On 6-8 July, 2016, the Republic of Moldova was visited by Manfred Horr, director of the Department for Germany and Eastern Europe within GlZ headquarters. Together with Philipp Johannsen, GIZ country director, and advisors of the ‘Modernization of local public services in the Republic of Moldova’ project (MLPS), Manfred Horr had an information gatehring visit to the Development Regions North and Centre of the country. The goal of this visit was to monitor the projects funded by the German Government through GIZ.
During the visit, the GIZ official had a number of meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction (MRDC), Regional Development Agencies (RDA) North and Centre, Regional Development Councils and members of local public authorities.
On the first of day of the visit, Manfred Horr had a working meeting in the RDA North office with Anatol Usatii, the Vice-Minister of Regional Development and Construction, Ion Leuca, chairman of the Regional Development Council North (RDC North), and Ion Bodrug, the director of RDA North. The discussed aspects included the need to conduct reforms in the field of decentralization at regional level, increasing the authority of Regional Development Councils, as well as, the inter-sector addressing of issues during the implementation of regional development strategies.
In this context, Philipp Johannsen, GIZ country director and manager of the MLPS project highlighted the need to involve the development partners in decision making at national level, an idea supported by the Vice-Minister Anatol Usatii. In addition, the senior national advisor on regional and local development policies within MLPS, Alexandr Muravschi, mentioned the importance of the National Strategy for Regional Development (NSRD) 2016-2020 which is to be approved by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova in the near future.
Ion Leuca, chairman of the Regional Development Council North: ‘We very much count in the future on a good collaboration which will result in projects that make our life easier. This requires political will at central level and a lot of work’.
Ion Bodrug, director of RDA North, mentioned the key achievements within the pilot projects in regional development implemented in the Development Region North and funded through the MLPS project. The pilot projects: ‘Energy efficient street lighting in Tatarauca Veche commune, Soroca rayon’, “Improvement of water and sanitation services in Riscani rayon’ and ‘Improvement of solid waste management in Floresti rayon’, had a positive impact on and continue to contribute to the improvement of people’s living standards. ‘Due to the MLPS project, the three pilot projects were developed and implemented to serve as an example for other communities. Their implementation experience has also been useful in the projects funded by the National Fund for Regional Development’, the director of RDA North said.
On the second day of visit, the GIZ official, together with the MLPS/GIZ advisors, visited the pilot project “Increasing energy efficiency in Calarasi rayon hospital’ from Calarasi town. Here, the delegation met with the hospital staff, representatives of the local public authority and of RDA Centre, and discussed the pilot project implementation activities.
The project ‘Modernization of local public services in the Republic of Moldova’ is implemented by the German Development Cooperation through GIZ and is financially supported by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Swedish Government, the Romanian Government, the European Union and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
