US Embassy in Chisinau announces about the next round of the small grants program for supporting democratic initiatives

The US Embassy in Chisinau is announcing the continuation of the Small Grants Program for supporting democratic initiatives and requires drafts for the next round, according to embassy’s report. According to it, for this round the Embassy requires drafts promoting an academic integrity environment in schools and universities of Moldova, this being a fundamental principle of the teaching and learning process. „Creation of a frank environment in schools, ensuring the best way to success is the hard labour, is an important element in developing a society that will not tolerate corruption. There as many as possible proofs that students and pupils trick and copy in a record number. The surveys made by NGOs in Moldova also show that the corruption phenomenon is a problem in schools and universities,” according to report. The embassy warns that such behaviour has consequences beyond the classrooms, when pupils and students have this mentality in their grown-up life and at the workplace. The US embassy mentioned in the report that usually only non-governmental organisations and independent information sources are eligible to participate in small grants program for supporting democratic initiatives, but there will be accepted small projects proposed by initiative groups that are registered as NGOs, and will work closely with the management of that school or university. A condition made by the embassy is that proposed activities should identify, confirm and promote the values of academic integrity among pupils, students, teachers and managers and to include the methodology and references used at evaluating the success. The embassy also underlines that there will be selected the proposals that will show creativity and innovation in discussing this issue and will have concrete results. The deadline of submitting the projects is: Friday, 14 April 2006, 16:00. the goal of the Small Grants program is to support the development of the democracy and open society in Moldova.