Partnership Fair Moldova
The European Partnership Fair for Civil Society Organizations in Moldova took place for the first time in Chisinau, on June 15-16 2010. The event was organized by EPD in cooperation with East Europe Foundation (EEF) and „Promo-LEX" Association.
The main goal of the event was to help strengthening the Moldovan Civil Society (including the one from Transnistria) by sharing experience, establishing partnership relations with NGOs from European Union and CIS countries, as well as trying to provide some funding for joint initiatives launched by the Fair participants. The event was attended by approximately 150 NGOs and donor representatives from Moldova (88 organizations, including 30 from the Transnistrian region) Europe and the CIS countries.
During the event, participants had the opportunity to discuss within 3 thematic workshops: Challenges in Promoting Human Rights, Media and fundamental freedoms; Social Action, Mobilized Youth and cleaner Environment for a better Europe; European Integration through Eastern Partnership: opportunities for NGO cooperation.
Basket Fund
At the end of the Fair a Basket Fund aiming to support partnership projects between different organizations was launched. The conclusions of the European Partnership Fair and details regarding the Basket Fund can be found on the website: www.partnershipfair.eu. This project was organized with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
This initiative has strengthened the space for cooperation between Civil Society organizations and the institutions of Moldova, by generating a mechanism for trilateral dialogue between the Government, the CSOs and the international Donors. This is a mechanism that EPD is seeking to continue developing in the following years as a means of supporting more effective democratic governance and a political system that delivers for the real needs of the citizens.
Projects funded
As of September 2011, seven projects have been financed, using the funds collected in the Basked Fund: three by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED); one by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and three by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). A further result of the European Partnership Fair for CSOs in Moldova is another project, not funded from the Basket Fund, but directly financed by the Finnish Embassy to Bucharest.
Amongst the three projects made possible by NED we count the Partnership for a clean environment which was implemented by Caroma Nord and aimed at raising awareness among youths and the wider society with regards to environmental matters. MileniuM's project Strengthening Youth Activism: Participating in Community Development mainly revolved around the promotion and strengthening of civic activism among youths and NGOs working with young people. Furthermore, the Estonian NGO Youth Union SiiN carried out a project named Absolutely no secret which created a group of free and active (young) journalists by training them in collecting, analysing, and distributing relevant information, hence facilitating the freedom of expression in the Transnistrian region.
Involving cross-border co-operation in the field of social work, the project Education and training in social work, implemented by the Czech NGO Máme otevřeno, consisted in an exchange between the two partners, namely Máme otevřeno and OSORC (Transnistria), which made OSORC acquainted with the services offered in the Czech Republic for physically and mentally disabled persons.
As for the projects financed by SIDA, we would like to mention the Transfer of good practices in the field of volunteering between organizations from Moldova and Romania, carried out by the Moldovan organization Youth for the right to live. The project's objective was to create regional partnerships in the field of volunteering and to promote the participation of citizens in volunteering activities. The funds gathered in the Basket Fund also enabled the Association Children's friends to implement a project called Children have the Right to Play - with the Play-bus towards a happy childhood. The main goal of this project was to strengthen existing and develop new public-private partnership relations by transferring good practices from Italy to Moldova in the field of socio-educational entertainment for disadvantaged children. Furthermore, aiming at informing youths about the importance of participating in local governance, the Center for Debates Criuleni implemented a project called European Partnership for promoting youth initiatives which led to the establishment of 15 Local Youth Councils in the Criuleni district in Moldova.
Basket Fund Round Two
Following the positive results of a preparatory donors meeting in Chisinau, Moldova, in November 2011, EPD in January 2012 submitted a project proposal to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) for a second round of the Basket Fund. On March 30 EPD was informed that it was awarded the grant from NED for the proposed project. Based on this grant and on further support from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Moldovan Ministry of Youth and East Europe Foundation Moldova, EPD will be launching its Basket Fund 2 for Civil Society Organisations in Moldova Programme in April 2012. The Fund will support partnership projects between EU and Moldovan CSOs focusing on 5 areas: Transnistria, Media, Local Civic Activism, Democratic Transition and European Integration. The call for proposals is expected to be released in May 2012 and projects will probably be selected for funding by the end of June 2012.