A new playroom has been inaugurated at the Lower Secondary School of Popeasca, in the Ștefan Vodă District, in the presence of the Italian Ambassador to Moldova, Lorenzo Tomassoni, and Pietro Pipi, Head of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) office in Kyiv. This initiative is part of the emergency program for Ukraine and neighboring countries, funded by Italian Cooperation with a total of 46.5 million euros, of which 6.5 million euros are specifically allocated to Moldova.
The opening of the playroom, the first of four, is the result of the “PACE: Protection, Acceptance, Culture, Education” program, funded by Italian Cooperation with a contribution of 1.2 million euros and implemented by the organization Amici dei Bambini, in collaboration with local partners Demos and O.A. Centrul de Cooperare Sud. The initiative aims to support families (totaling over 14,000 people) through interventions aimed at strengthening school facilities, training educational staff, improving access to social and health services, integrating into the labor market, and providing psychosocial support in the Moldovan districts of Ștefan Vodă, Căușeni, Anenii Noi, Dondușeni, and Edineț.
The Ștefan Vodă district, where the playroom was inaugurated, is located close to the border and has 5,617 students, 11% of whom are of Ukrainian origin. The significant presence of children and young people from war zones has made it necessary to implement measures to facilitate their integration into the local education system.
Over the last two and a half years, Italy has allocated 45 million euros to Moldova through Italian Cooperation and the Migration Fund via projects implemented in collaboration with various UN agencies, including UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDP, and IOM. Over the next three years, it will continue to support the country with an additional 45 million euros. For the first time, part of the projects will be implemented by Italian and Moldovan Civil Society Organizations, with the overall goal of jointly supporting the country’s efforts in stability and development.
During the ceremony, Ambassador Tomassoni stated: “The framework of bilateral relations is excellent. In close cooperation with the Moldovan government, we are operating effectively and concretely in favor of the Moldovan population and the Ukrainian refugees it hosts. In this way, we also support Moldova’s process of joining the European Union.”
Pietro Pipi, Head of AICS Kyiv, noted that, during the summer, the AICS project also organized a summer camp that involved Ukrainian and Moldovan children, promoting, in a full European spirit, an atmosphere of integration and sharing between the two communities.
Several local authorities attended the inauguration ceremony, including Olga Luchian, President of the Ștefan Vodă District Council, Raisa Burduja, Director of the Ștefan Vodă Education Directorate, and Diana Zmeu, Director of the Lower Secondary School of Popeasca. The ribbon-cutting was entrusted to a Moldovan girl and a Ukrainian boy, symbolizing the integration between the two communities and the building of a shared European future.
