From April 15, 2023 to April 15, 2024, there was implemented the project named “RurAct: Rural Communities Act” aimed at increasing the level of trust and cooperation between local (rural) public administrations and civic initiative groups in 5 rural communities from 5 districts of Moldova: village of Zgurita, Drochia district; village of Marculesti, Floresti district; village of Mitoc, Orhei district; village of Meseni, Rezina district and village of Roscani, Anenii Noi district.
A central aspect of the project was to increase budget transparency in 5 partner Mayor’s Offices. In this regard, the project provided learning platforms such as the Mayors’ Club and the Academy for Responsible Citizens through which interaction with LPAs of level I, II and citizens was facilitated in order to raise awareness of the importance of implementing practical democratic tools for ensuring an open and transparent budgeting process.
“Meeting with the Secretary General of the Government, Mr. Artur Mija, and part of the State Chancellery team was highly appreciated by all representatives of the partner communities. We are very pleased with this opportunity for mayors to interact with the Chancellery at the highest level, to share experience and learn from each other.” – Ruslan Stanga, rural development expert.
Beneficiaries were provided with all the necessary tools to improve collaboration between public administrations and civic groups in order to achieve common objectives of public interest, such as the Regulation on Activity of the Initiative Group for Participation in Budget Planning and Execution, Questionnaires on Budget Priorities, Budget for Citizens’ Understanding, Plan for Citizen Involvement in Decision-Making process.
One of the main ideas promoted in the project was as follows: civic activism can positively affect local governance. For the first time for these 5 localities, all 5 local authorities consulted citizens’ opinion on budget priorities through questionnaires and surveys. This gave the community a chance to express opinion on the services provided by the Mayor’s Office, such as landscaping and beautification, quality of education, quality of roads, street lighting and others. On the basis of these results, the communities involved were given professional assistance to develop citizen-friendly budgets in a clear, simple and accessible form, so that they could be easily understood by all interested citizens, regardless of their level of education or previous knowledge.
“By increasing the transparency of local governance, as the Mayor I have taken off my shoulders those multiple questions such as: what? How? Why? What for? When?” – Constantin Morari, the Mayor of Roscani village, Anenii Noi district.
“It is for the first time when we are presenting the draft local budget to the residents in such an accessible and easy to understand form.” – Efim Mardari, the Mayor of Meseni village (during the session on presenting the draft budget).
Mr. Victor Gutu, the Mayor of Zgurita village, Drochia district, emphasized the importance of informing and educating the villagers:
“We have set several activities to raise awareness of the importance of civic engagement and participation of the villagers in the budgetary process. In order to get as many villagers as possible to participate in the budget process, we need close cooperation between the Initiative Group and the LPAs”.
The leader of the initiative group, Mrs. Savin Svetlana, said:
“We, the initiative group in our community, have the role of representing citizens, we bring their voice to the Mayor’s Office”.
Currently, the Mayor, Mr. Sergiu Chetraru, is directly engaged in implementation of the plan to improve the process of citizens’ involvement in the budget process:
“The plan will help us to ensure access to relevant information on the process of planning, execution and reporting of the local budget and to be more credible to potential donors and diaspora”.
A highlight of the project was a study visit to Romania. Both mayors and members of the initiative groups from Moldova appreciated the openness and warmth of the Romanian mayors, as well as the experience shared, especially about rural development projects with European funds.
As a result of this project, five civic initiative groups were set up and consolidated, ready to work effectively with local administrations, focusing in particular on budget transparency issues.
The project demonstrated the value of open and constructive collaboration between local authorities and citizens, showing that strategic partnerships can significantly improve the quality of community life.
The project “RurAct: Rural Communities Act” is implemented by the Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) and local partners with financial support from the Black Sea Trust, a German Marshall Fund project, USA.