Local civil society organizations are invited to participate in a grant program funded by the European Union and implemented by the Soros Foundation-Moldova. They may be awarded up to 50 thousand euros for providing, developing, creating, expanding, and diversifying community-based social services for persons from vulnerable social groups and for persons intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, IPN reports.

The grant program aims to help the created or expanded services to address the identified necessities of their beneficiaries. Organizations are urged to establish and strengthen long-term partnerships with central and local public authorities, to better develop their services.

“It is an ambitious project, with sufficient financial resources to develop new services, as well as to extend access to the people who need these community-based social services,” said Vitalie Slobozian, coordinator of the risk reduction program within the Soros Foundation-Moldova, during the grant program launch.

Keystone Human Services Moldova will provide technical assistance to the organizations interested in participating. Ludmila Malcoci, association executive director, said that a recent study has shown that Moldova has 380 organizations that worked in the social field, and that they have grown disproportionately. Most of them operate in the central region, fewer in the south and north.

Applying projects shouldn’t be shorter than six months and no longer than 24 months. Program activities will be implemented between December 1, 2018 and November 30, 2020. The deadline for activity proposals is October 4, 2018, 16.00. The total budget of the grant program is 1.5 million euros.