Contest for best idea of advocacy campaign in Chisinau to be announced in early December

A contest for selecting the idea of advocacy campaign for Chisinau municipality will be launched in early December by the Conflict’s Resolution Institute “INRECO” from the capital. During one week, the representatives of five NGOs in the capital participated in the training course “Advocacy”, organized in Timisoara. The training is one of the basic components of the project “Nongovernmental organizations’ active involvement in participative democracy” that will result in carrying out two advocacy campaigns, in Chisinau and Reni, Ukraine. The awarding of the most successful campaign will take place in Chisinau in March 2007. The participants in the training had the possibility to familiarize themselves with the advocacy notion, media’s utilization in advocacy, utilization of PR advocacy, lobby activity. Representatives of civil society in Chisinau improved their capacity to initiate and manage such campaigns. Victor Koroli, coordinator of the network of regional centers from “Contact” Center, says the experience of the civil society in Moldova concerning the organization of advocacy campaigns is reduced, being a novelty for Moldova. “We trust that, once the civil society is fortified, they will become usual both for NGOs, and for central and local public administration”, added Koroli. The advocacy campaigns expect that the NGOs in Chisinau could influence the decision making at local level, without having hidden interests, Constantin Nunu says, consultant at the “INRECO” Institute. The main element of an advocacy campaign is to obtain a decision in interest of the society. Advocacy does not imply a confrontation with the authorities, Nunu mentioned. The visit to Timisoara was organized within the East East: “Partnership Beyond Borders” Program of the Soros Foundation Moldova, in cooperation with the Euroregional Center for Democracy in Timisoara and “INRECO” Institute in Chisinau. INRECO is an organization founded to contribute to the social-economic development in Moldova in the context of the territorial and European integration by carrying out programs for developing human resources and settling down conflict situations.