The civil society organizations want to more actively take part in the monitoring and implementation of regional development policies and projects. For the purpose, there was created the Coalition for Regional Development. Among its objectives are to monitor and implement the National Regional Development Strategy for 2013-2015 and the National Strategy of Agriculture and Rural Development for 2014-2020, IPN reports.
Executive director of the Center “Contact” Serghei Neicovcen explained that such a collision was necessary because the Regional Development Strategy and different projects are being implemented, while civil society hasn’t become yet actively involved in the monitoring of the strategy. The same opinion is shared by Dorin Andros, who heads the regional cooperation and policy division of the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction. “The involvement of civil society in the implementation of strategies and projects is very weak,” he stated.
Diana Gherman, head of the policy monitoring and assessment division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, presented the National Strategy of Agriculture and Rural Development for 2014-2020. The document contains a new and modern approach to the agricultural sector of Moldova, determined by the current conditions, namely the signing of the Association Agreement that includes the Free Trade Agreement and the necessity of transforming agriculture into a competitive one on the European market. Diana Gherman welcomed the creation of the coalition, saying the agricultural sector needs the support of civil society.
“The coalition will have the role of catalyst and will attract investments from outside because many settlements do not have the capacity to attract, do not possess information about how they can access funds and about the conditions of backers. The role of this coalition will be to inform the Moldovan settlements about financing possibilities and how they can attract financing,” said Ludmila Ceaglic, mayor of Calfa village of Anenii Noi district.
The Coalition for Regional Development is an alliance of public associations from Chisinau and other settlements set up with a grant provided through the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe within the SECTOR Project. This project is financed by the Government of Sweden, the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe.
