Centru District Office adopts transparency regulations

Transparency in decision-making at Chisinau’s Centru District Office will be ensured by a regulation drafted within the framework of the project “Developing the capacity of the civil society in strengthening the partnership with the local authorities”. The regulation has been publicly debated this week in Chisinau with the participation of experts from Romania and Ukraine. Veaceslav Gututui, the director of INRECO Conflict Resolution Institute and one of the project’s authors, has told Info–Prim Neo that transparency in local decision-making means when every single action is consulted with the citizens. The project aims, among other, to study and take over the successful practices in local governance, to work out and implement an efficient mechanism for civic participation in local decision-making. The district office functionaries and the experts from Timisoara (Romania) and Ivano–Frankovsk (Ukraine) saluted the adoption of the regulations and the efforts made to create the so-called Neighbourhood Councils, community-based organisations consisting of citizens interested in debating on collective life issues. According to the representative of the Timisoara City Hall, thanks to Neighbourhood Councils and cooperative citizens, it was possible to resolve a number of important issues in the territory. The project is a common effort of the Conflict Resolution Institute INRECO, the Regional Agency Comunitas (Chisinau), the NGO Resource Agency (Timisoara), and the Association for Economic Development (Ivano-Frankovsk), and implemented in partnership with the local authorities of the three cities involved. This week, the project experts held a series of meetings with Chisinau’s authorities and civil servants and NGOs dealing with community development. Subsequently, the parties involved in the project will pay visits to Timisoara (March 2008) and Ivano-Frankovsk (April 2008). In May 2008, an international seminar is planned to be held in Chisinau to present the Citizens’ Guide and debate the draft regulation on the Neighbourhood Councils. A project concluding conference will also take place. INRECO is a non-profit organisation founded with the aim to contribute to the social and economic development of Moldova in the context of territorial reintegration and European integration, by conducting human resource development programmes, resolving conflict situations, and promoting good governance.