The war in Ukraine has forced millions of people to flee their homes and seek safety in other places. The Republic of Moldova, being one of the closest countries, has received a significant number of refugees since the escalation of the war in February 2022, many of whom have decided to stay in the country. This article focuses on the Community Service Centre (CSCs) rehabilitated by Acted in partnership with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency to promote social cohesion and improve access to services for all. The newly opened centre is located in Cahul, a town in southern Moldova on the border with Romania and Ukraine, where refugees and local communities gather.
Hanna – a Project Coordinator of the centre
As an essential part of the refugee response, Acted provides services to newly arrived refugees in Moldova, from reception at the border to improving infrastructure in accommodation centres and public facilities that render service for refugees and locals.
In 2023, Acted partnered with UNHCR to support Ukrainian refugees with transport, accommodation, and information services. Additionally, Acted renovated the CSC in Cahul to enhance the living conditions of vulnerable groups and promote social cohesion between the refugee and local communities.
Children making handmade Valentine's boxes at a centre event
At the Cahul centre, we met Hanna. She came from a large city in eastern Ukraine. Before the full-scale war, Hanna had her own private business and worked in parallel as a marketer.
After she settled in Moldova, Hanna started working with Laolalta, a Moldavan non-governmental organisation that promotes citizen involvement in community mobilisation and cooperation with public authorities and is now a Project Coordinator at the Cahul centre supported by Acted.
Acted, in partnership with UNHCR, supports community centres to be safe and public places where women, men, boys and girls of diverse backgrounds can meet for social events, recreation, education and livelihood programmes, information exchange, and other purposes. They are established with the main objective of empowering refugee and host communities and providing them with a forum to promote their participation in decisions that affect their lives.
The centre serves as an educational and cultural hub, offering a variety of activities, including workshops for both adults and children.
Thanks to the combined efforts of international and national NGOs, the host community, and people coming from Ukraine, the community centre in Cahul has become a lively and popular place in the city. And the inspiring stories of the women give us even more motivation to create a 3Zero World.
For more information, please visit https://laolalta.md/en/
