Three main steps defined in the Civil Society Strategy for 2012-2015 provide answers to the problems faced by the NGO sector of Moldova. This conviction is shared by Sergiu Ostaf, director of the Resource Center for Human Rights (CReDO).
In an interview for IPN, Sergiu Ostaf said that the first step refers to licensing. When the organizations are licensed to provide certain services, for complying with certain standards for organizing social services, they will gain access to certain financing programs implemented by the public authorities and will compete with the private sector. For the time being, such a modality does not exit.
Another step is to institute social entrepreneurship for certain groups of people. Thus, the vulnerable persons with disabilities or from socially deprived groups will be able to perform certain activities to generate lower, insignificant incomes, but which are necessary for survival.
The third step is the opportunity to partially benefit from the taxes paid by the people to the state. Under the Civil Society Strategy, every Moldovan who pays taxes to the state will be able to allocate 2% of the paid tax to a nongovernmental association that showed its public utility. Sergiu Ostaf said this initiative is a form of participation in the public life.
“When the people help support a public association, this organization will bear responsibility towards the people, for using the money. The people will also be able to decide the area to which they want to allocate the 2%. This is another form of acknowledging the social problems,” said Sergiu Ostaf..
In order to convince the people to contribute to financing NGOs, these organizations will have to prove their public utility by the quality of the provided services.