The beginning of the year is a great time to look back and look forward. Therefore, we summarized the best results reached by our core support partners over the past year. Sweden provides support to tailored programmes implemented by CSOs in various areas, such as: gender equality, environment, sustainable development, justice sector etc. Last but not least, we would like to thank our core support partners for their continued commitment and openness which made 2018 pleasurable and productive. Looking forward to partnering with our core support partners in 2019 as well.
Environment: get involved and save your … Nistru!
More than 90 CSOs from all over Moldova participated at the Environmental CSOs Forum, edition of 2018 facilitated by Eco Contact. CSOs shared and gained innovative experiences on environmental matters and enhanced dialogue with various donors, authorities and partners on main challenges. A position paper was approved and disseminatedaddressing issues onmanagement of river Nistru; development of protected areas; implementation of Aarhus Convention; administrative reform of the Environmental Institutional System.
Eco Contact continued to mobilize communities around environmental issues by organizing waste cleaning day in village Carpineni along Lapusna river; planting trees on 15ha on protected area - Ramsar site; creating the Administrative Councils for Ramsar site “Lower Dnisetr” and for Lapusna River, to mention a few. Eco Visio trained over 1000 men and women and supported ca. 100 initiatives in community engagement, environmental action and social entrepreneurship throughout the entire country. The EcoVisio Training Center that in 2018 held approx. 120 seminar days, hosted 2500 visitors and contributed to economic resilience of approx. 30 inhabitants of the village of Rîșcova, was officially launched.
Help a human - stop domestic violence!
Women’s Law Center provided primary and qualified legal aid, psychological counselling and social assistance to 406 women who survived gender-based violence, including domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual harassment.
Women in Rusca penitentiary were supported through individual legal and phycological counseling sessions and were involved weekly in art therapy and reading programs. In the Transnistrian region the Centre «Resonance» supported 90 women and their children in vulnerable situations. 179 women participated in the organization’s economic program - as a result 32 women are newly employed and 10 women launched small business ideas creating supplementary jobs.
Women’s Law Center supported police officers (684), forensic doctors (84) and assistants to forensic doctors (48); journalists (16) and members of multidisciplinary teams of Ialoveni district (27) to understand root causes and consequences of gender-based violence and gender stereotypes and to apply best practices in their day to day work. In the Transnistrian region, the Centre «Resonance» conducted seminars for 161 acting policemen and graduate police students, involvement that resulted in 7 cases referred to the Crisis Centre for Women (Bender).
Young, restless and well informed!
18 teachers from various districts of Moldova were trained within a ToT program to teach “Media Education” course in primary schools, within a project implemented by Independent Journalism Centre. Approximately 350 pupils are currently trained in 14 schools on topics as media creation, media analysis and access to media, how to navigate safely the Internet and how to communicate on social networks, how to distinguish manipulation and propaganda etc. (Overall, due to IJC efforts supported by SIDA, Internwes and DW Akademy, over 30 schools are currently teaching the course Media Education as elective classes for about 1500 pupils from primary and secondary schools).
www.mediacritica.md - the first web portal dedicated to promoting critical thinking and fighting manipulation, was maintained during the year. Due to it, media consumers have access to articles, analyses, and case studies explaining various manipulation techniques and violations of journalistic ethics. A new heading – Media Education https://educatia.mediacritica.md/) was launched in 2018 to be used by teachers, students and parents.
Be your champion – ask for your rights!
Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional legal provision of article 13 paragraph (1) letter b) of the Electoral Code, which provides that persons with mental disabilities declared incapable, can’t vote. In result, mentally disabled persons can vote without any legal restriction, on equal bases with all persons. The case was leaded by IDOM.
Based on IDOM’s advocacy, monitoring and evaluation activity, the Ministry of Health Labour and Social Protection has recognized that the mentally disabled persons who are placed in rigorous surveillance sections from psycho-neurological institutions, in fact from legal point of view are private from their freedom. Ministry assumed to take measures to close the rigorous surveillance sections in neurological boarding houses. The Ministry had asked the management of psycho-neurological boarding houses to take immediately measures to solve problem and to close „rigorous surveillance sections” and to ensure freedom of beneficiaries.
GenderDoc M outreached 3 times more beneficiaries than it was planned and for the first time started to provide specific services for LGBT teenagers. Due to institutional improvements, the organisation is now ready to ask for accreditation as a private health service provider, the status that will allow GDM to provide more services for their beneficiaries.
Learning democracy and getting involved!
East European Foundation supported over 140 YouthBank members operating in 9 counties across the country, including 2 YouthBanks in the Transnistrian region. The programme has had a significant impact at the community level by supporting more than 900 young people involved in implementing 105 projects, equipping them with key life skills and offering a platform, which allows them to participate in shaping the environment around, and thus contributing to local development processes.
Expert-Grup elaborated a policy brief, followed by an advocacy campaign to prevent the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research from adopting the obligatory uniform in schools, considering the unnecessary costs for parents and children rights to free education (the experts relied on the international practice, including the one from Sweden where there is no such obligation for children). As a result, about 70% of policy recommendations were incorporated into the draft ministerial regulation. As well, Expert-Grup elaborated a policy brief to prevent the Ministry of Education from advancing further its plans to shorten the hours of functioning of state kindergartens. Expert-Grup has argued this would reduce parents’ ability to work (women employees would have been particularly affected). As a result, to date the changes have been stopped.
Legal Resource Centre jointely with Expert-Grup informed development partners and the Moldovan public about the risks of the 4 bills voted in July 2018 :change of tax rates, tax amnesty, business package and citizenship for investment.
