The Pelinia-Butuceni partners are implementing the “Awareness, involvement, development – Key factors for improving the quality of life in Pelinia – Butuceni communities” project.

“I’ve said it many times – A2S is an exceptional project, as it emphasizes the relations among people”, Galina Grumeza mentions, the local coordinator from the right bank (the responsible organisation “Bastinasii din Pelinia”). “From the very beginning of the study sessions, we’ve had a stronger bond with the representatives of the Butuceni village – Ecaterina, Pavlina and their team. We’ve established a partnership at the second training”, Galina tells about her experience within the A2S activities.

Pavlina Petrasco, the representantive of the non-commercial partnership of economic, social and cultural development “Сукчес ал плаюлуй натал”, Butuceni village, left bank of Dniester, has emphasized that she partnered with a wonderful team. “I think the are very professional, as this team has a rich experience in project implementation. We communicate with Galina, Ludmila and Victoria, as we still need advice and mutual support. This ways, we understand the work principles of our team, so we don’t go against the regulations and other legal frameworks. We’ve been visiting each other at each local event”, Pavlina talks.

This partnership benefited from a support valued at EUR 24,929.00 from A2S. This budget was invested in the renovation of local infrastructure, as well as in the joint promotional events. “My expectations were met, as we now have a beautiful, modern festivity hall, where the young ones will have the possibility to organise various actions, a centre for them, maybe even film & conversation sessions. But, emotionally, we have got so much out of this project.”

In Butuceni village, on the other hand, there was no space for the locals to carry on any activities, so the necessity to create one was visible. “We’ve been thinking a lot about that and then we decided that we needed a space to organize local events, sports competitions – a warm place, with a good roof and strong walls. We identified the House of Culture for this purpose – if we repaired it, we would install a heating system, we would have a place where we could regularly meet with the citizens, creation groups, rehearsals, trainings, and it would be especially useful during winter times”, Pavlina mentions when talking about their project idea.

In Pelinia village, the partnership catalysed the mobilisation of the community – all the local institutions, as the House of Culture, Arts School, kindergartens, Seniors’ assemble, economic agents, diaspora and other, – everyone supported the realisation of the project, gathering a much bigger sum as the project contribution. “All these people helped us moving forward”, Galina emphasized, adding that the change started with a new festivity hall and it will spread to other institutions and infrastructure. “This how we are trying every day to change Pelinia’s life for the better”

Pavlina is thanking every person involved in this project. “I now know so many personalities with a warm souls. Our trainers impacted our abilities and our moral-spiritual state-of-mind. I have understood that all the efforts should be shown to everyone, as on the way, there will be people interested in our work and will want to be involved in our activities. It’s important to believe in your own forces, to work and to achieve the right goal”, Pavlina points out.

The Pelinia-Butuceni partners are implementing the “Awareness, involvement, development – Key factors for improving the quality of life in Pelinia – Butuceni communities” project.

“I’ve said it many times – A2S is an exceptional project, as it emphasizes the relations among people”, Galina Grumeza mentions, the local coordinator from the right bank (the responsible organisation “Bastinasii din Pelinia”). “From the very beginning of the study sessions, we’ve had a stronger bond with the representatives of the Butuceni village – Ecaterina, Pavlina and their team. We’ve established a partnership at the second training”, Galina tells about her experience within the A2S activities.

Pavlina Petrasco, the representantive of the non-commercial partnership of economic, social and cultural development “Сукчес ал плаюлуй натал”, Butuceni village, left bank of Dniester, has emphasized that she partnered with a wonderful team. “I think the are very professional, as this team has a rich experience in project implementation. We communicate with Galina, Ludmila and Victoria, as we still need advice and mutual support. This ways, we understand the work principles of our team, so we don’t go against the regulations and other legal frameworks. We’ve been visiting each other at each local event”, Pavlina talks.

This partnership benefited from a support valued at EUR 24,929.00 from A2S. This budget was invested in the renovation of local infrastructure, as well as in the joint promotional events. “My expectations were met, as we now have a beautiful, modern festivity hall, where the young ones will have the possibility to organise various actions, a centre for them, maybe even film & conversation sessions. But, emotionally, we have got so much out of this project.”

