2nd level LPAs: district presidents/vice district presidents, mayors/vice mayors and councilors from 22 iRi partner communities representing 12 districts of the Republic of Moldova.
The event discussed the development of the youth sector at the local level, namely the legal framework, good practices resulted in success stories and the local youth budget.
At the beginning of the event, Arianne Ekinci, Human Rights Officer at the US Embassy in Chisinau, and Pavel Groza, the President of Cahul District Council, mentioned the importance of youth sector development in Moldova and encouraged the involvement of public policy makers in actively supporting the youth sector and rural youth in particular.
“Since I have been in the Republic of Moldova, I have seen young people who believe in their country and hope for a better future here at home. Despite the hardships they face, young people find solutions to local problems. The United States has been supporting rural communities through the programs implemented by iRi since 2003. The current program supported by the US Department of State is ‘Youth Empowerment in Rural Areas’, which in its four years of operation has succeeded in creating 30 islands of hope in 30 communities in the RM. Hopefully, we will continue our contribution to the development of a democratic and prosperous Moldova where citizens will want to stay and grow.” – Arianne Ekinci.
The Deputy Director of the National Youth Agency (ANT), Mr. Vadim Smintina, who was present throughout the event, gave an overview of the ANT’s current national programs and answered questions of the participants.
Mr. Octavii Ivanov, CALM expert, familiarized the local elected representatives with the legal framework on youth sector development in the Republic of Moldova and what should be done to ensure that the national agenda has adequate financial coverage, especially at the local level.
“Local public authorities can and are entitled to plan and allocate, within the available budget, financial resources for the development and implementation of youth policies, programs, projects and actions.” – Octavii Ivanov.
The iRi expert Mr. Ruslan Stanga facilitated a discussion on the main challenges and impediments in implementing youth policies at the local level and what exactly needs to be done to remove these obstacles and ensure that the national youth agenda has ramifications at the local level, too.
“Despite the existence of the legal framework favorable to the development of the youth sector in the country, however, at the local level we anxiously note major shortcomings in the mechanism for the implementation of this policy framework, as well as in the monitoring of these public policies. Confusion persists regarding the binding the youth sector with the culture and sports sector, as well as other errors of perception and implementation, including disregard of the subject. We want young people to be responsible citizens and to this end, iRi invests in people, through capacity building, facilitating experience sharing and offering small grants for implementation of youth policies.” – Ruslan Stanga.
Within the second session of the round table, the decision-makers had the opportunity to learn and be inspired by success stories, where the mayors of the localities of Roshcani, Anenii Noi district, Manta, Cahul district, and Dezghingea, Gagauzia, managed to develop and implement youth policies at the local level by allocating budget for youth activities beyond the field of sports or culture, as it is usual in most cases.
“One of the priorities of our team when I became mayor was to work with young people, namely to create conditions for their development and useful leisure time. Thus, we saw the need to open a Youth Centre in the village and hire a youth worker, where we organize activities for young people and children on different interests. A good practice we use is the permanent consultation of young people which allows us to better understand young people needs and how we can help them.” – Vasilii Capasmul, the Mayor of Dezghingea village, Gagauzia.
“Thanks to the projects offered by NGOs, Cahul District Council and with the support of LPAs of Manta village, our young people were empowered in writing projects, they learned how to identify problems and find solutions for the implementation of various youth initiatives and contribute to the development of their community.” – Violeta Hincu, the Mayor of Manta village, Cahul district.
This activity is an annual iRi-branded event implemented by the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi), with the aim of discussing topical issues in cooperation of local public administration with citizens and is part of the Youth Empowerment in Rural Areas (YEP) project implemented by iRi in partnership with GLCAP, Ohio, USA, with the support of the US Department of State.
The photo album from the event can be viewed on the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) Facebook page: