“I am involved in the Program since its initiation. I have participated in two visits in Poland, where I was informed about the nuances of Urban Revitalization. Afterwards, we’ve applied to the technical support call, through which we got the financial sources to elaborate the Program. Then, we’ve gone through all the stages – territory indicator analysis, zone division based on the presence of seven local initiative groups”, Eduard Balan tells us, vice-mayor of the Ungheni Mun. and the responsible person for Urban Revitalization of the municipality. He mentioned the identification of three degraded zones, out of which, after a thorough research of the multi-sectorial committee with Mayoralty specialists and other domains, the Ungheni-Vale sub-region was chosen as a revitalization zone.

“The Consultation Committee, with which we have regular meetings, is comprised of Mayoralty representatives and members of the local initiative group, such as its President, active citizens, young people from the revitalization zone’s Youth Centre, a representative of the Border Police college and an economical agent”, he mentions.

Of course, there was needed a thorough analysis of the zone. The citizens have expressed, as well, their ideas and desires regarding Ungheni-Vale and what could be change in the area. “We have 10 project ideas, which during three years (a.n. – 2019 – 2021) might lead to impressive changes in the city, so the situation would be improved, whilst the negative indicators would be reduced or even removed”, Mr. Balan hopes.

The vice-mayor mentions that after the implementation of the Program, the things will get better, especially since the citizens are more active and they get involved in the process of solving the city’s problems. “I wish we didn’t stop here. The citizens dream of a recreational zone, where they’ll find a multifunctional area for children, sports activities, elderly people, a resting space and a summer theatre.”

An advice from Mr. Balan is that every person from every city’s community should be actively involved in the development processes of urban zones.

• The Ungheni’s URP responsible person – Eduard Balan
• Email: viceprimar.balan@gmail.com
• Local facilitator : Ion Ungureanu, Centrul de Urbanism

“I’m Pavlina Petrasco, the President of the Consilium – Mayor of Butuceni village, Ribnitsa district. People have chosen me to change the village’s life to the better”. The deputy of the region, where Pavlina lives and works, wants to make many positive changes in their community, that’s why he advised Pavlina to participate in the project. Thus, they have left for a training in Tiraspol in September 2017, together with the mayor of Jura, the neighbouring village.

“We’ve only had ideas on cultural development”, Pavlina is recalling. “I wish to involve more people into the village’s development, to maintain the tradition, but we don’t really have the possibilities in this direction – no space, no adequate conditions. That’s why we’ve found a space we wanted to improve – to connect it to a gas heating system.”
In Butuceni village, you might find many things, but in a bad condition. “We’ve chosen the only sports building we have – with high walls, a very good roof and we’ve said to ourselves that in bad weather or during the cold winter evenings, our people could get together in this space. The summertime is full garden activities, so in winter, you also have to do something productive. For e.g., adults could pass onto younger generations their experience in weaving and embroidering and, maybe, singing the chastushki (a.n. – traditional singing poems). Plus, the younger ones could frequent mini-football, volley and tennis lessons.”
The project, coordinated by Pavlina, is enormously supported by the local community. “I represent the village’s administration and, together with the deputies, we make the decisions where to orient the present resources, where do we find new financial sources, who will carry on the project’s tasks, where do we call for volunteer help – after all, every one of us contributes with something”, Pavlina continues. Thus, with an initiative group of 50 people from various fields and with the villagers, Pavlina and her mayoralty team has started studying more about the village’s history. “For e.g., in a questionnaire, we’ve found out that by the ‘40s, the village’s birthday was celebrated on August 28th, but now, we’re doing it on November 4th.

Pavlina wished the future project participants a very useful advise – never give up and always march forward to achieve their goals.

“I’m Iulia. After graduating the University of Tiraspol, I decided to move back to Crasnogorca. Currently working as the main specialist in the village’s administration. Its leader told to take part in A2S project in order to improve the functioning conditions of the kindergarten”, Iulia said. During the registering process, the local initiative group, taking into consideration the villagers needs, planned to replace the kindergarten’s windows and to connect the House of Culture to a gas heating system.

