Acted Moldova has been working on humanitarian and development projects in country since March 2022, supporting the socio-economic resilience of host communities and responding to the needs of refugees from Ukraine. Among the mission's activities are the management of Refugee Accommodation Centers for Ukrainian refugees, the support of civil society organisations that implement community-based protection programming, the support disaster-risk management and the improvement of the local populations’ resilience to localised shocks and stressors.
Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe with almost one quarter of its population below the national poverty line. Household income is largely dependent on remittances; consequently, the country has experienced massive economic out-migration. This emigration leaves behind a shrinking and aging population especially in rural areas, characterized by a lack of reliable and quality services.
Since February 24th, 2022, Moldova has been one of the countries most affected by the war in Ukraine due its proximity to the conflict (politically, economically and geographically), and maintains a heavy reliance on commodity imports from Ukraine and Russia. Since the begining of the conflict, 1,142,655 people have crossed the border from Ukraine to Moldova and 123,297 refugees remain in the country.
Acted works in Moldova to respond to the needs of Ukrainian refugees, host communities and vulnerable populations. Acted’s operations in Moldova are structured around both, short term emergency response actions and Medium / long-term interventions. Through short-term emergency response programmes, Acted has provided Ukrainian refugees with accommodation and transportation assistance (from the Palanca and Otaci border crossings) and has provided technical support to official Refugee Accommodation Centres (RACs) across the country. Additionally, Acted has worked to build safety needs for refugees and host communities through the provision of multipurpose cash assistance and hygiene kits. In the long term, Acted is working to boost disaster preparedness and disaster-risk reduction through continued support to local authorities and civil society, as well as aiming to boost the socio–economic resilience of vulnerable communities.
Acted is committed to its 2020-2025 programme strategy, which includes 3ZERO, towards a world of Zero Carbon, Zero Exclusion, Zero Poverty. The mission in Moldova primarily addresses the Zero Poverty Pillar by providing access to basic services such as non-food items or the distribution of hygiene kits to the Ukrainian refugees in the refugee accommodation centres or at the borders. In addition, the Zero Exclusion Pillar is linked to the humanitarian actions carried out by Acted, such as the transport of Ukrainian refugees from the Palanca and Otaci crossing points on the Moldova-Ukraine border.
Since 2023, Acted has been implementing new projects in Moldova aimed at strengthening local resilience to the negative effects of the hazards that hit this country every year.