In 2021 we continued to think about our projects always focusing on the small changes we can make. We believe in evidence-based public policies that serve the needs of all citizens and we hope that we have been able to actively contribute to the development of coherent practices and policies, as well as to the civic space in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
We worked with exceptional local partners on 11 local, regional, and European projects.
We organised 13 online debates and events on topics such as the future of the Eastern Partnership and regional initiatives (Three Seas Initiative and the Crimea Platform), debated the results of the elections in Chisinau (Bravo, Moldova!) and contributed with our expertise regarding the way in which Romania could support Moldova’s European path. We continued to fight against misinformation and online propaganda with local projects and cyber security trainings.
We continued with our plans regarding the future generations of farmers and rural development, therefore some of our meetings and debates focused on the importance of vocational and technical education and, especially, agricultural high schools (if we want to have locally produced food in the future), but also on Food Hubs as key tools to coagulate and enable marketing for local production by small farmers.
It is always important to connect with local communities, so, in 2021, we started a marathon of work with community foundations in four cities where we try to link the needs of the citizen more closely with the priorities of the administration. This allowed us to notice the extent to which they were connected to each other.
We published 16 public policy reports, research papers and reviews on the agricultural associative sector, fake news, propaganda and disinformation, national elections, local government best practices, anti-corruption, youth, or civic activism.
We continued to monitor and publish what is happening in the region, especially in the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, and Georgia.
We wrote a lot about the Republic of Moldova, and we hope that Romania will keep its promises and will manage to support Chisinau’s European path with fairmindedness.
Learn more about our public policy reports, our research, and reviews in our annual report.
We would like to thank all our collaborators, volunteers, partners, and funders for your trust and for everything we achieved together in 2021.
We hoped for a kinder and safer 2022, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed many of our expectations after the turbulent years of the COVID-19 pandemic (which, unfortunately, still continues to this day). 2022 also brought the only chance for our neighbours: the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine became candidate countries of the European Union. They deserve our full support.
Warmest regards!
The CRPE Team