Previously, Iulia was helping the kindergarten’s director to write a project proposal in order to get the funding. But as the latter had to leave the country for personal reasons, Iulia, together with her imitative group, continued to work for the project and its implementation.

“Some time ago, the kindergarten was functioning only seasonally, as it did not have any heating system. In 2014, its new director, Valentina Osinteva, started developing the institution. She has found specialists for every educational session for kids, professional talented teachers and, finally, she managed to connect the institution to a heating system. So, the kindergarten transformed into a little fairy tale – comfortably organized groups, separate playing spaces under the open sky, safe playground constructions for the kids. After these efforts, Mrs. Osinteva has come with the idea to change the windows and the doors in the institution”, Iulia tells us. That was the reason why the village’s team decided to apply for the project.

“The A2S projects supports us enormously – every training is an impulse to a new change. We study interesting methods to be applied among youth in order to organize different events.”

As we mentioned before, in January 2019, the implementation process of the partnership projects among communities from both sides of Dniester has started. Iulia advises all the beneficiaries to go forward. “We have to be active – not only wait for opportunities, but to start making positive changes”, points out Iulia.

Sudaber’s team has initially mentioned that it registered to the project with two ideas. “We wanted to connect the House of Culture to a heating system and to open a social mini-bakery. But there was a ‘one village – one idea’ requirement, so we went with the cultural space, as it needed heating”, Sudaber is recalling. So, the team has contacted the House of Culture workers for an eventual collaboration and, together, registered in the project with the aforementioned idea.

“We’ve had questionnaire sessions for the locals, as we wanted to know their opinions, what community problems needed to be solved faster and, after all, it was established that among those three mentioned problems, the most burdensome was the lack of a heating system in the House of Culture”. This initiative is supported by the Mayoralty and by the organization, where Sudaber is currently working.”I want to mention that the mayoralty has covered the personal contribution in the project, worth of 30%. Additionally, our project is created in partnership with Cisla village, Telenesti district. This year, cultural development is one of our priorities – the village’s project has the aim to create a dance space and, having common interests, during the registration to the project’s call, we’ve decided to organize common events on both sides of Dniester”, Sudaber is emphasizing.

“We benefit of an enormous informational support from the organizers – during this project year, we’ve find out useful and reusable info. Access to Success offers an informational and educational support, and the experts help us during the project implementation and we’ve got a durable partnership – here, I met new people and future colleagues.”

The study visit in Poland has influenced the participants enthusiasm. “During the visit, we’ve got to know more on the Polish experience when working with local communities. It’s a complex program, that supports us morally, financially and informationally.”

An advise to future participants – “To make big changes, you need not only desire, but a good team you can rely on, that will always support you – if you don’t have a good team, the road to success will be hard. And, of course, don’t be afraid of anything – in this project, you will get thoroughly instructed and supported. It is important to want the change and to have a well-established aim that will define the future of your community.”

After an hour spent in the car, drinking a cold tea bought before in a shop from Chișinău, we headed to the outskirts of Dolna village, Strășeni district. We planned on visiting Vasile and Valentina Necula, beneficiaries of the Small Projects Fund (SPF), implemented by the Solidarity Fund PL in Moldova. The project, titled “Creating the necessary conditions for fruit processing in the LAG microregion ‘Plaiul Codrilor’”, has gained a partial financial contribution from SPF to build a second oven for dehydrating fruits.

“We have decided to build such massive ovens about three years ago“, Vasile tells us, mentioning about his childhood rituals of drying plums in so-called loznitsa (AN – a Romanian regionalism for a rod trellis, used for drying fruits, certain dairy products etc). “I’m truly proud of my doings. It’s like a dream came true – the one of working with fruits. I’ve been imagining myself taking care of my own orchards, and now, at this point, they’re of 27 ha“, he tells us, when wandering among plum trees.

