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EU4Accountability  

Completed
Jan 2022 – Jun 2024
Partners

Empowered Civil Society for Increased Social Accountability in Moldova –  Supporting Moldovan CSOs as actors of governance to improve social accountability

This project empowers Moldovan civil society organisations’ (CSOs) to better perform their role as actors of governance to improve social accountability of the local and central government of Moldova. It does so by strengthening the capacity of more than grassroot organisations from 10 districts to participate in, monitor and advocate for greater public accountability and to take part in policy dialogue with the Local Public Authorities (LPAs) and the central government.  A learning-by-doing approach will allow the capacitated CSOs to establish meaningful local partnerships and alliances with LPAs that will result in change-making coalitions to close the accountability gap and respond to the needs of communities. For more information, visit the project webpage.

Law on Access to Information

Moldova’s new Law on Access to Information, effective January 2024, is part of its EU accession process. However, its success relies on stakeholder resources and active monitoring. To support its implementation, EPD and the Center for Policies and Reforms (CPR) engaged with civil society and the Committee for Open Government, resulting in a Roadmap with key measures. This includes a participatory monitoring mechanism, updates to the action plan, and a first-year impact report. An ad-hoc consultative group has been formed to enhance transparency on local authority websites, with a focus on technical support, training, and public awareness campaigns.

Proposed Roadmap on the new Law on Access to Information (RO)

Tooltkit

    • A Guide on best practices for participatory budgeting developed by Caroma Nord, to support local CSOs and LPAs in setting up frameworks for participatory budgeting at the local level. It is available here in Romanian language.

    • A Guide on access to information of public interest developed by CPR Moldova to support citizens and CSOs’ requesting information to public authorities, following the procedures of the Law no. 148 regarding access to information of public interest. It is available here in Romanian language.

    • Primării Transparente – a Civic tech tool to easily access LPAs documents and data developed by Implicare Plus. It is available here.

Results

  • The competence of over 200 CSOs and LPAs staff to participate, monitor, and advocate for greater public accountability was strengthened through training, mentoring, and implementation of participatory policymaking projects, and enhanced expertise on participatory budgeting process and citizen engagement.
  • Financial and technical support enabled 59 CSOs to implement participatory mechanisms, with participatory budgeting mechanisms also implemented in 26 communities.
  • Civil society’s contributions to the formulation of the new Law on Access to Information were facilitated through participatory policy assessment and joint advocacy efforts, alongside their role in overseeing the law’s implementation, in collaboration with central-level policymakers, including the State Chancellery.