The young people in Moldova get the vote at 18. Until this age, they are not greatly involved in civic activities and thus are not prepared to bear responsibility for their options. But they also do not have the necessary knowledge about their rights. The project “Civic Responsibility: 10 to 10”, which is financed by the U.S. Embassy within the Democracy Grants Program, aimed to cultivate civic spirit and values in young people. The project, carried out in 2013, involved 1,000 young people from 10 districts of the country, IPN reports.

The project was implemented by the Education and Science Development Foundation within the Democracy Grants Program of the U.S. Embassy. The Foundation’s vice director Ala Panzari, in a roundtable meeting held to mark the completion of the project, said that in March they won a grant of US$5,000 from the U.S. Embassy for supporting the project.

The project included visits to 10 rural schools within which the students had meetings with personalities, who told them about the necessity of being civically active and of widely practicing volunteering. Among the project beneficiaries were young people from Transnistria and the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.

Within the project, the young people also took part in a contest of essays on how to become responsible. Ala Panzari said that after the meetings held at education institutions, the students said they want to become political leaders or diplomats, while these experiences were useful to them.

The organizers of the project consider that the Ministry of Education and the NGOs from the field should organize more such events and should lay emphasis on the training of civic education teachers, who would help the young people to become more active.