Peace Corps in Moldova

In 1993, the government of Moldova invited Peace Corps Volunteers to come to

Moldova. The Peace Corps first assignment was to help expand the English-teaching
capacity of Moldovan educators. Government representatives believed that well-
developed English language skills would help Moldovans participate in the
international community and global economy by helping them gain access to a wealth
of information, resources, and markets. Current English education Volunteers also
incorporate environmental issues into the curriculum. Recently, Peace Corps/Moldova
has added projects in organizational development, agriculture and agribusiness, and
health education to assist the Moldovan government in addressing the countrys
economic and social development needs. Currently, Peace Corps Volunteers are
working in about 100 towns and villages throughout the country. Since the programs
inception, more than 650 Volunteers have served in Moldova
IN MANY CASES VOLUNTEERS ARE THE DRIVING FORCE [TO] ENCOURAGE AND
MOBILIZE COMMUNITIES TO UNDERTAKE AND IMPLEMENT ACTIONS TO AMELIORATE
THE SITUATION IN DIFFERENT SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC COMMUNITY DOMAINS. -
PARTNER TEACHER
Peace Corps Training

Peace Corps has an intensive training program to prepare Volunteers for safe and
productive service in Moldova. The cornerstone of this training occurs during the
Volunteers first 10 weeks in country. The focus of this initial orientation is learning
Romanian or Russian, learning about local culture and living with Moldovan families,
and strengthening Volunteers professional skills to serve in the project to which
theyve been assigned. Later, 2-3 day trainings are spread throughout the following
two years of a Volunteers service and focus on continued language learning and
continued development of important technical skills such as improved teaching
methodologies and project design and management.

About AVI-MD
The Association of International Volunteering (AVI MD) was a group of
initiative, created within the Dutch program of the Milieukontakt Oost Europa
organization (2000-2003) in Republic of Moldova. A few representatives, members of
NGOs that activate in different fields (ecology, youth, culture) from several regions of
the republic participated in the AVI-MD working group.

AVI-Moldova gained official recognition as voluntary service peace organisation from
the international peace movement Service Civil International (SCI) by becoming
official Moldavian contact organization and in Autumn, 2003 - partner organization of
SCI. Already for four years AVI-MD is organizing workcamps, seminars, participating
in SCI trainings and meetings. AVI-MD has its own publications, which include
magazines, posters and leaflets.

In February, 2004 AVI-MD was registered as a voluntary service organisation aiming
to promote peace and tolerance, international volunteering, intercultural exchange,
healthy way of life and human rights through voluntary activities.

