The Project "Enhanced Environmental Community - a more responsible society" was implemented during February 2021 ? September 2022 by the Association of Environmental Journalists and Ecological Tourism in Moldova with the financing of the GEF Small Grants Program, implemented by UNDP and financial support from Sweden. The primary objective of the project was to have an informed and engaged in environmental issues society, by a strong and effective environmental community.
The specific objectives of the project were:
1. The participation of at least 5,000 citizens in the Environment Day, an annual meeting of the population with the environmental community.
2. At least 20 members of the environmental community in the Republic of Moldova possess professional skills in promoting, organizing events and communicating with the general public.
3. At least 10 members of the environmental community from the Republic of Moldova participate in the organization of Environment Day and create partnerships/collaborations.
4. Journalists and civil society have direct access to a common database on the environmental community and the specific fields they represent.
During the implementation, the project activities were geared to the environmental community, including beneficiaries of GEF SGP grants, potential beneficiaries, and the general public. They were directly involved in project activities: trainings, team buildings, study visits, and last but not least Environmental Day festival.
? in 2021: Participants in the Environment Day - over 5000 women, men and children, mostly from Chisinau; In 2022 - 7000 participants of the Environment Day;
? Team building - 10 men and women, leaders in the community;
? Training - 20 men and women from the environmental community;
? Landing page - about 50 journalists, 50 community members.
During the project, the following results were obtained:
? In 2021 - #3138 people met/interacted with the environmental community in a common setting - physically participated in the Environment Day Festival. The virtual version of the festival, on Facebook, had 26,227 interactions with the Facebook posts. In 2022 - #9404 people met/interacted with the environmental community in a common setting, about 9404 people physically participated in the Environment Day Festival. The virtual version of the festival had 9133 interactions with Facebook posts.
? Representatives from 10 organizations from the environmental community participated in the team-building on June 2, 2021. In 2022 the team building was attended by twelve people representing nine organizations in the environmental community.
? In 2021 - #20 representative participants from 14 environmental organizations, including grantees of SGP Moldova participated in the training. They have knowledge and skills in SMM, writing texts, writing and implementing communication strategies, branding, etc. In 2022 - #20 representative participants from 14 environmental organizations, including grantees of SGP Moldova participated in the training. They have knowledge and skills in SMM, writing texts, writing and implementing communication strategies, branding, etc.
? In 2022, the Association of Environmental Journalists and Ecological Tourism in Moldova created an online database, necessary as a common database of the environmental community, and supports the creation of an overview of it. The page comes to help journalists and other interested people find information on certain specific environmental topics from relevant people and professionals. More than 70 experts are currently included in the database. The database will be supplemented along the way as new experts are identified who are available to provide expertise for the media. Also within this objective, a press visit was organized, from the savings to the project, attended by about 20 people, including 15 journalists, together with members of the environmental community. During the press visit, I went to Cantemir and V?leni (Cahul), where projects from the GEF-SGP funds were implemented, and the journalists were able to realize current topics, on topics such as: energy efficiency, the use of energy resources - photovoltaic panels, solar collectors, sustainable development of the locality, etc.
The project we implemented contributed to increasing the visibility and awareness of environmental topics in society, promoting good environmental practices, community involvement, attracting the general public to environmental activities - all contributing to the empowerment of citizens.
We learned during the project that close cooperation with partners and beneficiaries is indispensable, and this cooperation needs to be continuously maintained and encouraged. Another lesson is in the importance of applying effective routine administrative models in managing project activities, adjusting budgets properly and adjusting working methods according to challenges (e.g. during pandemic, war, etc.). The satellite activities taught us to listen to the needs of the beneficiaries and to react promptly to their needs, to be flexible to adjust the program or widen the possibilities of participation.
In the same way, we learned that the development of partnerships ensures our sustainability beyond the borders of the project.
We believe that all the lessons learned during the project will be useful for a successful realization of the next similar projects of the Association of Environmental Journalists and Ecological Tourism.