Project title
“Employers ACT: Promoting labor rights in the Republic of Moldova”
Period of implementation
June 30, 2024 – June 29, 2025
Implementer
Institute for Rural Initiatives (iRi) with the financial support of the Embassy of the United States of America in Moldova
Project overview
The project “Employers ACT: Promoting labor rights in the Republic of Moldova”, launched by iRi, aims to promote labor rights in the Republic of Moldova, aligning with the best international standards and facilitating access to information and education on human rights for employees (especially vulnerable ones).
The goal of the project is to promote employees’ rights in Moldova through awareness raising and dialog, training local activists and business communities to improve the work atmosphere. The project will emphasize the need to improve good practices in the field while discouraging typical unfair practices in the field such as: envelope wages, discrimination, harassment, abuse and psychological pressure of any kind.
Project objectives
- Facilitate public dialogue between authorities, civil society and business in 6 communities in the Republic of Moldova to discuss about current issues related to labor-rights.
- Train/educate stakeholders (including private sector employees from 6 communities) to dialog and find alternative policy solutions to labor rights violations in the RM.
- Raise awareness in the 6 project communities (and later at national level) about the role of human rights education and civic activism while promoting employment rights.
6 project partner communities
Chisinau, Cahul, Drochia, Ciadir-Lunga (Gagauzia), Anenii Noi, Ialoveni
What will the project do?
The project will facilitate dialog between stakeholders and seek solutions on better access to information and education on human rights (specifically labor rights) for people from vulnerable groups. The project will question the current mechanism for the protection of employees’ rights, in particular the remedies/complaints in cases of virtually inevitable abusive behavior by employers.
Thus, the project on the one hand will contribute to raising awareness and promoting quality dialogue between relevant labor stakeholders. On the other hand, the project will educate and encourage employees from 6 communities in the country to better know their rights and to advocate for them according to the legislation in force.
The project will train local human rights activists in 6 districts, preparing them to take a proactive stance. It will also work with the business community, via Employers’ Associations, to ensure that labor rights are respected and promoted. The project will implement both prevention and intervention measures to address labor rights issues. It is estimated that the project will reach approximately 10,000 people through activities, media and live broadcasts.
In addition, the project will ensure complementarity with existing efforts and will seek to forge partnerships and integrate current initiatives in the field thus contributing to improving the perception and understanding of labor rights among employers and employees, but also among the general public.