Elderly asylum centre to appear in Moldovan territory unit by Swiss support

Chisinau, 10 June /MOLDPRES/ – An elderly asylum centre of a type of temporary shelter for old people, carelessly left, will be set in village Copceac, Gagauzia. This will be an intercommunity service initiated by four mayoralties – two from Gagauzia and two from Taraclia district, by support of Swiss Government and involvement of of natives migrated in project MiDL.

"It is sad to note, but the problem of older people remains a reality for many years, especially in context of migration trends. This project aims to provide decent social conditions for older people in villages Copceac, Cairaclia (Ceadâr-Lunga) and Aluatu, Novosiolovca (Taraclia). There are over 400 elderly people in these villages which need such services. Because it is worthwhile, we want to provide them with a quiet old age, as this centre will be called," mayor of Copceac village, Oleg Garizan, explained at request of the Moldovan government.

The total project budget is around $135 thousand. Of this amount, $50 thousand is the grant of Government of Switzerland, about $64.7 thousand is contribution of partners and authorities of Gagauzia, with a sum of $17.5 thousand will help partners in EU project "Supporting agriculture and rural development in ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia District" (SARD) and about $3,000 will invest local associations.

As a result of money capitalisation, it will be set up Centre of Sustainable Old age on territory of Healthcare Centre in Copceac. Here you will be offered accommodation with food, conditions for rest and recreation, medical services, other care. The medical care will be provided in collaboration with Healthcare Centre specialists.

According to mayor of Copceac, this project, which is a new model of inter-communal cooperation, also has a sense of inter-ethnic friendship. "In one of these villages live more compact Gagauz, in another Bulgarian, in the third Moldovans and in the fourth there are more Russians and Ukrainians. Until now, we have only had some neighbourhood relations, when we gathered more to worship or celebrate the Day of village, but in this programme we understood that we also have common problems that we try to solve together," said Oleg Garizan.

The MiDL is part of a multi-annual intervention of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Migration and Development and is implemented in 2015 – 2018 in partnership with Government of Moldova, local public authorities, local NGOs, private sector, including migrants from target communities. The project budget for 2018 is about $1.3 million. A total of 40 villages and cities across Moldova are part of project (25 in Stage I and 15 in Stage II).

(Reporter L. Grubii, editor A. Raileanu)