A.P.I. organises roundtable on local social policies in Criuleni

The Independent Press Association (API) organised a roundtable themed Social Policies at Local Level: Experiences and Solutions at the daily-attendance centre for children Speranta in the city of Criuleni on Friday, March 24. Taking part in the event were persons in charge with social affairs within district authorities, deputy chairmen of the district, heads and senior specialists of directorates for social assistance in the districts of Criuleni, Straseni, Ialoveni, Orhei and Anenii Noi, representatives of nongovernmental organisations based in the region, journalists from independent media institutions. The talks focussed on cooperation between local public authorities, public organisations and mass media for settlement of pressing social problems and optimisation of local social services. The participants exchanged opinions about local social policies, told experience of cooperation with local authorities or specialised NGOs, proposed solutions to improve this partnership. The roundtable was part of a project called Establishing Efficient Partnerships for Better Local Social Services, implemented by API with financial assistance of the DFID division of the British Embassy to Moldova. Seven teams of reporters have been created on basis of this project and they will pay fact-collection visits to different regions in 2006, will edit and publish articles of comparative analysis of existing possibilities and experience for settlement of social problems in independent local newspapers. API will organise two roundtables in Balti and Cimislia in April-May 2006 and they will focus on local social policies and interaction between authorities, associative sector and mass media in solving social problems.