Nongovernmental organizations from all over the country that represent women, including from the Transnistrian region, have launched the Alliance for Economic Empowerment of Women that is designed to assist women in developing businesses. At the moment, the Alliance has a membership of 11 entities, IPN reports.
Lilia Palii, executive director of the Association of Female Entrepreneurs of Moldova, said the launch on the Alliance’s platform of an advocacy action plan is extremely important. “Our mission is for all the women and girls in Moldova to be treated in the same way as the men... We will be making effort and will be employing the expertise of the practicing female entrepreneurs so as to essentially contribute and the voice of female entrepreneurs is heard and we propose the intervention policies needed to stimulate the development of women’s entrepreneurship in Moldova,” stated Lilia Palii.
The members of the alliance intend to become involved in the promotion of tax concessions for employers that open crèches and kindergartens and for the promotion of palliative care services and services to look after older persons, persons with disabilities etc. Jurist of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Policy Viorel Pîrvan said that only one third of the 25,000 people who needed palliative care services benefitted from such services. In 2020, there was introduced the notion of palliative care services, but the services haven’t been yet broadly developed. “The services we propose refer to the implementation of the commitments undertaken by the Government by the law on health protection, namely to design and approve the nomenclature of palliative care services, the regulations on the organization of these services and the quality standards for these services. We will also suggest a plan of action for developing these services in Moldova,” stated the jurist.
Elena Sili, project manager at the Association of Entrepreneurs with Disabilities of Moldova, noted that the women seldom run small and medium-sized enterprises. The women fully own almost 42% of the micro-enterprises in the country. “Among the obstacles to the starting and development of a business by women are the low level of initial capital, insufficient bank financing, large taxes and duties,” stated Elena Sili. She said that to stimulate women, the VAT rate should be reduced or eliminated for SMEs.
The Alliance for Economic Empowerment of Women of Moldova was founded with the support of the consortium Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) in the framework of the initiative “Reducing Barriers to Women’s Economic Empowerment” that is financed by the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issue within the U.S. Department of State.