If you saw those massive ovens, you would be amazed by these detailed constructions. “We live in an era with powerful technology. We’re planning on opening partnership contracts. We also want to develop a cooking oven that should be connected to a methane furnace“. 2018 was a very productive year for the Necula family – they have dried about 45  tons of plums, picked from their own orchards. They plan to offer fruit-dehydration services to other interested people.

The orchard was planted back in 2005, but it has grown during the years. Now, it hosts the growing process of three types of plums. “The waiting was the hardest part – the trees were growing along with our investments. But the first harvest brought us so much happiness and content, that we understood that everything was worth the wait. And we were proud of our work“. Now, the Necula family is working on enhancing the dripping irrigation system, so each tree gets the necessary amount of water. Thus, the plums are of a high quality, which means that the sales will also grow. But only 3 ha of trees are fully irrigated. “I don’t regret a moment spent on the orchard! Even if my family and I are working constantly, I love what we’re doing“, says Vasile.

By the way, the dried plums are for sale. “Many people are interested in buying them. We are preparing the necessary quality certification. We’re planning on a double production for 2019, which means more work and more workers. That’s why we plan on creating new job opportunities, as well, so we attract more people in our Dolna village. Everyone will be have good salaries in their wallets and dried plums on their tables“, says Vasile.

The Necula family has a small partnership with a firm, that will deliver a few tons of plums in Ukraine, but Vasile also hopes for building partnerships with Poland and Italy. “It might seem our business is not that successful, but we have settled a good working system for dehydrating fruits“, mentioned Vasile.

Vasile Necula advises everyone to contribute to the local development and small businesses in rural areas by participating in projects, through which they will obtain partial financial support. “We have to look further. There are a lot of projects, where we will invest our own money, but we’ll also gain other financial support, so everyone wins. People living in villages see pluses everywhere, so with small steps, we develop our business and create new jobs. Agriculture is not the easiest domain to work in, but with common efforts come even greater results“, emphasizes Vasile.

“I’m Pavlina Petrasco, the President of the Consilium – Mayor of Butuceni village, Ribnitsa district. People have chosen me to change the village’s life to the better”. The deputy of the region, where Pavlina lives and works, wants to make many positive changes in their community, that’s why he advised Pavlina to participate in the project. Thus, they have left for a training in Tiraspol in September 2017, together with the mayor of Jura, the neighbouring village.

“We’ve only had ideas on cultural development”, Pavlina is recalling. “I wish to involve more people into the village’s development, to maintain the tradition, but we don’t really have the possibilities in this direction – no space, no adequate conditions. That’s why we’ve found a space we wanted to improve – to connect it to a gas heating system.”
In Butuceni village, you might find many things, but in a bad condition. “We’ve chosen the only sports building we have – with high walls, a very good roof and we’ve said to ourselves that in bad weather or during the cold winter evenings, our people could get together in this space. The summertime is full garden activities, so in winter, you also have to do something productive. For e.g., adults could pass onto younger generations their experience in weaving and embroidering and, maybe, singing the chastushki (a.n. – traditional singing poems). Plus, the younger ones could frequent mini-football, volley and tennis lessons.”
The project, coordinated by Pavlina, is enormously supported by the local community. “I represent the village’s administration and, together with the deputies, we make the decisions where to orient the present resources, where do we find new financial sources, who will carry on the project’s tasks, where do we call for volunteer help – after all, every one of us contributes with something”, Pavlina continues. Thus, with an initiative group of 50 people from various fields and with the villagers, Pavlina and her mayoralty team has started studying more about the village’s history. “For e.g., in a questionnaire, we’ve found out that by the ‘40s, the village’s birthday was celebrated on August 28th, but now, we’re doing it on November 4th.”

Pavlina wished the future project participants a very useful advise – never give up and always march forward to achieve their goals.

This series of articles is written in the framework of the Access to Success project, implemented by the consortium of organizations Solidarity Fund PL in Moldova, EcoContact, Ecospectr and Mostenitorii. The project Access to Success is financed by the European Union within the “Confidence-Building Measures” Programme and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, the programme for development cooperation – Polish Aid.