Annual Donors Forum organized by OSCE Mission to Moldova held in Chisinau

The OSCE Mission to Moldova held its traditional Donors Forum for Transdniestrian civil society organizations on 29 November 2016 in Chisinau. This annual event gives donors and civil society organizations the opportunity to exchange information about their upcoming plans and priorities. It was attended by more than 80 participants and brought together a wide-range of initiative groups and non-governmental organisations from Transdniestria, with international agencies and embassies that are actively engaged as donors in Moldova.

This year, the forum aimed at strengthening co-operation and contacts between donors in Moldova and NGOs from the left bank of the Dniester/Nistru River. Civil society representatives described their needs and challenges in the local context. The donors shared lessons-learned and highlighted grants that will be available in 2017. Participants also discussed how to better develop community-level civic engagement and encourage volunteerism on the left bank to help address social, environment and economic challenges.

“Events such as this one foster collaboration between donors and NGOs to provide long-term assistance in order to build capacity to engage in constructive change,” said Stephen Young, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova. “We are here today to identify common ground for new and innovative work going forward.”

The Donors Forum was organized in the framework of a year-long project, implemented by the OSCE Mission to Moldova and the Apriori Legal Information Centre which aims to improve the capacity of local civil society in providing a better assistance to the public.