The organization has the following objectives:
Supporting the programs of the youth associative structures and promoting
personal programs
Unveiling and developing the creative potential of the young people
The stimulation of the creative activities and the participation of the youth in
the process of solving the problems in the local public administration domain
Spreading the democratic values, protecting the human rights within different
programmes and projects
Promoting the programmes that involve national and international voluntary
Education among young people a healthy way of life
Contribution to the restoration of the natural equilibrium
Developing the relations of collaboration between similar national and
international organizations
ADVIT stays for Association for Development, Voluntary Service and Information for
Youth. "Without borders" means "no boundaries" and also "without limits".
ADVIT is a non-political, non-profit, non-governmental organization, started by and
for young people, to involve Moldovan young people, with and without professional
experience, into programmes at national and international levels in the fields of
education, culture, ecology, historical heritage protection and helping disadvantaged
people, by contributing to the development of a more peaceful society, to the
decrease of social injustice.
ADVIT started as an initiative in 2002 by organizing week end work camps, involving
youth with disadvantage background and international volunteers. In 2004 ADVIT was
officially registered by Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova and was
acknowledge as non-profit in January of 2007.
In 2007 ADVIT was accepted as an Associate Member of ICYE Federation. The
International Cultural Youth Exchange (ICYE) that is an international non-profit youth
exchange organization promoting youth mobility, intercultural learning and
international voluntary service. ICYE organizes long and short-term exchanges
combining home stays with voluntary service in a variety of community service
projects in more than 37 countries around the world.
The ICYE Federation is a participating member of: United Nations Economic and
Social Council - ECOSOC (Consultative Status), United Nations Department of Public
Information, DPI-NGO Committee, UNESCO (Official Operational Relations), UNESCO
NGOs Liaison Committee, European Commission, Directorate General Education and
Culture - Youth Unit, World Council of Churches (working relations as international
ecumenical organization), Co-ordinating Committee of International Voluntary Service
(CCIVS).
Our main goals are:
to promote dialogue and contact between young people from all over the world;
to create favorable conditions for cooperation between youth from different
cultures and nations;
to develop the spirit of volunteerism among youth
to provide information and youth education according current aspects of
Europe;
to inform youth in such spheres like: education, culture and social activities;
to create and coordinate youth exchange programs;
to study national cultural-history heritage of Moldova;
to promote health style of life between youth
to develop youth mobility tourism.
The UNESCO Country Programming Document for the Republic of Moldova (herein referred to
as UCPD), is based on the analysis of the current situation, the countrys priorities in the fields of
education, including HIV and AIDS prevention, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture
and communication and information, and the experience gained in the country. The Document has been
aligned with the national development goals and state programmes drawn up in accordance with the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); this is also relevant to and complements the current United
Nations Partnership Framework (UNPF) for the country.
The UCPD is based on results of analytical studies conducted in consultation with the National
Commission for UNESCO. This helped identify opportunities for the most effective response to countrys
needs within UNESCOs fields of competence, in line with the up-coming Organizations Medium-Term
Strategy (37 C / 4) and priorities set in UNESCOs draft Programme and Budget (37 C / 5). The UCPD
builds
on results achieved and lessons learnt and presents the proposed framework for the future cooperation
and partnerships with the Republic of Moldova.
Activities and projects planned under the UCPD will be implemented through tripartite social
partnerships involving the national Government, the relevant UN Agencies, civil society and, where
appropriate, the private sector. The UNESCO Office in Moscow will work in close cooperation with
the Government of the country, including the National Commission for UNESCO and the relevant
Ministries. Partnership with the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) will help effectively achieve the
UNPF Outcomes, the Country Programme Outcomes and the specific Programme Component Outputs.
Partnership with civil society organizations will be expanded and strengthened by utilizing knowledge
and resources they could offer in attaining UNESCO outcomes and outputs. Collaboration with the
Offices of the Ombudsman, as previously, will key in successfully promoting the Human Rights-Based
Approach. Gender equality will be maintained and promoted throughout all UNESCOs actions.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration within the country will be essential for UNESCO in successfully
contributing to the UNPF goal of reducing economic, social and political inequality through capacity
development, the creation of institutional frameworks, support to the development of policy and
regulatory frameworks to promote accountable, transparent and efficient governing institutions, and
the
development of measures to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development.
This partnership strategy is to foster the implementation of the UCPD, lay the groundwork for ensuring
sustainability of the outcomes to be achieved through the UCPD and serve as a catalyst in leveraging
extra-budgetary funds to implement the UCPD beyond the regular UNESCO budget and employing
policy / legal / institutional reforms and UN-coherent actions to this end.
To ensure that the programme and projects are effectively implemented, a UCPD monitoring and
evaluation system (M&E) will be established. M&E includes a series of linked activities, among them
UNESCO M&E tools / RBM under SISTER, periodical reporting and evaluation according to UCPD
Guidelines, and regular monitoring of progress in carrying out the activities. Periodical progress reports
will be drawn up in consultation with the UNCT countries, serving as a basis for annual and biannual
UNPF progress reports. The same year, on May 22, Moldova became a member of UNESCO. It is a
country with a medium level of human development. In terms of the Human Development Index (HDI)2
, Moldova was ranked 113th in a global ranking that included 187 countries in 2012. To ensure as much
cross-country comparability as possible, the HDI is based primarily on international data from the United
Nations Population Division, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), and the World Bank.