April 6, 2016 Moldova

Training teachers and NGO workers in Moldova

Young people in the region of Gagauzian in southern Moldova struggle with maintaining an interest in politics, elections and decision-making processes. As well, local youth’s awareness of EU principles and the advantages of being an EU member is quite low. To rectify the situation, a total of thirty teachers from nine high-schools and one university, along with employees of eight non-governmental organizations from South Moldova, are being trained on European values and democratic principles. Once they have completed the training, they will also become trainers, working at nine schools in the Gagauzian region.

In March, the workers completed the first of three two-day training sessions; the remaining two sessions are scheduled for April. Public administration representatives such as Liudmila Jecova, renowned Gagauzian education expert, and Esterica Curdova, Head of External Relationship Department of Gaguazia, supervised the training, which was organized under a Caritas CR programme in cooperation with Success – Association for Development of Women’s Entrepreneurship. “Interactiune,” a non-governmental organization, prepared the training course and employed a number of interactive teaching methods.

The following two April courses will focus on youth leadership, active citizenship and debating techniques. Meanwhile, the training participants will launch an awareness campaign about European democratic values at their schools. The campaign will be followed by a joint exhibition, “Gagauzian youth for Europe,” where students of all ten schools will present their work on that topic.

The most active student will get the opportunity to take part in Summer School of Active Citizenship and in public debates with politicians. Trained teachers as well as NGO workers will assist the students in the mentioned activities, together with Moldovan experts on civic sector, debating and active citizenship.

Activities of Caritas CR have been supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic under the Transformation Cooperation Programme.