Moldova: Swedish Support for Strengthening the Capacities of Around 120 Localities Involved in the Voluntary Amalgamation Process
Sweden is supporting Moldova’s local government reform by helping more than 120 communities strengthen their capacity as they engage in voluntary amalgamation. Through the PACE Local project, implemented by SALAR International, communities across Moldova will receive financial, technical and strategic support to improve public services, enhance administrative efficiency and build stronger, more sustainable local entities aligned with European standards.
More than 120 localities, represented by 62 mayoralties involved in the voluntary amalgamation process, will benefit from support provided by SALAR International through the PACE Local project, funded by Sweden. The assistance will contribute to the successful completion of the initiated amalgamation process and to the consolidation of the new administrative-territorial entities, enabling them to develop local communities and provide better public services to citizens, in line with European good practices.
The more than 120 localities, home to over 110,000 citizens, are organized into nine clusters which, following the completion of the amalgamation process, will be registered as nine administrative-territorial units. The supported clusters were selected through a recently conducted open competition.
The PACE Local project initiative, supported by the Government of Sweden, assists local public administrations in their efforts to become more efficient, better organized and more capable of providing quality public services tailored to citizens’ needs, by strengthening administrative capacities and leveraging the synergies created through the voluntary amalgamation process.
Grant agreements signed
Recently, the communities signed grant agreements under which each cluster will receive financial, technical and mentoring support worth approximately EUR 80,000 through the PACE Local project. The support will be directed towards the development of technical designs for the construction or modernization of road infrastructure, water supply and sewerage systems, as well as towards the preparation of strategic documents required by the new administrative-territorial entities to access funds and implement investment projects for the development of member localities.
At the same time, the support provided by the Government of Sweden includes investments aimed at increasing energy efficiency in rural localities, with the objective of reducing the pressure of high costs on local budgets.
PACE Local will also support the localities in establishing Unified Public Service Delivery Centres, known as CUPS, in order to ensure efficient interaction between citizens and local public authorities and to facilitate access to public services after amalgamation and the transfer of local administration to a new administrative centre.