Community School Development Project in Moldova (phase III)

Project duration: April, 2010 – March, 2012

Implementer: Programul Educațional Pas cu Pas/ Step by Step Moldova

Financial support: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Other partners: ISSA (International Step by Step Association), Ukranian Step by Step Foundation, ContinYou (UK), Helping Hand Moldavia  (Netherlands), UNICEF Moldova, LED (Liechtenstein Development Services), Center for Children with Special Needs “Sperantsa” (Moldova)

Project objective: democratization of both classroom practice and school governance, building school-community partnerships for sustainable local development, and developing the nationwide community school network,

During the third phase of project implementation the focus was on:

Extension of the network of Community Schools

Other 12 institutions from rural communities joined the network of Community Schools. These were the schools from the regions with already established Community Schools, whose example enhanced their application.

The local projects initiated and implemented by the new schools was diverse: vocational courses (woodworking, computer training, handicraft; development of the Community Newsletter; Parent’s school, volunteering, etc.).

Training component

The trainings helped schools to make a more considerable change by transforming their inner culture and creating of learning communities.  A series of local trainings have been proposed to these schools on building a learning community based on the principles of an active community school: learning through cooperation and  partnership with family and community; meaningful learning based on community resources, child-centered learning, inclusive education, life-long learning. Total number of participants – 375 teachers

CS Conference

The conference Community School Development – step by step towards an active society, attended by 53 representatives from 45 community schools, was an opportunity for the network building and for sharing experiences about school transformation and about the local projects implemented (Projects fair).