Expert-Grup, Soroca City Hall and the “DACIA” Youth Resource Centre Sign a Cooperation Memorandum to Boost Local Budget Transparency

The partners pledged mutual support to increase budget transparency in Soroca by informing citizens comprehensively and promptly about how public money is allocated and spent, and by involving them in every stage of the budget process. Project coordinator Dumitru Budianschi called the memorandum a first step, with City Hall taking a leading role in a close partnership. Deputy mayor Mihail Grabciuc said the City Hall holds public hearings and uses social media to gather citizens' views. Ion Babici, president of “DACIA”, stressed the need to develop a culture of citizen participation.

The project is implemented by Expert-Grup with support from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bucharest, under the MATRA programme. It seeks to raise understanding, awareness and monitoring of budgeting, budget cycles and documents among residents and local civil society, and to empower residents to play a more active role in consultations and oversight of local budgets.