Republic of Moldova

School of Cosnita village, Dubasari district, was renovated with the support of UNDP Moldova

Chişinău, 1 September 2009 – As of today, 150 primary school children and 14 teachers from Cosnita village, Dubasari district will benefit from better school conditions thanks to a local community development project implemented with the support of the Integrated Local Development Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Moldova.

The project "Creating better conditions for primary education" of the school from Cosnita village is one of the pilot projects implemented by UNDP in the security zone and was developed in cooperation and participation of villagers, local government and district council. Thus, through common efforts the primary school building was fully renovated and equipped, the school compound arranged, 6 class rooms and recreation space were entirely repaired and sanitary conditions and a sewerage network of school created. Total project cost is estimated at about 1 million 249 thousand lei, of which 600 thousand lei was provided by UNDP, 75 thousand lei by local people, 474 thousand lei by the Dubasari council, and other 100 thousand lei were offered by Cosnita village mayoralty. The renovation works of the school lasted half a year and were carried out by a construction company selected through tender.

Attending the opening ceremony of the school, Petrus Wijninga, UN Resident Coordinator a.i., said that community development project in Cosnita is valuable because children and teachers are provided with better educational conditions. But equally valuable are other benefits obtained in this project: the experience of community mobilization and involvement of local stakeholders in identification, planning, implementation and monitoring processes, recovery of the spirit of cooperation and participation of village inhabitants, local authorities and district in the process of sustainable local development. Wijninga Petrus said that UNDP will also support further initiatives to improve quality of life of rural people in Moldova.

According to Alexandru Ursul, Community Development Project Manager of the Integrated Local Development Program (ILDP) / UNDP Moldova, the project proposal on improvement of educational conditions at the school from Cosnita was identified by villagers as a strategic priority for development of the village, which was included in the action plan elaborated by ILDP. He added that similar projects have been implemented or are underway in other nine villages in the security zone. "Through these projects, UNDP contributes to sustainable local development through capacity building, resource and local communities mobilization," said Alexandru Ursul.

For contact: Alexandru Ursul, Community Development Project Manager of the Integrated Local Development Program (ILDP) / UNDP Moldova, tel. 31.11.50, E-mail: alexandru.ursul@undp.org or Natalia Costas, communications consultant, tel. 069221141, E-mail: natalia.costas@un.md

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