Five youth centres from Moldova endowed with mini-buses, for their services to reach young people from villages

Chisinau, 3 June /MOLDPRES/ - The Education and Youth Ministry (MEC), with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), today transferred fine mini-buses to the youth centres from Balti, Cahul, Ungheni, Criuleni and Falesti. With the help of the five transport means, mobile services will be provided to thousands of young people from the local community and young refugees and activities of raising the awareness and prevention the gender-based violence (GBV) will be carried out, as part of the UNFPA programme, Safe areas for women, young people and elderly persons.       

The initiative was carried out in partnership with the National Agency for Youth and the MilleniuM Training and Development Institute, with the support of the  European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations of the European Commission (DG ECHO).  

„Those five youth centres will have, from now on, possibility to carry out activities also with young people from far away areas. For us, UNFPA is a strategic partner, with which we carry out multiple projects, especially in order to consolidate the networks of youth centres, which organize diverse activities for young people, in order to capacitate them in the process of participation and involvement, in taking decisions and development of life skills, for which we are grateful to them. At the ministry, along with the National Youth Agency, we work in order to find a predictable and clear-cut financing formula for these centres, so that year after year, it can enhance and extend its capacities,’’ Education and Research Minister Dan Perciun said.       

„These new mobile services will be as a bit of fresh air for young people from far-away communities, which are most difficult to reach, bringing young people from Moldova and the Ukrainian refugees to essential services, which will help them develop and flourish. We are extremely grateful to the European Union for the financial support provided for the purchasing of mini-buses. This reconfirms our joint commitment to empower and back the young people from all over the country,’’ UNFPA Resident Representative in Moldova Dr. Karina Nersesyan said.    

„The support which we provide to the youth centres is aimed at ensuring the access of all young people from the rural areas, both from the local communities and those of refugees from Ukraine,’’ a humanitarian expert at DG ECHO, Vicente Palacios-Ducar, said.   

„This is an important day on the agenda of the development of youth centres from Moldova. Starting from today, we have possibility to come closer to young people from the region and the services should be more and closer to each young man and woman from the country. Now, we can reach thousands of young people both from the urban environment and from the rural one,’’ the manager of the mobile team, from Balti, Nonna Mihalcean, said.  

Those five mini-bused for mobile youth services will have a schedule of visits in the settlements from the districts of Criuleni and Falesti and the Balti, Cahul, Ungheni municipalities and will cooperate with the local public authorities, social assistants, headmasters and directors of community centres from the villages of the region, in order to inform young people about the time, place and services which are to be provided in the settlement.   

The purchasing and endowment of the youth centres with a mini-bus for the mobile youth services was carried out by the UNFPA with the European Union’s support, with the overall investment exceeding three million lei.