2008 SOROS FOUNDATION-MOLDOVA 2008 ANNUAL REPORT CONTENTS MISSION STATEMENT 3 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 4 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS Higher Education Support Program 6 Step by Step Educational Program 8 YOUTH PROGRAMS National High School Debate League 9 Youth Initiatives Support Program 10 INFORMATION PROGRAM 11 CIVIL SOCIETY PROGRAM 12 Subprogram 1: Strengthening the Non-governmental Sector in Moldova 14 Sub- program 2: Travel Grants for NGO Representatives 19 Subprogram 3: Civil Society Development in the Transnistrian and Gagauzian Regions 21 Subprogram 4: CONTACT Resource Centers’ Network 22 Subprogram 5: Community Foundations 23 Subprogram 6: Public Opinion Barometer 24 GENDER EQUITY & EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM 25 EAST EAST: PARTNERSHIP BEYOND BORDERS PROGRAM 26 Subprogram 1: Hosting and Bilateral Projects 29 Subprogram 2: Participating Projects 36 PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM 38 Subprogram 1: Mental Health Initiatives 40 Subprogram 2: Palliative Care 42 Subprogram 3: Law and Health Program 44 Subprogram 4: Access to Essential Medicines 45 Subprogram 5: Media and Health Initiatives 46 Subprogram 6: Harm Reduction 47 CULTURAL POLICY PROGRAM 54 MEDIA PROGRAM 58 Subprogram 1: Improving the Media Legal Framework. Monitoring the Activity of Independent Media Institutions 59 Subprogram 2: Public Broadcasting Service. Cooperation Projects with ACC and Teleradio Moldova SB 60 Subprogram 3: Strengthening Good Governance via Support for Independent Media Development 64 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE PROGRAM 69 Subprogram 1: Transparency and Accountability 71 Subprogram 2: Public Policy and Advocacy 73 Subprogram 3: Technical Assistance and Expert Support for LGs 74 Subprogram 4: Support to the Decentralization Process 75 LAW PROGRAM 76 Subprogram 1: Judicial Development 78 Subprogram 2: Access to Justice 79 Subprogram 3: Criminal Justice 80 Other Projects 81 1 EUROPEAN INITIATIVES PROGRAM 82 Subprogram 1: NGO Capacity Building 85 Subprogram 2: Increased Awareness and Knowledge 87 2008 EXPENDITURES 91 SFM NATIONAL BOARD AND PROGRAM BOARDS 92 SFM STAFF 94 CONTACT INFORMATION 95 2 MISSION STATEMENT The Soros Foundation-Moldova (SFM) is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-partisan organization established in 1992 by philanthropist and financier George Soros to promote open society values in Moldova. The Foundation contributes to the democratization of the society by developing and implementing programs in various areas, such as cultural policy, judiciary reform, public administration and good governance, independent media and access to information, civil society and public health. 3 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR In 2008, the Soros Foundation–Moldova made significant contributions to human rights, good gov- ernance, access to justice, media independence, and the health rights of underserved populations. The foundation promoted European values and strengthening ties with neighboring countries. The foundation’s Public Administration and Good Governance Program changed its format in 2008 to place greater emphasis on monitoring and advocacy activities. The launch of a local budget monitoring project in several towns marked the change. At the national level, the foundation supported the development phase of the Civic Initiative for a Clean Parliament, which will monitor voter lists and provide the public with accurate information about candidates in the 2009 Parliamentary elections. The foundation also addressed good governance issues by working with OSI’s Media Program and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to sustain a network of regional radio and TV stations. During the year, the network of 23 stations added two new independent stations, broadening its coverage to the entire Trans- nistrian region. Network members worked together to create an Internet based File Transfer Protocol site that allows them to download and exchange programs and news stories. To end the isolation of children with mental disabilities, the foundation, OSI’s Mental Health Initiative, two human services NGOs, and the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child signed a memorandum of understanding in May. The agreement commits the ministry and its NGO partners to a four-year project to end any further institutionalization of mentally disabled children in large residential facilities and to develop community-based services to replace residential institutions. The agreement includes pilot projects and the development of monitoring mechanisms to ensure the long-term stability of the reforms. The foundation worked with OSI’s Law and Health Initiative and Human Rights and Grants Gov- ernance Program to make human rights an essential part of the country’s response to HIV/AIDS by supporting NGOs that monitor and document human rights violations against people living with HIV/ AIDS. During the year, one foundation grantee, The Institute for Human Rights from Moldova, in partnership with service provider organizations, brought several cases to Moldova’s national court. One of them relates to the HIV positive status disclosure of a pregnant woman by a family doctor, and the second case involves a non-resident married person who cannot obtain the Moldovan citizenship because of his HIV positive status. Both cases are under examination in court. After several years of effort, the foundation’s legal aid reform partnership with the Ministry of Justice began to see results. A new legal aid law which took into account the foundation’s analyses of legal aid in Moldova came in to force in 2008. It immediately began providing indigent criminal defendants with competent, engaged legal assistance. The law also created the Council for State Guaranteed Legal Aid, which will oversee the administration of assist- ance, monitor the quality of services, and advise the ministry on policies. The law calls for the government to establish a paralegal system to provide legal aid in noncriminal cases by 2012. Moldova’s legal structure encourages the involvement of civil society in local and national level decision-making processes. Yet participation is hindered by lack of information, low levels of professionalism among public servants, and citizens’ general distrust of decision makers. The foundation addressed these problems in 2008 by supporting NGO representat- ives and officials from the Chisinau government who studied successful initiatives in Romania and Ukraine to increase public participation in governance. During the year, the project began implementing the lessons learned and officials and civil society groups reported a positive shift in public attitudes toward local government. The project also published a guidebook for officials, activists, and citizens interested in increasing public participation in local governance. The foundation followed up on the passage of a new freedom of assembly law in 2007 by supporting NGOs working to raise awareness about it. The NGOs held meetings for appeals court judges in Chisinau and four other towns on national and European standards regarding freedom of assembly. Roundtables organized by NGOs highlighted the law for 4 representatives from local governments, NGOs, and groups focusing on legal policy. Four cases of violations of the law were identified; several citizens were pressed charges on the basis of protesting illegally. The defendants were represented in court by a lawyer who worked for one of the implementing organizations – the Promo LEX NGO– a foundation’s grantee. All the cases were solved in favor of the defendants. As part of a larger partnership project between five NGOs and local public schools, the foundation helped train a group of 40 children on children’s rights in several regions of the country. A training of trainers’ course was carried out for a group of 10 children who later trained other 30 peers on children’s rights, using the peer-to-peer technique. The project also produced a movie that featured children from the project and highlighted children’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The movie consisted of short stories revealing children’s rights from the UN Convention. The plot of each story was written with the full participation of children and the acting was done exclusively by them. The project distributed the film to a number of schools throughout the country. This was a good opportunity for children, their parents and teachers to express their opinion about the content of the movie and learn, at the same time, about children’s rights. Their comments and suggestions were taken into consideration while improving the quality of the movie. The project activities, which also included several national and regional exhibitions of children’s drawings and photographs reflecting their rights, were made public mostly by means of broadcast and written media. As a further step, the implementing organization will advocate for accepting the movie produced within the project as part of the school curriculum all over the country. These are just a few major initiatives implemented with SFM’s support in 2008. I invite you to get familiar with our activity in detail by reading this report. Victor URSU Executive Director 5 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPORT PROGRAM (HESP) In 2007, the Higher Education Support Program phased out its activity. However, during 2008 it continued to monitor the multiannual grants offered to major universities from Moldova during the previous few years. At the same time, the program continued its collaboration with HESP OSI-Budapest