Project Summary:

The Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme aims to increase trust between people on both sides of the Nistru river by supporting joint activities in four core areas: 1) EU support to economic development and entrepreneurship, 2) EU assistance for community development and cross-river civil society organizations’s sectoral platforms, 3) EU cultural and historical heritage support, 4) EU support to cooperative media local content development.

Objectives:

• To contribute to the economic and social development of both banks by ensuring equal access to opportunities provided by the Association Agreement and its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area for both banks of the Nistru river;
• To tackle the growing disparity between both banks (the Transnistrian region and the rest of the country) by supporting local development and CSOs;
• To continue supporting the sectoral rapprochement in pilot sectors (i.e. culture and others) and to progressively include the left bank of the Nistru river in Moldova-wide development initiatives to limit the development gap between both banks;
• To support the activities of media from both banks of Nistru river through common media production.

Expected results:

• Improve living conditions on both banks of the Nistru river by increasing economic opportunities and creating jobs;
• Develop communities through the increase of capacities of NGOs and LPAs;
• Strengthen thematic platforms created in the previous stage of the program for the cooperation of NGOs on both sides aiming to reduce disparities;
• Support cultural heritage objects on both banks as a pilot sector to develop and build trust;
• Improve capacities of media institutions on both sides to produce together attractive, qualitative, and professional content for the social economic development of both banks.

Accomplishments:

• 24 business support organizations from both banks cooperate for capacity building and digitalization of member enterprises and sector infrastructure, through 12 cross-river projects. Among the sectors supported are: beekeeping and cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants, textile, tourism, creative and IT industries and trade facilitation services through European platforms;

• In 2021, 26 young entrepreneurs from the left bank of the Nistru river received equipment and mentoring and are now owners of their businesses and have created 130 jobs. Another 13 young people from both banks, obtained grants worth up to €15,000 in 2022, being currently guided and trained to launch their businesses on both banks;
• 4 cross-river business platforms managed by the Chambers of Commerce on both sides, as well as by Fruit, Essential Oils, and Beekeepers Associations, are cooperating for the capacity development of pear Associations and their members' competitiveness enhancement;
• In 2022, another 4 cross-river partnerships will be granted, between business support organizations, industry associations or non-governmental organizations with experience in developing entrepreneurial skills, which will contribute to creating synergies for competitive business communities on both banks of the Nistru river. 26 young entrepreneurs from the left bank of the Nistru have received equipment and mentoring being now owners of their businesses; 12 more young people from both banks, will be granted for the period 2022-2023;
• 60 entrepreneurs obtained individual business consulting to overcome the consequences of the pandemic crisis, and around 180 participated online in entrepreneurial training sessions. At the moment, they are all active and continue their work;
• 20 MSMEs have strengthened their online presence with new branding, web pages or professional social media campaigns as part of the Go Online left bank activity. By means of periodic online workshops and webinars with key experts, over 300 entrepreneurs have been trained on digital marketing components and up to date entrepreneurial skills;
• Capacities of 20 business consultants from both banks have been raised on ISO 20700:2017 Management Consultancy Services standard;
• 31 civil society organizations have been supported to implement activities that will further enhance local level cross-river collaboration in sports, health, innovation, environment, education and culture fields. Overall, 30,000 people are expected to benefit from small grants programme.
• A cooperation platform in the tourism sector was launched in October with the participation of 40 prominent organizations from both banks. This one completes other five cross river thematic platforms formed in previous programme stage - Education, Sport, Health, Culture and Ecology - continue provision of representation, advocacy and networking support to stakeholders across the river. The thematic platforms, which bring together more than 350 NGOs and professionals, representatives of academia and local administration, play an important role in identifying common sectoral problems and joint viable solutions. The Health Platform equipped a general practice workstation for further trainings of family doctors in Tiraspol University clinic and trained medical staff in family medicine. Through the Education Platform, guidelines were developed for teachers and managers for planning an inclusive educational environment, without barriers for school children, organizing a mixed learning process, using information technologies. The Culture Platform actively contributes to the development and promotion of young artists, musicians, people of culture through training, organization of cultural events. The environmental platform focuses on topics such as climate change, alternative energy sources, conservation agriculture and ecologically sustainable development in agriculture, media coverage of environmental issues, by organizing capacity building activities for over 1200 participants;
• 16 social infrastructure projects, among them: schools, kindergartens, sports fields, medical and cultural centers, street illumination and waste collection systems were refurbished, improving, in this way, social wellbeing in the following communities: Sănătăuca, Camenca, Rezina, Rîbnița, Tiraspol, Cioburciu, Corotna, Dnestrovsc, Bălăbănești, Holercani, Cocieri, Speia, Telița, Roșcani, Tîrnauca, Teiul, Mălăiești. As a result, over 100,000 women and men benefit from improved social services;
• In the area of renovation of historical-cultural heritage, at the Tighina (Bender) Fortress conservation and restoration works will be ended in the upcoming spring.  In the meantime Chisinau Circus benefited from high-quality technical expertise and technical design services. Preparations for conservation and restauration works are under way. 10 small-scale cultural heritage projects were selected for conservation/rehabilitation, 5 on each bank of the Nistru River: The Christian-Orthodox church and Synagogue in Rașcov village, the wind tower in Stroiești, the water mill in Beloci and the hall of the Art College in Tighina (Bender). On the right bank: Moldova Film - digitization of cartoons, the museum of the Doroțcaia village, the windmill from Gaidar, the Macri family tomb, and the water tower from Șoldănești; designs and conservation works has been launched.
• 23 initiatives of media institutions and production houses on the right and left bank of the Nistru river resulted in the co-production and distribution, on both banks, of several audiovisual products, such as: fairy tales of Ion Creangă animated in 2D format, documentary and fiction movies, talk shows, podcasts, and others. Thanks to the technical expertise provided by professionals from the EU member-states in the field of: video editing, audio and video podcasting, social media management, TV production, etc., the quality of audiovisual products has been improved.