Moldova

UNICEF purchased a batch of educational materials and sports equipment, with a total value of over $70,000 to be made available to preschoolers and primary school children. One of these sets reached 6-year-old Adelina in Nisporeni.
Supporting children with special needs in Moldova during COVID-19
To support Moldova’s efforts to keep students learning during the pandemic, GPE provided a US$70,000 grant through UNICEF to support the country's COVID-19 response. The funds have been used to provide learning materials and sports equipment to the most disadvantaged students, particularly those with special needs who are more likely to experience challenges with online learning.

COVID-19 response

In late March 2020, the UNICEF office in Moldova received a GPE grant of US$70,000 to support the Ministry of Education with developing a COVID-19 response plan in coordination with donors and development partners.

Moldova has used to funds to increase access to distance learning by providing IT devices for students and teachers and distributing learning packages to the most deprived children with no access to technologies.

To ensure the quality of distance learning and child well-being, educators were trained online on how to work with parents to support the education of young children.

Education in Moldova

The government of Moldova identifies education as a national priority and recognizes the role of education in building a knowledge-based society. Education is considered as a determinant of quality of life and opportunities. The education sector in the country is transitioning from a centralized, traditional system to a student-centered one.

Moldova’s main challenges relate to early childhood education coverage, especially for minority and disadvantaged children, and the management, monitoring, and evaluation of the education sector.

Education 2020, the country's sector plan, encompasses seven strategic objectives:

  1. Increase access and level of participation in education and training by expanding access to quality pre-school education, providing access to inclusive education and a 12-year general compulsory education, increase attractiveness and access to vocational/technical education, and increase participation in higher education and adult training programs.
  2. Ensure relevance of study for life, active citizenship, and career success through adjusting the content of early education, ensuring the relevance of primary, secondary, and vocational/technical education, modernizing university curriculum, and promoting scientific research.
  3. Ensure the effective integration of ICT in education through providing educational institutions with modern equipment, developing digital literacy, and increasing the efficiency of school management through information technology.
  4. Develop, support, and motivate teachers to ensure quality education through increasing the attractiveness of the teaching profession, balancing the supply and demand of teachers, improving initial teacher training, and creating an efficient system of continuous training.
  5. Design and institutionalize an effective system of evaluation, monitoring, and quality assurance of the education system through developing national standards and creating an institutional framework for quality assurance.
  6. Optimizing resource management through improving educational institutions planning and management, achieving efficiency in educational financing, modernizing the infrastructure of educational institutions, and providing textbooks and teaching materials.
  7. Achieving social cohesion while providing quality education through expanding students’ participation in decision-making, ensuring effective parent education, and developing partnerships in the field of education.

Latest blogs and news

February 02, 2023
Japan pledges over US$5 million to GPE
The majority of the funds will be directed to countries in conflict –US$4 million will go to education efforts in Somalia and US$500,000 will go to Moldova’s support for refugees.
September 12, 2018
New grant for Moldova
The Global Partnership for Education Secretariat approved US$250,000 for Moldova to conduct a mid-term review of the current education sector strategy.

Latest grant

A few students pose for the camera in a primary school in Moldova.

A few students pose for the camera in a primary school in Moldova.

CREDIT: GPE
Development objective: improve the access, quality and inclusiveness of preschool education in Moldova.
Allocation: US$4,672,895
Years: 2022-2025
Grant agent: UNICEF
Utilization: US$34,901

The most recent GPE grant of US$4.35 million was focused on improving access, quality, and inclusiveness of preschool education.

The four components of the grant were:

  1. Increasing access to preschool education through rehabilitating or renovating infrastructure and equipping facilities with furniture, equipment, and pedagogic materials.
  2. Extending access to preschools to special needs and vulnerable children through:
    • promoting integrated inclusive early childhood development services
    • supporting architectural adjustments to premises
    • providing equipment required for establishment of centers for children with disabilities.
  1. Improving the quality of preschool education through:
    • revising the preschool norms and regulations
    • providing teacher training
    • developing teaching materials
    • developing and piloting a school readiness assessment tool.
  2. Strengthening project management, monitoring and evaluation, and communication.

The ministry of education led the program with the World Bank as grant agent and UNICEF as coordinating agency.

Source: World Bank project appraisal document. July 2011

Grants

All amounts are in US dollars.

Grant type Years Allocations Utilization Grant agent
Multiplier 2022-2025 4,672,895 34,901 UNICEF
2023 5,000,000 0 WB
Program implementation 2012-2014 4,353,014 4,353,014 WB
2006-2010 8,768,414 8,768,414 WB
Sector plan development 2020-2022 250,000 250,000 UNICEF
2018-2019 250,000 250,000 UNICEF
Program development 2023 200,000 0 WB
2022 27,700 27,700 UNICEF
  Total 23,522,023 13,684,029  
Data last updated: May 26, 2023

As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting the Alliance of Active NGOs in the field of Child and Family Social Protection (APSCF) for the 2019-2021 period.

This builds on 11 years of Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) support to national education coalitions for their engagement in education sector policy dialogue.

GPE had provided the Alliance of Active NGOs in the field of Child and Family Social Protection (APSCF) with a grant from the CSEF to support its engagement in education sector policy dialogue and citizens’ voice in education quality, equity, and financing and sector reform.

Last updated May 27, 2021