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CPP Community Projects

• Improving Infrastructure and Facilities
• Generating Jobs and Income
• Strengthening Social Services

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Improving Infrastructure and Facilities

Project Name: “Hirtop Gymnasium Reconstruction”
Project Leader: IG “Volintir Vasilisa”
Location: Hirtop, Taraclia

Though small in size, Hirtop is lucky to have two gymnasium buildings for schooling 142 children from Hirtop and neighboring Hadjichioi. Unfortunately, due to a leaking roof, rotten flooring and damaged walls, one building has not been useable for several years, forcing the school to conduct classes in two shifts, and leaving children from Hadjichioi a six kilometer walk in bad winter weather or after dark.

Inter-community collaboration is the key to this IREX-funded project, and citizens from both villages will participate equally in all phases of gymnasium reconstruction. With modest match funding from the local City Hall, teachers, parents and children from both villages are eager to independently raise additional money by dividing the villages in sectors and implementing an extensive information campaign using local radio and regional newspapers. A committee of parents from both villages will monitor the spending and quality of work done by the construction firm, while also directly participating in some of the repair work. Both parents and children will benefit from seminars aimed at improving life skills, developing active participation in community life, ensuring project sustainability, and exchanging experience between generations.

Project Name: “Road Construction on Cooperativnaia Street”
Grantee: IG “Anatolii Pucal”
Location: Taraclia

Every spring, summer, fall and winter, residents of Cooperativnaia Street have tried to fix the road to their homes, bringing broken bricks and crushed stone to level the dirt. But with every storm a piece of the road and their optimism got washed away. After participating in a CPP community forum and other trainings, the neighbors of Cooperativnaia Street banded together, determined this time to do whatever it takes to finally fix their street. “Before participation in CPP, citizens on our street were not so united and were living more for themselves. Now, we are more unified; we are meeting more often to discuss how to best implement the project,” said initiative group leader Anatolii Pucal.

In partnership with a local businessman, citizens secured 123 concrete slabs; now they will join efforts to raise funds for 90 additional slabs. Project roles have been distributed to each neighbor based on age, skills, and professional experience. The men of the street will contribute with labor to install the concrete and dig drainage canals; women will provide the workers with food; children will whitewash the pavement and plant trees once the road is repaired; elderly citizens, who spend more time at home, will ensure day-to-day monitoring of the construction work; the resident accountant ensure proper use of funds, and an engineer living on the street will obtain necessary permits. After the street is finished, citizens want to plant flowers and invite folks from other villages so they can show off their hard work and inspire others to follow suit.

Project Name: “A New Boiler at Igor Cretu Lyceum”
Project Leader: Association “Calea Lactee”
Location: Gavanoasa, Cahul

School children in Gavanoasa don’t need to read geography books about how cold it gets in Alaska or the North Pole, as they have their own personal experience. Due to the initiative of teachers and with funding from IREX to change the boiler system, soon children won’t need to stay bundled in winter clothes to keep warm in their classrooms.

Citizen participation is not new for the people of Gavanoasa; they have experience in raising funds to help children from disadvantaged families, and in mobilizing to repair the school bus bringing children from a neighboring village.

This latest project includes collaboration between generations and will involve both the elderly and schoolchildren in a fundraising campaign to raise a match contribution. “The elderly are more convincing,” said 9thgrader Ruslan. “We are learning how to get more supporters on our side.” Children will also take an active role in informing citizens about the project, while the technical staff of the school will monitor the work and receive training to independently maintain the new boiler. The project plans a series of seminars and discussions involving local counselors, teachers, and children and aimed at identifying ways to improve village life and prosperity.

Project Name: “Building a Fence around the High School”
Project Leader: Postolachi Efim
Location: Hristoforovca, Ungheni

Back in 1983, the tiny village of Hristoforovca did not have much, and the children of its 175 households had to attend school in two small houses. Citizen persistence led to Regional Council approval of funding to build a school in the village; active citizens also constructed 200 meters of road leading to the school and a fence around the school territory. That was more than twenty years ago, and the fence around the gymnasium is now rotten, torn in places, and provides no barrier against the dogs, cats, domestic animals and foul who leave their unsanitary droppings in the school yard where children play.

With no support from the local government, but with strong examples from neighboring communities where citizens participated in renovating a boiler house and restoring water pipes, the initiative group developed a project to fix the school fence. Dividing the community into three sectors, designated leaders spread out and collected 129 signatures guaranteeing the contribution and participation of citizens in each neighborhood. The active folks in Hristoforovca also have a parallel project to construct a church, and citizen volunteers oversee both the quality of construction and the safety of stored materials.

Project Name: “Reconstruction of the Kindergarten Roof”
Project Leaders: Maria Cebotari
Location: Graseni, Ungheni

Due to its badly deteriorated roof, the village kindergarten in Graseni has not functioned for eight years. As a result, 250 children from both Graseni and Todiresti lack access to any structured pre-school education. Despite the enormity of the cost and labor, parents, teachers and unemployed former kindergarten staff decided to reconstruct the kindergarten roof, and the local public administration pledged to subsequently renovate the interior premises section-by-section. At a general meeting of the village, citizens assigned roles and responsibilities for implementation of the project. School staff will mobilize citizens and disseminate project information; skilled men will monitor the quality of the technical work; other citizens will collect matching cash donations; and the local youth will contribute with unskilled labor.

