In Moldova, the Fund operates through its local office. Created through a Polish-Moldovan intergovernmental agreement in 2012, the office has since been managing the Information Centre for Local Authorities. The Centre’s activities receive funding from Polish Development Cooperation and other donors, such as EuropeAid, USAID, British AID, International Visegrad Fund, and the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Solidarity Fund PL’s partners in Moldova also include central authorities, self-governments, NGOs, local entrepreneurs, foreign organisations (e.g. UNDP, People in Need — a Czech organisation), as well as Polish institutions committed to development cooperation in the country (Ministry of Economic Development, self-governments, NGOs).

The key focus of the Centre is supporting local development. In rural areas, in collaboration with UNDP and USAID, the Centre has been piloting the implementation of the EU systemic approach to development — LEADER/CLLD (Community-Led Local Development) — by supporting the creation of the first Moldovan Local Action Groups (LAGs), i.e. partnerships of institutions and persons representing local public, private, and social interests who work together with a common vision to develop the area where they live. The Centre plans to contribute to the creation of about 20 LAGs across Moldova between 2017 and 2018. The Fund also supports elaboration of Local Development Strategies within the Small Projects Programme and finances local development pilot projects, including those supporting small and micro entrepreneurship. Additionally, the Centre supports local development initiatives in Transnistria, a territory outside the central government’s control, through promoting Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) and collaboration with Moldovan regions on the other bank of the Dniester.

In the cities, the Fund promotes revitalisation in cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Economic Development. As a part of this project, the Centre collaborates with a group of 14 selected Moldovan cities that receive support for the elaboration of the Urban Revitalisation Plans, which take into consideration Polish experiences in that field. The project also includes funding of Pilot Revitalisation Plans in some cities.

The Centre collaborates closely with the Moldovan Ministry of Regional Development and Construction , contributing to execution of legislative and institutional solutions that would allow embedding both mechanisms (LEADER and revitalisation) into the Moldovan policy of regional and local development.