The Public Institution ”E-Governance Agency” (EGA) invited mayors from rural areas in the country to a webinar dedicated to consultations on the possibility to extend the CUPS (Unified Centres for Public Service Provision) Project.

Today, about 20 representatives of the local public authorities, who expressed interest in joining the CUPS Project, participated in discussion with EGA Director Olga Tumuruc and LPA Portfolio Manager, Tatiana Sincovschi, about the opportunity for public authorities in rural localities to become part of the CUPS Project and bring innovation to the mayor’s office. The participants were also informed about the eligibility conditions to participate in the project and the discussions focused on the advantages of modernising public service provision and the undeniable benefits for the population of the villages.

These include:

• -  improved access to public services;
• -  increased efficiency and quality of services;
• -  increased citizens’ satisfaction with the provision of public services;
• -  affordable services close to where people live;
• -  digital literacy for the rural population to access e-services.

 “We have clear eligibility conditions, since this is a an activity of high responsibility, in which we are supposed to provide public services to the population in a different manner, abiding by high quality standards, and this implies a commitment to be made by LPA in this process”, said Olga Tumuruc, EGA Director.

At the same time, CUPS project coordinator, Tatiana Sincovschi, urged local authorities to fill in the form for participation in the project and send it to EGA, which would collect and examine the expression of interest from the LPAs, after which other stages would follow to select the municipalities that will benefit from support through the MGSP project, financed by the World Bank Group.

“Now is the right time to bring innovation to the mayor’s office. We have an obligation to provide villagers with barrier-free access to a wide range of public services, with no need to travel to rayon centres. They must receive everything from the mayor’s office. It is the obligation of public authorities to provide all necessary assistance to the population, in line with the requirements of the technological process”, Tatiana Sincovschi said.

The webinar was attended by representatives of the Moldova Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova (CALM), Diaspora Relations Bureau, representatives of public libraries, as wells as mayors and mayor’s office specialists from different areas of the country.

As a reminder, in December 2021, the CUPS pilot process started in 17 municipalities in rural areas of Moldova, and the project will be extended until 2023.

In order to benefit from support for the establishment of CUPS in the locality that you manage, please read the Government Decision No.322 of 10-11-2021 on Piloting Unified Centres for Public Service Provision: https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=128549....

The application form for piloting the CUPS project is attached to this press release.