Project Name: “Potable Water Supply for the Population of Cotova”
Project Leader: NGO “Alliance of Farmers from Drochia”
Location: Cotova, Drochia

Nearly 90% of the wells in Cotova are polluted due to shallow ground water and a vast cemetery that covers two hectares of land. Half of the village lacks adequate access to water. In an earlier project, the Alliance of Farmers mobilized citizens to rehabilitate the village spring. This next step brings together the village school, local public administration and four business entities to tackle the problem of potable water and avoid a reoccurrence of Hepatitis A, which hit the school and several households last year. This current project will renovate and extend the system of water pipes and repair village artesian wells and adjacent water towers. Acknowledging the importance of citizen participation, over 2,000 beneficiaries from neighborhoods that lack water, including the kindergarten, school, medical office and four local businesses, have come together to ensure the success of the project and to emphasize the importance of hygiene by instituting health and hygiene education throughout the village.

Project: “Help Our Children”
Project Leaders: Surjacova Tatiana
Location: Egorovca, Falesti

Egorovca is a commune made up of three villages, each having underdeveloped social infrastructures. None of the villages have the usual House of Culture; the only school lacks an auditorium and a gym; and the kindergarten is housed in a few makeshift rooms with inadequate space for the local population of pre-school children. Through united efforts, existing classrooms have been repaired and citizens have collected whatever toys, kitchen utensils, furniture, linens, and other needed items they could find. But despite their ingenuity, the kindergarten can only serve 40 children, leaving an additional 20 who cannot be accommodated.

Comparing their situation to other “normal” kindergartens in the region, teachers grew tired of their own stagnation, and the impetus of the CPP forum spurred them into action. “The Community Forum opened our eyes; we will never be the same as before, because we understand that we are the ones who will change things for the better.” With IREX funding, strong support from the school and co-funding from the public administration and local businesses, the determination of the initiative group flourished into a project to extend the kindergarten premises by renovating several unusable adjacent rooms and purchasing furniture and equipment necessary to educate young pupils from all three villages.

Project Name: “There is Water and Earth, So Let’s Keep All That is Sacred”
Project Leaders: Dragos Pantaru
Location: Costesti, Riscani

On the bank of the Prut River, just over the border from Romania, picturesque Costesti overlooks a handsome manmade lake. Its location and landscape make it perfect for tourism, but the hilltop panorama is marred by four unauthorized trash dumps. These dumps not only spoil the view, but also pollute local water wells and the river itself, which supplies seven other regions in Moldova and several districts in Romania. Committed to improving their village landscape and ecology, citizens have come together to implement a complex project to eliminate unauthorized trash dumps, clean up the authorized dump, and disinfect local wells and springs. After the clean-up, citizens will also plant 5,000 trees to restore areas currently covered in garbage. Interest in the environment and in attracting tourism is shared by all sectors in the community. The local school will promote the project and pupils will form a “Green Patrol” to ensure the clean-up of springs and parklands; local businesses will provide technical equipment and transportation services; the Health Centre will launch a related health education campaign; and other citizens will contribute with construction tools, trees, cash and labor.

Project Name: “Construction of an Artesian Well”
Project Leaders: Serghei Bruma
Location: Porumbeni, Criuleni

With the help of the National Ecologic Fund citizens of Porumbeni renovated the artesian well that serves half the village. Citizens also mobilized to pave village roads. Now the same active citizens have gathered to fix the water supply for the remaining half of their village. The aqueduct serving the village belongs to a local business; it is old and often broken, leaving 200 families and social institutions without water for up to 20 days.

To solve the water shortage problem, the whole village has come together, including those who already have water, joining to contribute labor, cash and materials for a new artesian well and surrounding fence. Local businesses will also contribute a pump and limestone bricks.

Project Name: “Reparation of Water Supply System in Zolotievca”
Project Leaders: Harcenko Alexandr
Location: Zolotievca, Anenii Noi

Though the village of Zolotievca has only a few hundred people, its active citizens have accomplished a lot, from landscaping the village center and refurbishing grounds around the village club, to sprucing up the cemetery. Working together, and independent from the local government, their efforts have brought substantial improvement to village life. For two years, Zolotievca, along with neighboring villages Larga and Nicolaevca, have been Grand Prix winners at the region’s annual wine holiday exhibition, designing a pumpkin woman in traditional dress and a bus decorated with a rotating wine barrel. Through creative participation, local citizens found exotic ways to exhibit the harvest and take home the prize. Now these imaginative citizens have decided to focus their attention on renovating the village water towers and fencing the artesian well. After submitting a modest budget to IREX, the initiative group managed to collect contributions twice as large as initially planned, enabling them to improve their design and landscape the area. As they proceed through each step of their project, the initiative group from Zolotievca is sharing experience and providing consultation and assistance to parallel groups from Larga and Nicolaevca, who are also funded by IREX to implement water supply projects. After finishing this project, the initiative group plans to register and seek funding as an NGO, in order to continue their efforts to improve living conditions in their native village.

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