Civil society organizations will receive grants to create, develop or expand at least 40 social services across the country for people in vulnerable groups. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Soros Foundation Moldova, Institutum Virtutes Civilis and Keystone Moldova have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for the development of social services in the country and the creation of a favorable environment for contracting social service providers from public funds, IPN reports.

Over the next three years, the Ministry will cooperate with the three organizations under the Memorandum, which sets out the principles and methods of collaboration between authorities and civil society organizations. The partnership has been initiated to ensure the successful implementation of interventions under the project “Civil society organizations work for better social services”.

“We have launched this partnership because we want to intensify dialogue on social policy, contribute to the development of new community-based services for people in vulnerable groups and create conditions for ensuring financial sustainability for the developed social services”, Social Protection Minister Marcel Spatari was quoted in a press release as saying.

“Through this collaboration, we aim to support civil society organizations and public authorities in developing functional partnerships for the benefit of communities,” said Petru Culeac, executive director of the Soros Foundation Moldova.

“This collaboration will help to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged people by increasing their access to high quality services according to their needs, training of service staff and active involvement of disadvantaged people in decision-making during the development and delivery of services,” said Ludmila Malcoci, executive director of Keystone Moldova.

Liliana Palihovici, president of the NGO Institutum Virtutes Civilis, said she hopes that this Memorandum will address several underdeveloped issues in the regulatory framework governing the creation, operation and financing of social services in Moldova.

The project “Civil society organizations work for better social services” is funded by the European Union, co-financed and implemented by the Soros Foundation Moldova in partnership with the Keystone Moldova Association and the Institutum Virtutes Civilis Association. The project has a budget of 3.375 million euros.