Asociatia Obsteasca “Instituttum Virtutes Civilis” (IVC)

IVC is an independent and apolitical think tank, founded in the Republic of Moldova in 2017, to promote participatory democracy and good governance and to contribute to strengthening the rule of law. Since then, IVC has invested in local public authorities' capacities to enhance the transparency of decisional processes. We have worked with young people, encouraging them to become vanguards for the promotion and protection of democracy and build their skills for civic engagement, thus ensuring that their voices are heard in their communities. We invested in women's involvement in decision-making and active participation in electoral processes as candidates and influencers, both at the local and central levels of public administration. We contributed to strengthening the capacities of more than 100 CSOs from different districts of the Republic of Moldova for active participation and contribution to public policy development and implementation, as well as for monitoring the transparency of decision-making and public expenditures, development of social services, and public communication skills. We invested in local and central authorities to consolidate their capacities to address human rights challenges, integrate gender equality into local governance, and develop gender-sensitive policies. In the last 4 years, IVC empowered over 200 representatives of local and regional CSOs and Local Initiative Groups to effectively monitor public policy implementation and public spending. The trained CSOs were also assisted in developing Civic Engagement Action Plans outlining where and how they intend to engage with the local government. IVC implemented additional activities to strengthen capacities for good governance of women elected in public positions (mayors, local, district, and municipal councillors). Particularly interesting for this project is that the President of IVC before starting with IVC in 2017 had been Vice-speaker of the Moldovan Parliament for 7 years.