The EU’s change of view concerning the reorientation of financial support from the central public authorities to civil society will enable the people to feel the EU’s support, said Ludmila Nofit, program coordinator at the Foreign Policy Association, referring to the launch by the EU of the project to develop civil society at the local level in Moldova. According to her, the development of civil society is an inevitable process if the goal is to promote and strengthen the democratic values in a state with the rule of law.
“Civil society is that driving force that encourages the citizens to become involved in the development of communities. When do the people perceive this change? When they feel a direct impact on them, not necessarily at the national level, but definitely at the local level,” stated Ludmila Nofit. According to her, civil society also faces shortages of funds and human resources sometimes and this EU program is designed to help the NGOs.
Director of the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup” Adrian Lupușor said the rise in the corruption perception index, slow pace of reforms in justice and shortcomings related to the rule of law showed a large part of the assistance provided to Moldova by the EU hasn’t been used in the most efficient way. This way, now the EU tries to diversify the investment by providing assistance to other agents of change that contribute to the country’s development. The orientation of support to civil society is welcome as this is one of the key players that ensure the veritable functioning of society.
Mark Mazureanu, expert of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT, said the program is aimed at developing local governance. In the information session, he learned that most of the NGOs in regions practically do not know what good governance is. “Not many of the local public associations realize the role of the involvement of civil society in solving particular problems related to good governance, in ensuring proper education that would teach the young people to become involved in monitoring the decisions of public authorities, in governance,” stated Mark Mazureanu. He noted this shows the organizations haven’t become engaged in governance so far.
The project “Development of local civil society in the Republic of Moldova” was launched this April. It is financed by the EU and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and will provide grants totaling about €3 million to Moldovan NGOs and financial and technical support to civil society organizations that work outside Chisinau and engage citizens in solving community problems. Special attention will be devoted to projects whose goal is to monitor the process of implementing the Moldova –EU Association Agreement.
