Today, on January 25, Minister of Education, Culture and Research Monica Babuc, had a meeting with the Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Republic of Moldova, Margareta Tileva, and with the education specialist of Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Alexandra Solano Rocha.

At the beginning of discussion, Monica Babuc expressed thanks to the UNICEF Moldova and to the GPE mission for their constant support in developing projects which are intended to provide the access of all children from the Republic of Moldova to quality education. “We are open to continue the collaboration with our development partners, whose actions have proven their viability and relevance. We rely on UNICEF and GPE support in the evaluation and implementation of educational policy documents, in increasing the access to the early education, and the rehabilitation of school infrastructure”, said the official.

For its part, Margareta Tileva appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research in recovering the educational system. At the same time, the Deputy Representative of UNICEF Moldova was impressed by the success that Republic of Moldova has achieved in the process of integrating the children with special educational needs, including through restructuring the residential system aimed at ensuring and respecting the child’s right to grow up in the family environment. In context, we note that, on January 24, a Government Decision was approved, which provides the return of children to their families or their placement in alternative family environments and their integration into school.

The main subject of the discussion was the possibility of GPE to finance certain actions in education, including the sector analysis for the new strategy in the field, related to “Moldova 2030” Strategy and to the Objectives for Durable Development (the ODDs). Thereby, given that the Republic of Moldova meets the eligibility criteria for accessing a grant from the GPE multiplication Fund, in worth up to 5 million USD, Alexandra Solano Rocha has expressed the availability of the organization she represents to provide an expertise for a large evaluation of the implementation of the “Education 2020” Strategy and for financing “The development Plan for the educational sector in Republic of Moldova”.

In the end, the parties agreed to intensify the tripartite cooperation and to examine the possibility of applying to the GPE multiplication Fund.