The project, implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, aims to improve local governance in the Republic of Moldova by strengthening multilevel dialogue, supporting the Public Administration Reform, promoting open government principles, and ensuring that a human rights-based approach is integrated into local decision-making processes.

To achieve these goals, the project will offer a wide range of opportunities, including: training and capacity-development, awareness-raising initiatives, policy dialogues, expert advice and technical support. In addition, a small grants programme will provide financial support to encourage innovation and strengthen partnerships between local authorities and civil society, ultimately leading to more effective and responsive local governance.

The project builds on earlier co-operation initiatives that the Congress has implemented in the Republic of Moldova since 2020, all of which focused on strengthening multilevel governance. The current project is also aligned and contributes to the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova (2025-2028), and reflects the Council of Europe’s commitments outlined in the Reykjavík Declaration, where Member States emphasised that local governments have a crucial role to play to uphold and promote human rights.

Residents of the Republic of Moldova are the ones who will benefit from the project as it will help their local public authorities at all levels become more transparent, inclusive, and responsive to people’s concerns and needs.

Key project partners are:

• Local and regional authorities in the Republic of Moldova
• Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova (CALM)
• Government of the Republic of Moldova and State Chancellery
• Parliament of the Republic of Moldova
• People's Advocate Office
• Civil society organisations

The project focuses on strengthening local self-government in the Republic of Moldova by encouraging dialogue across levels of government and promoting laws, policies, and practices that are rights-based, transparent, accountable, participatory, and inclusive.

The project has three main lines of action:

• Increasing the knowledge of local authorities, their national association, and central authorities on good governance and local democracy principles and standards, and providing support to public authorities at all levels to implement the Public Administration Reform Strategy;
• Supporting local and central authorities in integrating open government principles into their everyday work;
• Assessing how human rights are protected at the local level in the Republic of Moldova, and working to build stronger cooperation between local and central authorities, as well as with civil society, in order to promote inclusion and to protect human rights at the local level.

By the end of the project, we hope to see that:

• Central and local authorities regularly take part in structured and inclusive discussions and consultations. This will strengthen the multilevel governance and will support the implementation of the public administration reform.
• Both central and local authorities show a clear commitment to the principles of open government, by implementing relevant policies and strategies at the local level, in line with the Council of Europe standards.
• Local authorities work closely with the People’s Advocate Office and use a human rights-based approach when developing and implementing their policies and practices.