Civil society representatives and local authorities in the Telenesti district, in the Republic of Moldova, can boast the first results of the EU4Accountability project, which has allocated €82.3 thousand to five public associations with the aim of strengthening relations between citizens and local authorities and motivating people to participate actively in the decision-making process.
A local NGO carried out a survey which identified and addressed a number of environmental and energy efficiency issues, and the practical exercise in participatory budgeting was the fundraising for the installation of the photovoltaic panels. Local people created online campaigns and raised over 60,000 lei (corresponding to 3000€). The money was then used to carry out energy efficiency projects.
The EU4Accountability project, which has allocated €82.3 thousand to five public associations with the aim of strengthening relations between citizens and local authorities
Another initiative consisted in setting up a meeting room for the Telenesti City Council, but also for initiative groups in the region. It was technically equipped for live broadcasts of the meetings.
Mr. Nicolae Nastas, Secretary of Telenesti City Council stated: “We have had several trainings within the given project, and now we are going to organize public hearings on the mechanism of participatory budgeting, we have to elaborate a regulation within the City Council, and starting with 2024, citizens, initiative groups, public associations will have the possibility to submit projects to the City Hall of Telenesti“.
Also, as part of the EU4Accountability project, another organisation aimed to train 20 young people from the district who will later become community leaders.
Mrs. Maria Furdui, President of the Multifunctional Centre for Education, Information and Culture Telenesti: “The participants had a practical task to identify, find solutions, partners, write an application for a local initiative. As a result, four projects were funded“.
The aim of the EU4Accountability project was to empower local civil society organisations to streamline their work in order to facilitate transparent decision-making and community involvement in local decision-making.
Mrs. Viorica Tudos, Director of ALDA Moldova: “In Telenesti, the objective of the project has been achieved because we see a good cooperation between the local authorities and the local associations and, most importantly, it has been possible to involve citizens and young people to come up with initiatives, to learn what the budgetary process means, what participation in society means and to learn this exercise of coming up with proposals and initiatives for the improvement of the community“.
The project “EU4Accountability” (Empowered Civil Society for Greater Social Accountability in Moldova) runs from 2022-2024, and is funded by the European Union, implemented by ALDA, European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) and People in Need Moldova. It is implemented in 10 districts (Cahul, Comrat, Cimislia, Falesti, Floresti, Glodeni, Riscani, Straseni, Stefan Voda, Telenesti) and has a total budget of 1.6 million EUR.
To know more about the project click here.
