Moldova

Since 2005

Moldova, a former Soviet republic, is located in Eastern Europe and has a population of 2.5 million. According to the Human Development Report 2021/2022, presented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the country ranks 80th out of 191 countries with an HDI of 0.767. The latter is facing an unprecedented demographic crisis: the population has been decreasing steadily since 1990 due to a low birth rate, a rather high mortality rate and a very high emigration of the active population. Indeed, the proportion of children and adolescents (aged 0-17) in the total population has fallen from 33% in 2000 to less than 21.5% in 2021, while the proportion of people aged over 65 has risen steadily from 6% in 1990 to 10% in 2022. MAP’s actions in Moldova started in 2005, with the rehabilitation of a social canteen in Roshu offering a hot meal at lunchtime and in the evening for 25 children living on the streets. In 2007, the “Centre Foyer Manfredi” was built in Cahul and made operational, able to accommodate 40 disadvantaged children and their families in order to reintegrate them into the school and social system. In Cania, a home has been set up for 30 children and 14 volunteers with educational training, cultural and sports activities. Regular care, domestic help and a laundry service for 110 elderly, sick or disabled people have also been set up. In 2011, MAP equipped the Maternity Centre “In the Mother’s Arms”, which for one year took in 10 teenage mothers and their newborn babies, abandoned by their families. In 2012, a sports field was built. Each year, MAP covers the purchase of toys and food parcels for more than 280 children and families, part of the functioning and activities of the Social Centres of Rosu, Cania, Saseni, as well as two recurrent projects, the Mobile Social Canteen and the Social Cupboards.

Mission

MISSION: Ms Linda Ammendola and Ms Emanuela Bartoli visited Moldova in 2018 to monitor the various projects supported. The next mission is planned for 2024.

ongoing projects
Contribution to the Social Cupboards project

The Social Cupboard or Clothing Bank project aims to mobilize the whole community to contribute to the improvement of the lives of vulnerable people, and to the development of solidarity and the preservation of the environment by collecting and reusing clothes and other useful goods. This is the first project of public collection of goods implemented in Moldova, with the aim of creating a local mechanism of social solidarity. Since its launch in 2016, various collection points have collected 288 tons of goods, redistributed to the most socially vulnerable people, across 37 Moldovan localities.

Objectives

Contribute to the Social Cupboard mechanism

Beneficiaries

Activities carried out

Recent funding

Promoting the social inclusion of marginalised children and elderly people

MAP provides part of the operation and activities carried out in the Social Centres of Rosu, Cania and Saseni, whose common objective is to reduce the vulnerability and promote the social inclusion of their beneficiaries. Each year, more than a hundred children from particularly marginalised backgrounds benefit from intensive school support, a daily hot meal, fun and creative workshops, extracurricular activities and personal development, with inclusive education sessions organised with parents who are fully involved and also supported through the project. Around 90 elderly people are accompanied by Diaconia volunteers, receiving a hot meal a day, home help, laundry and medical care. The implementation of various group workshops throughout the year also helps to strengthen the social fabric and inclusion of beneficiaries.

Objectives

To ensure the smooth running of the Social Centres of Rosu, Cania and Saseni and their daily activities.

Beneficiaries

Activities carried out

Recent funding

Support to the Mobile Social Canteen

The Mobile Social Canteen project allows more than 160 people on the verge of social exclusion (elderly, homeless, etc.) to benefit from a hot meal, 5 days a week. The Canteen, installed in a converted van, serves several neighborhoods in order to reach as many beneficiaries as possible. The project benefits from donated food products through national collections and local donors. In 2020 and 2021, due to Covid-19 health restrictions, hot meal delivery was provided at home.

Objectives

Covering the basic needs of people at risk of social exclusion

Beneficiaries

Activities carried out

Recent funding

MOLDAVA IN IMAGES