In Butuceni village, on the other hand, there was no space for the locals to carry on any activities, so the necessity to create one was visible. “We’ve been thinking a lot about that and then we decided that we needed a space to organize local events, sports competitions – a warm place, with a good roof and strong walls. We identified the House of Culture for this purpose – if we repaired it, we would install a heating system, we would have a place where we could regularly meet with the citizens, creation groups, rehearsals, trainings, and it would be especially useful during winter times”, Pavlina mentions when talking about their project idea.

In Pelinia village, the partnership catalysed the mobilisation of the community – all the local institutions, as the House of Culture, Arts School, kindergartens, Seniors’ assemble, economic agents, diaspora and other, – everyone supported the realisation of the project, gathering a much bigger sum as the project contribution. “All these people helped us moving forward”, Galina emphasized, adding that the change started with a new festivity hall and it will spread to other institutions and infrastructure. “This how we are trying every day to change Pelinia’s life for the better”

Pavlina is thanking every person involved in this project. “I now know so many personalities with a warm souls. Our trainers impacted our abilities and our moral-spiritual state-of-mind. I have understood that all the efforts should be shown to everyone, as on the way, there will be people interested in our work and will want to be involved in our activities. It’s important to believe in your own forces, to work and to achieve the right goal”, Pavlina points out.

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.

This initiative was carried on by the “Baștina Gospodarului” Local Action Group, which is one of the LAGs, created in the spring of 2019, after a long process of meetings, discussions, identifying local resources that would be valued in the context of the chosen priorities, among which the sports development, as well as of culture and leisure services in the microregion has a high place.

“I love sports since I was a child and, only after I got a job as a professor, I started noticing the gaps we had when working under the established school program”, Vasile Bajan tells, a physical education professor and the project responsible. “The inventory was insufficient and of a very low quality. Consequently, we were aiming for the results we couldn’t achieve”. By implementing this project, the gymnasium got several types of sports inventory – for football, basketball, volley, rugby, badminton, tennis and other, as well as some training items to go through school normative sessions. This inventory will help at building the pupils’ sports spirit and might even create future national and international champions.

Actually, Malaiesti village already has two big names in the sports area of Republic of Moldova – Vitalie Bunici, with wonderful results at the fighting championships, and Oxana Bunici, the captain of the Rugby National Team. The latter promised to join the gymnasium’s kids in a few rugby instruction sessions.

“I see the pupils’ desire to use this inventory during the physical education lessons”, Mr. Bajan mentions during the project’s celebration ceremony. “We didn’t have the chance to practice good-quality sports, including the time I started teaching physical education. We wanted great results, but had no inventory to support the pupils with. But now, thanks to the LAG, that offered us big opportunities, we decided to find a solution for this topic. With this sports set, we will assure a very good material basis. You, the children involved in sports activities, can obtain easier the desired results”, the teacher added.

Burlacu Natalia, the gymnasium’s director, mentioned that the village’s community won many projects thanks to the great number to the assiduous, purposeful an creative youth. “I want to thank every person involved in the project – this set will contribute to the formation and development of specific abilities, promotion of the sports culture, of a healthy lifestyle and of our institution’s image during various sports competitions.”

“We want to hear about Malaiesti champions and don’t forget to cheer your teachers with your successes”, Ina Negruta, the “Bastina Gospodarului” LAG manager mentioned, telling the younger generations a bit more on the Local Action Group’s function, while the Malaiesti mayor, Ilie Virtosu, greeted the village for the greatest number of initiatives that were accepted during the LAG call.

Xenia Marcov, program coordinator, mentioned that Solidarity Fund PL in Moldova, along with its partners from USAID Moldova and Polish aid, are involved in a bigger project, aimed at local development. “We’re happy to see so many enthusiasts involved in this process, with different backgrounds and ideas, discussing the future of their localities and succeeding at implementing together wonderful projects – no one else can do it better that the locals. This is our credo – the local development decisions should belong to the locals.”

The “Acquisition of sports inventory for the sports area”, implemented by the Malaiesti Gymnasium, Orhei district, was implemented within the USAID LEADER Activity project, co-finance by the United States Agency for International Development – USAID, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, programme for development cooperation – Polish aid and implemented by Solidarity Fund PL in Moldova.