Pilot-project on creating Neighborhood Advisory Councils to be launched in Chisinau till end of 2009

A pilot-project on creating the Neighborhood Advisory Councils (NAC) – structures meant to improve the decision-making process at local level – will be launched in Chisinau till the end of next year. The concept was discussed, May 29, at a seminar concluding a trilateral project “Developing the capacity of the civil society in strengthening the partnership with the local public authorities”, Info-Prim Neo reports. The NAC is a form of the citizens participating in jointly achieving actions, works, services and projects of local public interest. Veaceslav Gututui, the director of the Conflict Resolving Institute INRECO, the entity implementing the project, has said the goal of the NAC is to promote democratic values, through realizing a permanent dialog between the local public administration and citizens. In order to prove their viability, till the end of 2009, pilot neighborhood councils will be instituted in Chisinau. Later the initiative will also be implemented in the country. The working regulation of the NAC is to be adopted by the Chisinau Municipal Council. According to deputy mayor of Chisinau, Vlad Cotet, the NAC representatives will work as volunteers, still they may be stimulated by free travels in municipal public transport or will be exempted from paying utilities. The NAC concept is based on a Romanian model, which in its turn was taken over from the French, said the executive of the NGOs Developing Organization from the Romanian city of Timisoara, Mihai Lisetchi. The ending conference was the project has been organized by INRECO, in partnership with the NGO “Comunitas” (Chisinau), the Romanian Agency and the Economic Development Association from Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine). The project has been supported by the East East Program, the Soros Foundation Moldova, the Soros Foundation-Romania and the Ukrainian International Renaissance Foundation.