“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.

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.

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.”

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.

The club opened during the second half of 2016 and it hosts, since then, kayak-canoe lessons for children and adolescents from Varnita village. “In the framework of the LEADER approach, we’ve received partial financing to buy a special engine for the trainer’s boat. Some of the children are 9 – 10 years old and during the practice periods, it’s highly necessary for me, as the trainer, to be nearby and to supervise them”, tells us Mihai. He also mentioned that the club’s teenagers are quite experienced – they’re visiting the club since May 2018, they have balanced the movements on water and are really good on leading the boats. “If the weather is windy, the kids need special instructions and increased supervision. We have sports boats, that require special balancing.“

The trainer says that there are many people who want to practice kayak-canoe, but the clubs doesn’t have such extended capacities. “We’d like, of course, to have more modern boats, as well as more teachers – unfortunately, I am the only trainer and my efforts are not sufficient for supervising more children groups“, says Mr. Chitaica.

The young people trained by Mr. Chitaica have already taken part in many competitions in Balti, Varnita, Chisinau. “Yes, we do have water sports life vests, that can hold persons weighing up to 80 kg. But the kids have been trained with special swimming exercises on long distance and they have developed their abilities in this particular sports area”, says proudly the trainer. “It took me just a few months to train them to achieve such high performances.“

Even if it was quite windy outside, the children seemed to be very dedicated to the time spent practicing their favorite sports. The efforts of Mr. Chitaica helped them acquire very good skills, that will help them walk against any wind they will face.