- Members’ Stories
The interview was conducted with Sergiu Gurau, Executive Director of Eco-Răzeni.
Eco-Răzeni is a member of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and an NGO based in Moldova whose creation dates back to 1998. Since its beginnings, the NGO has aimed to improve socio-economic conditions, especially those of young people; a vulnerable group that is often exposed to the risks such as emigration, poverty, unemployment, and limited access to quality education and information.
Eco-Răzeni has worked in various fields with the involvement of young people and for young people on topics such as facilitating access to information, providing trainings in IT and communication technologies, providing ecological education, and promoting the participation of young people in community life.
Read on to discover more about one of their projects below:
Could you briefly describe the Ialoveni Youth Fund project operated by Eco-Răzeni?
Sergiu Gurau: “The Ialoveni Youth Fund is a mini-grant program dedicated to young people in the Ialoveni district. It has been active since April 2010 and is implemented by Eco-Răzeni, in partnership with and using funds allocated by the Ialoveni District Council, following the Youth Bank International methodology.
“Its mission is to empower young people themselves: young people propose ideas, evaluate their peers’ projects, and decide which initiatives deserve funding.”
The Fund operates through competitive rounds held twice a year (in the spring and fall), in which teams of 3–7 young people from communities across the district submit small-scale projects with local impact—such as cultural, civic, environmental, sports, or personal development activities—implemented with budgets of approximately 500 euros per project. To date, the Fund has supported over 780 projects with a total budget of over 490 thousand euros, representing one of the longest-running and most consistent implementations of the Youth Bank methodology in the Republic of Moldova.”
Do you plan to expand the grants offered to regions outside the Ialoveni district? If so, to which regions? Do you hope this project will become a national standard in Moldova in the future?
Sergiu Gurau: “The Ialoveni Youth Fund was designed as a district-level program, deeply rooted in the community and local government of Ialoveni District. Its sustainability stems precisely from this local integration, the partnership with the Ialoveni District Council and social actors in the region, an understanding of the local context, and the relationships built over 15 years of activity.
We do not plan to expand directly into other districts, as the Youth Bank model works best when it is locally owned and co-funded, rather than imported. Instead, we actively support the replication of this methodology by other organisations in Moldova through exchanges of experience and within the civic networks in which we participate. We believe this is the right path toward national standardisation: not a centralised program, but a network of autonomous local funds, each with its own identity and community support.”
What results have you observed as a result of the project?
Sergiu Gurau: “More than 780 projects funded over 15 years represent the most visible figure. Beyond that, the most significant impact is measured in people’s life trajectories and in structural changes at the community level.
“Among the thousands of young men and women who have participated in the program, we now find 2 female mayors and 17 local council members, along with teachers, doctors, police officers, entrepreneurs, and civic activists active at the national level—people who, at the age of 15 or 16, led their first project through the Fund”
We cannot claim that the program shaped them entirely on its own, but it did offer them their first real opportunity to exercise responsibility, make decisions, and take initiative.
At the community level, in more than two-thirds of the district’s localities, young people have gained recognised status within public institutions: they are consulted on local decisions, specific funds are allocated for their initiatives, and youth participation is an institutionalised practice. This is likely the Fund’s most enduring legacy—the culture of participation it has fostered.”
