ADEPT’s School of Local Elected Officials carried out an activity in Mereșeuca (Ocnița) dedicated to strengthening dialogue between local public administration and the business community.

The initiative aimed to support the village mayor, Ala Tomai, a graduate of the School, in creating a discussion platform with local economic operators. Most participants—farmers accustomed to managing issues individually—were invited to speak openly about their needs, challenges, and development ideas. Such local partnerships are important because they bring public administration and the business sector to the same table, creating the conditions for joint and sustainable local-level solutions.

Initiating dialogue is not without challenges, especially in communities where such practices are not yet common. People need time to voice their concerns and to build confidence that change can also originate from within the community. This point was also emphasized by the coordinator of the School of Local Elected Officials, Grigore Stegărescu, who noted that “challenges exist everywhere. What matters is knowing how to see and capitalize on the potential right next to you.” In Mereșeuca, discussions quickly evolved from identifying problems to outlining concrete ideas.

According to the local administration, the village—with fewer than one thousand residents—faces a lack of drinking water, both for household consumption and agriculture. An important outcome of the meeting was the identification of a common solution: the involvement of the mayor’s office and the community, through collective voluntary work, in constructing a water storage basin fed by a spring. “We have already managed to achieve things together—the mini-football field for children, and now we are preparing to launch the works for renovating the village Cultural Center,” Ala Tomai mentioned, referring to the concrete steps contributing to positive change in the locality.

Discussions also addressed the issue of limited resources, opening the topic of inter-municipal cooperation and voluntary amalgamation, explained by Inna Vrînceanu. For small localities, voluntary amalgamation represents an opportunity to more easily access funding, provide more efficient public services, and strengthen administrative capacity. The School of Local Elected Officials has organized similar meetings in other communities as well, including Zubrești, where dialogue between local public administration and the business sector led to the identification of concrete development solutions. In this context, Mereșeuca follows a similar path, based on dialogue, measured steps, and direct community involvement.

Project supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chișinău.