In depth

UNDP works towards democratic and accountable governance, focusing on two critical dimensions: laying down the institutional bedrock and ensuring men and women’s voices are heard. As the whole governance structure is affected by public trust, UNDP works to tackle the root causes of weak social cohesion in the country, ensure inclusive and transparent electoral processes and more broadly electoral integrity, equal representation of women. At the same time UNDP supports improved access to justice as well as strengthened security and internal affairs sectors. UNDP works to advance efficient public administration reform and public finance management, focusing on creating an enabling environment for voluntary amalgamation and innovative financing instruments, developing policy proposals to align local finance systems with broader public administration reform strategies. 

Justice and human rights

UNDP has supported the Republic of Moldova in developing policies and strategies that aim to ensure respect for and protection of human rights and an effective and accessible justice system, with a focus on gender equality, non-discrimination, access to justice, and on preventing and addressing domestic violence. Assistance is being provided for the consolidation of the capacities of the Police Academy as a precondition for an increase in the professionalism of the police. UNDP works to enhance capacities of forensic institutions to provide qualitative justice services and legal empowerment and access to justice for vulnerable groups including refugees and displaced persons. Tailored support is being provided to vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities, people living with HIV, and survivors of domestic violence to improve their access to public life and quality services.

Parliamentary development  

UNDP has supported the Parliament’s transparency and engagement with rights holders has been strengthened through the operationalization of the e-Parliament that includes the document management system, e-voting, and a new public website. By providing support to the Parliament’s Women’s Caucus, UNDP has contributed to ensuring the oversight of policy implementation relevant to the respect of human rights and gender responsiveness.

Electoral processes

In partnership with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and the Centre for Continuous Elections Training, UNDP works towards more professional, inclusive, and transparent management of elections and improved trust of voters in the democratic processes. The electoral digital ecosystem is continuously improved to contribute to fair, transparent and efficient electoral processes.

Electoral educations campaigns were implemented reaching out to thousands of current and future voters so that the voting process becomes more inclusive and responsible. The capacities of CEC are to be strengthened to be able to undertake more effective and coherent oversight and monitoring on political party financing. 

UNDP further supports strengthening the integrity of electoral processes by strengthening institutional capacities, reinforcing legal frameworks and promoting effective oversight of electoral corruption, while aligning closely with Moldova’s international and national commitments on rule of law, governance and anti-corruption.

Public administration reform

Jointly with other development partners, UNDP is strengthening the focus on accelerating the complex public administration reform, moving from policy and legislative formulation to improving systems and capacities for effective and efficient, people centered public service delivery. UNDP is supporting stronger, more open and transparent public administration at all levels, that are able to deliver services efficiently and ensure equal opportunities to all people, with a particular focus on women and the most vulnerable.

Corruption prevention

UNDP supports the national authorities such as the National Anti-corruption Center to detect, investigate and deter corruption. This includes training investigators, prosecutors and judges, and equipping authorities with digital tools to detect corruption networks using surveillance, OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence), and blockchain analysis. This work directly reduces impunity for corruption by improving the likelihood that corrupt networks are detected, investigated and the individuals are tried in court in line with international standards and EU commitments. 

We also collaborate with national authorities to deter corruption by educating the public about the legal framework, disincentivizing corrupt practices by conveying consequences, and promoting ways for businesspeople, citizens and civil servants to get involved in preventing and reporting corruption. We support the National Anti-Corruption Center to mainstream anti-corruption practices and cultures across government. 

Civil society plays an essential role in our work on countering corruption. UNDP strengthens civil society by training investigative journalists to investigate fraud schemes, supports independent experts to monitor ani-corruption cases, and supports volunteers to educate the most vulnerable demographic groups about the risks of corruption. 

Evidence-based policy formulation and evaluation

UNDP helps the Government in building capacities for more evidence-based policy formulation, policy coordination, and impact evaluation. Focus is on complex development issues emerging from the current multiple crises, including social exclusion, emerging forms of poverty, including multidimensional poverty, energy and food poverties and related. UNDP is supporting the creation of new evidence-based collaborative approaches and tools on further engaging citizens, private sector, local academia, and all other actors to support more evidence-based and citizen-driven policies and decisions.