As many as 100 civil society organizations that develop social services in partnership with local authorities in 2020 will monitor and assess the local authorities’ readiness to continue implementing social services after taking them over. The participants in the forum of civil society organizations said the measure is designed to ensure high-quality and sustainable services that meet the needs of the vulnerable groups, IPN reports.

Ludmila Malcoci, executive director of the public association Keystone Moldova, in the forum said Moldova is at the decentralization stage and a division of roles between the central and the local authorities is witnessed. The central administration said it develops policies, creates mechanisms for accrediting social services initiated by NGOs, but it is the local administration that is responsible for their continuation. On the other hand, the local administration says that it does not have money for the purpose. This way, the proposed monitoring and assessment helps the local administration to realize the necessity of social services and to ensure their sustainability.

Petru Culeac, executive director of Soros- Foundation Moldova, voiced hope that the proposed monitoring and assessment will end with a plan of action for making the authorities continue to improve the quality of social services.

Carolina Buzdugan, secretary general of the Alliance of Active NGOs in the field of Social Protection of Family and Child, stated the social sector should become a priority for the authorities and for the citizens. “The role of civil society in ensuring the process is uncontestable. To respect the rights of beneficiaries one should provide services adjusted to their needs,” she stated.

According to Lucia Gavriliţă, who heads the Alliance of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities, a lot is yet to be done in this field, but not much was achieved. Even if many models of social services developed by NGOs were taken over by the local authorities, they should be monitored so as to increase their quality.

The NGOs that will conduct the monitoring and assessing process had been trained. There was worked out a guidebook that will assist them in the process. The participating organizations are members of the two aforementioned alliances and benefit from grants in the framework of the project “Better social services through a sustainable partnership between civil society and the government” that is financed by the EU and is co-financed by Soros Foundation Moldova in partnership with Keystone Moldova.