Women Mayors Take the "Pulse" of the Most Successful Localities from Moldova

This time, 20 women mayors participated in a study visit in two localities from Moldova. “Armed” with the wish to learn different methods in public administration, they got to Center of the country, namely, in Scoreni village, Străşeni district, and Nimoreni village, from Ialoveni district.

These communities have been noticed for its successful projects, “thanks to which people enjoy public services of high quality”, opines Nadejda Darie, coordinator of the Women`s Network of the Congress of Local Authorities in Moldova (CALM). Also, another goal of the study visit is to strengthen the leadership potential of women in local government by providing them best practice models.

In Scoreni village, the host was the mayor Svetlana Tăbăcari. After working some years as an investigator and as police woman in Straseni city, then as secretary of the local council in Scoreni village for almost a decade, Svetlana Tăbăcari is currently mayor at the second term in the village where is located the landscape reserve Căpriana-Scoreni.

The mayor considers that each of the leaders of the localities must use all the opportunities to attract community`s people and, together, to solve its problems. That’s why the secret of her success as mayor is that she was always close to the people. “All the people are equal to me and their wishes and problems matter a lot. I am a fighter for the people and I like to have results,” the mayor said.

And the results of her work could be seen easily. For example, the kindergarten "Andries" from the village, which was closed for eight years, has been revived thanks to external funds, which the mayor drew them in the village. Now, the children enjoy very good conditions and their parents are happy.

“For a guaranteed success in your activity, the mayor need to love and respect the citizens. And my first step to regain their respect was to reopen the kindergarten. In addition, we have to cultivate love for the village they live”, says convinced the mayor of Scoreni.

Moreover, Svetlana Tăbăcari made a retrospective of the main stages experienced by the village in 298 years of existence and talked about citizen`s involvement in the renovation of the Culture House and promoting artistic qualities of children and adults.

One of the participants in the study visit, Larisa Voloh, mayor of Palanca, Stefan Voda, said that, although the village she leads was also on the list of successful ones, in any community she would visit, she always discovers some new and useful hints. “And these ideas can be implemented later in your city or village, in your daily activities. We have to be inspired and learn how to do great things with few resources, given today's reality,” pointed out Voloh.

Rodica Rusu, women mayor at first mandate in Teliţa village, Anenii Noi district, mentioned that such a study visit is a useful transfer of best practices, especially for first-term mayors. "Me and other colleagues, who are making their first steps in public administration and who managed to get a vote of confidence from the villagers, are enjoying the opportunity to participate in these visits. Observing the successes of mayors with more experience, you realize that all difficulties can be overcome, if there is a wish," argues the mayor.

The visit continued to the Nimoreni village, where participants were greeted by the mayor Andrei Covali. After a tour of the village, guests were informed about the collaboration of local public administration with the private sector and the developed joint projects, visited the fruit processing factory, where women and men from the village found a decent job. Moreover, both Svetlana Tăbăcari and Andrei Covali mentioned about the implementation of regional and local projects in public services provision, in infrastructure projects, in informational services (Novoteca), in women's involvement in project implementation activities to create conditions in educational institutions.

The study visit was organized by the Congress of Local Authorities in Moldova, with the support of UN Programme "Women in Politics", which is implemented by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with East-Europe Foundation and Center "Partnership for Development", financially supported by the government of Sweden.