2010 SOROS FOUNDATION-MOLDOVA 2010 ANNUAL REPORT CONTENTS MISSION STATEMENT 2 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 3 YOUTH PROGRAMS 5 EAST EAST PROGRAM: PARTNERSHIP BEYOND BORDERS 7 Subprogram 1: Hosting and Bilateral/Trilateral Projects 9 Subprogram 2: Participating Projects 13 EUROPEAN INITIATIVES PROGRAM 16 Subprogram 1: Awareness and Knowledge 18 Subprogram 2: Monitoring the EU-Moldova Relations 21 PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM 23 Subprogram 1: Mental Health Initiative 25 Subprogram 2: Palliative Care Initiative 27 Subprogram 3: Law and Health Initiative 29 Subprogram 4: Health and Media Initiative 31 Subprogram 5: Harm Reduction 33 CULTURAL POLICY PROGRAM 45 MEDIA PROGRAM 52 Subprogram 1: Support for Independent Local Media 53 Subprogram 2: Support for Media Development in Transnistria 63 Subprogram 3: Legal Framework and Institutional Development 64 Subprogram 4: Capacity Building for the Public Broadcasting Service 68 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE PROGRAM 68 Subprogram 1: Good Governance 70 Subprogram 2: Transparent Public Finance 73 LAW PROGRAM 75 Subprogram 1: Access to Justice 77 Subprogram 2: Criminal Justice 78 Subprogram 3: Judicial Development 79 Subprogram 4: Human Rights Monitoring 80 Other Projects 81 CIVIL SOCIETY PROGRAM 83 Subprogram 1: Awareness and Advocacy Campaigns against Discrimination 85 Subprogram 2: Capacity Building in Advocacy for NGOs 87 Subprogram 3: Empowering Women to Participate in Community Life 88 EMERGENCY FUND 94 2010 EXPENDITURES 96 SFM BOARDS 97 SFM STAFF 99 DIRECTORY 100 1 MISSION STATEMENT The Soros Foundation-Moldova (SFM) is a no n-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. 2 MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR This report gives an account of the Soros Foundation-Moldova´s activities in 2010 to our partners and the general public. In doing so, we have structured this report as to present SFM´s activities in all the priority areas of its institutional mandate as set by the Board, comprising such critical areas as independence and efficiency of justice, media independence and access to information, good governance and transparency of decision-making, citizens’ participation in decision-making and fight against discrimination. To this end, the Foundation has furthered the development of its programs through advocacy and monitoring activities, knowledge based/knowledge sharing and technical assistance projects. In the area of Access to Justice, one of the most relevant features of the year was creating a Pilot Network of Community-based Paralegals in the country. The Foundation, with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), made one more step forward in the legal aid movement by launching a network of 30 community-based paralegals. 14 of them are also working in the social protection area and, therefore, the network sets the background for a mixed system of delivering basic legal aid and information in rural areas; the primary legal advice and education is correlated to the social work for the most marginalized strata of the population. The creation of this network brings not only added value to the access to justice reform movement, but also substantially changes the focus towards legal empowerment of the poor to participate in the decision-making processes. This is viewed as a direct contribution of the legal aid system towards improving the quality of governance by offering the poor people courage and voice. The paralegals started their activity in November 2010. The project team developed and equipped the community paralegals with two guidebooks – “The Citizen’s Legal Guide” and “Methodological Guide for Paralegals”- which were developed using the best worldwide experience in the primary legal aid area. It relies on the experience of South Africa, the Netherlands, Great Britain but also Mongolia and Sierra Leon. The guides are practical tools, developed to help the paralegals in their daily work and serve as a simplified source of legal information for the public. The high point of SFM’s advocacy activities was probably the positive results achieved in advancing policy reform in several critical areas due to the advocacy efforts of a group of nongovernmental organizations, supported by the Soros Foundation-Moldova and the Swedish Agency for Development and Cooperation, to name just three of them. For the last four years, a coalition of Moldovan nongovernmental organizations advocated for a law on volunteering that was approved by the Parliament in 2010. The purpose of the law is to promote and facilitate citizens’ participation in voluntary civic activities. It stipulates the volunteers’ rights and obligations, the responsibilities of the host institutions, as well as policies and measures for encouraging volunteering. The Association of Young Historians, a local organization representing recognized historians, used advocacy instruments with success for the adoption of a law on preserving the archeological heritage, aimed at ensuring a coherent legal framework for safeguarding the national archeological heritage, in line with the conventions and recommendations of UNESCO and Council of Europe. With our projects, we have concentrated in developing the capacities of local civil society actors to create and implement their own policy reform agendas. Due to their concerted efforts, the law on the public utility of public associations advocated for by the Council of Nongovernmental Organizations from Moldova was approved in 2010 by the Moldovan Parliament. The new law states the criteria for obtaining a public utility certificate and other requirements that are meant to increase the transparency of public associations. It also includes regulations regarding the forms of support for a public utility organization offered by the state and local public. The foundation’s monitoring activities focused on a number of issues including the central public administration reform, human rights, EU-Moldova relations, etc., triggering, among other things, accountable and transparent governance and a knowledge/evidence-based policymaking. In May 2010, the Soros Foundation-Moldova launched the first independent comprehensive report on Monitoring the Central Public Administration (CPA) Reform in Moldova. The report carried out by 12 independent local experts, evaluated the first four years of the reform implementation (2006 – 2009) 3 and was presented to all interested stakeholders. It offered an al ternative analysis to the yearly governmental reports and an objective and critical view on the actions undertaken in those four years highlighting some serious drawbacks in reform implementation and formulating recommendations for its enhancement. Another highlight of the year was the Annual Independent Progress Report on the EU-Moldova Relations presented to the European Commission. During the last four years, the Soros Foundation- Moldova supported independent monitoring by civil society of the EU-Moldova relations progress in the context of the Eastern Partnership Initiative. The report was successfully developed and presented to all interested stakeholders. In 2010, for the first time ever, a summary annual report analyzing Moldova’s progress towards the European integration was drafted and presented to the European Commission as an alternative independent source of information from the civil society perspective to feed into the 2010 Country Progress Report developed by the European Commission. In 2010, the foundation provided assistance to central and local governments to improve their performance and decision-making practices. During the last two years, the Soros Foundation- Moldova and LGI/OSI –Budapest supported the „Chişinău Municipality Development Project” implemented by UNDP in partnership with the Chişinău Mayor’s office through such activities as the development of the Chişinău Mayor’s office functional analysis and supporting the activity of the working group for drafting the Anti-Crisis and Economic Recovery Action Plan. As a result, on September 23, 2010, the Chişinău Municipality Council approved the Anti-Crisis and Economic Recovery Action Plan for 2010-2012, providing for four objectives of enhancing the budgetary incomes, enhancing the efficiency of public services, supporting economic development and developing administrative capacity, targeting social-economic development of the Chişinău municipality. The foundation continued its long-time efforts in securing and protecting the rights of marginalized groups including the right of children and adults with disabilities to live and participate in the community as equal citizens. In particular, the Community for All initiative, a partnership between civil society and government, implemented by Keystone Human Services International, Moldova, worked to bring about the shift from large residential institutions to care in the community for people with mental disabilities, in a sustainable manner. This was achieved through the development of community-based services for residents of an institution for boys with severe mental disabilities from Orhei, and by establishing the legal framework