The legislation that regulates the operation of social canteens is outdates and needs to be amended. The normative framework should be supplemented with minimum quality standards for social canteen services, while the regulations on the operation of the existing SCS services should be updated. The food support services need to be diversified so as to ensure efficiency and to optimize operating costs. Such recommendations were formulated by experts of Keystone Moldova, who presented a study of the social canteen services in Moldova.
In a news conference staged by IPN, Ludmila Malcoci, Keystone Moldova executive director, said the sources of financing for social canteen services should be diversified by including the option of SCS services for money for non-eligible persons and by developing partnerships with business entities and the Food Bank.
Ludmila Malcoci noted that a feedback mechanism should be ensured by periodically assessing the level of satisfaction of beneficiaries, applying also methods that allow for anonymity, such as anonymous questionnaires, box with suggestions and others.
The experts of Keystone Moldova recommend regulating more forms of food support services, such as meal delivery, meal vouchers, canteen, food parcels, food support social enterprise, social canteen with domiciliary annex, etc. It is also recommended replacing the concept of social canteen service with a broader concept of food support service that would include more forms of food support.
The study shows that 83% of the beneficiaries consider they need social canteen services for longer than a year or permanently. The beneficiaries’ level of satisfaction with the SCS is high. Most of the respondents said they are very satisfied or satisfied with these services. Those who are not really satisfied or not at all satisfied represent only 2%. Most of the beneficiaries of SCS prefer food parcels instead of warm meals at the social canteen or takeaways.
There are 93 social canteens in the Republic of Moldova and they annually provide social canteen services for about 16,000 persons. A study conducted by Keystone Moldova revealed a limited national territorial coverage of this type of services. The study authors said the distribution of such services is nonuniform at district level and there are no social canteens in three districts. Most of the social canteens – ten - are located in the municipality of Chisinau.
The study was carried out in the framework of the EU-funded project ”Partnerships for inclusive and resilient social canteen services” that is co-funded and implemented by P.I. “Keystone Moldova,” P.A. “Concordia. Social Projects” and P.I.S.M. “Diaconia.”
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