The development objective of Education Reform Project for Moldova is strengthening the quality of education while supporting the efficiency reforms being implemented in the education sector.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: (i) appropriate signposting of the sites will inform workers of key rules and regulations to follow; (ii) keep demolition debris in controlled area and spray with water mist to reduce debris dust; (iii) construction noise will be limited to restricted times agreed to in the permit; (iv) waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; (v) the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites (installation or reconstruction) must be approved by the local authorities; (vi) if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notify and obtain approval or permits from local authorities and address all construction activities in line with local and national legislation; (vii) if asbestos is located on the project site, mark clearly as hazardous material; (viii) appropriate storage facilities for medical waste are in place; and (ix) ensuring safe and continuous access to office facilities, shops and residences during renovation activities, if the buildings stay open for the public.
See Less -
The development objective of the Education Reform Project for Moldova is to strengthen the quality of education while supporting the efficiency reforms being implemented in the education sector.
... See More + Negative impacts include: dust, air quality, water pollution, cultural heritage, asbestos management, waste management, and soil erosion. Mitigation measures include: during interior demolition use debris-chutes above the first floor; keep demolition debris in controlled area and spray with water mist to reduce debris dust; suppress dust during pneumatic drilling/wall destruction by ongoing water spraying and/or installing dust screen enclosures at site; the site will establish appropriate erosion and sediment control measures such as e.g. hay bales and/or silt fences to prevent sediment from moving off site and causing excessive turbidity in nearby streams and rivers; waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; when possible the asbestos will be appropriately contained and sealed to minimize exposure; and the asbestos prior to removal (if removal is necessary) will be treated with a wetting agent to minimize asbestos dust.
See Less -
This report has been prepared to support the government of Moldova’s efforts to identify and begin to address issues and opportunities in relation to their state owned enterprises (SOEs).
... See More + The report documents the findings of Phase I technical assistance, delivered by the World Bank Governance team in collaboration with the United Kingdom's Good Governance Fund, and serves as a foundation for the development and prioritization of potential reforms. Recognizing the challenges and legacy of reforms in this area, the report outlines current practices and highlights key areas for future focus by policy makers which may help improve public ownership. The report focuses on key areas of corporate governance that are vital to ensure that SOEs operate efficiently, transparently, and in an accountable manner. It draws on publicly available data, as well as material provided by counterparts and collected from country authorities. The report makes a number of recommendations for reform. Phase 2 of this technical assistance will support implementation and capacity building in selected areas.
See Less -
This Guidebook was prepared for the purpose of supporting the development and evaluation of analyses on marginalized communities, as basis for the implementation of viable and sustainable development projects in such areas.
... See More + The document is aimed first of all at supporting future applicants for projects targeting marginalized communities; this is achieved by means of providing an extended set of quantitative and qualitative research instruments, relevant social indicators and recommendations of research options to be used both for the validation marginalized areas, and for the identification of problems and solutions specific to such territorial clusters. Second, the Guidebook is meant to serve as reference document for the evaluators of projects that include analyses on marginalized areas and communities, providing suggestions for sets of criteria which assist evaluators in the assessment of such analyses.
See Less -
The main purpose of this study is to monitor the business environment and assess the impact state policies and the regulatory requirements have on businesses operating in Moldova.
... See More + The project was carried out based on the following goals: provide the State of the Republic of Moldova and the national and international institutions with quantitative data on the cost incurred by business to comply with state regulations, provide support to the State of Moldova on quality policy analysis with a view to implement the necessary decisions to improve business and investment climates in Moldova, assist the civil society institutions that make recommendations and need to monitor their impact, establish a tool to monitor the changes in the business environment and the impact of the measures taken to reduce barriers and corruption in business.
See Less -
Romania is the fastest growing economy in the European Union (EU), and Bucharest and Romania’s secondary cities have been its main growth engines.
... See More + However, while Bucharest has reached productivity levels comparable to those of other EU capitals, secondary cities in Romania still have some ways to go before competing on equal footing with secondary cities in the EU. Without strengthening these secondary cities, the Romanian economy cannot sustain growth in the coming years. The most competitive secondary cities are those that are most astute at attracting people, investments, and tourists. This report looks at the cities that have been most successful at attracting migrants and commuters, and proposes a number of recommendations aimed at making secondary cities more attractive and competitive. The report is primarily addressed to policy makers and to a lay audience interested in urban development issues.This report is structured along four main sections: 1) An analysis of development dynamics, with a particular focus on the importance of cities in driving growth and development; 2) An analysis of migration and commuter patterns in Romania; 3) An analysis of the cities and areas that have been most successful at attracting people, and an analysis of the urban areas that will likely attract most people in the future. 4) Recommendations on how EU, national, and local policies and investments can help make secondary cities more competitive.
See Less -
Doing Business in the European Union 2017 focuses on business regulations and their enforcement in five Doing Business areas. It goes beyond Sofia, Budapest and Bucharest to benchmark 19 additional cities.
... See More + The annual Doing Business report aims to draw attention to how red tape affects small and medium-size businesses and encourage governments to look outward to learn from global good practices. This report highlights differences both among and within countries. Differences in regulatory performance across locations can help national and local policy makers to identify priority areas for reform and to find good practices that can guide the way forward. Good local and global practices are identified throughout the report, as well as opportunities for regulatory reform in each country. The study’s results are revealing: the gap between the benchmarked cities is significant, even within the same country—with the biggest regulatory differences found within Bulgaria and Romania. Yet each country also has cities that are world class in at least one area. This study will benefit our partner countries as a tool to promote competition between the cities and regions, to encourage peer learning, and to inspire policy makers to improve the ease of doing business in their jurisdictions. Small administrative improvements can make a big difference in the life of small firms—unlike larger businesses that face the same bureaucratic inefficiencies, they do not have access to the resources and skills needed to get better and faster service.
See Less -
The costs and long duration of court proceedings can be discouraging, and for the poor and micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) it can preclude access to justice entirely.
... See More + According to the latest CEPEJ data, in 2014 disposition time of first instance civil and commercial litigious cases ranged from 97 days in Lithuania to 532 in Italy, with an overall EU average of 250 days.2 Costs (comprising both lawyer and court fees) can sometimes be greater than the value of the claim. Legislators around the world have long recognized that disputes concerning smaller claims may not require the same complex procedures and rules; instead, they can be resolved in a cheaper and more efficient manner. Although small claims procedure is not a new phenomenon and has existed for decades, it has only recently gained traction. Factors such as popular demand spur more and more countries into looking for new and faster ways to deal with smaller claims, as citizens are looking for simpler, ICT-enabled ways to resolve smaller disputes. This report provides a comparative analysis of small claims procedure in the 28 EU Member States, including lessons learned and good practices, to inform EU members and candidate countries looking to introduce or reform their small claims procedure. It considers a number of dimensions, namely: court fees, thresholds, institutional set-up, use of technology, the role of lawyers, lawyer fees, and avenues of appeal.
See Less -
Moldova has experienced rapid economic growth in the past decade, which has been accompanied by reductions in poverty and good performance in shared prosperity.
... See More + Nonetheless, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe and faces challenges in sustaining the progress. The challenges for progress include spatial and cross-group inequalities, particularly because of unequal access to assets, services and economic opportunities. Moreover, strengthening the persistently weak labor markets to boost employment, especially in the nonfarm sectors, is critical for sustaining progress toward the twin goals of reducing poverty and expanding shared prosperity and for addressing the problems associated with an aging population in a fiscally responsible manner. Accordingly, ensuring the viability of the pension system and improving social assistance are necessary areas of reform, particularly in a context of fiscal pressures, the aging population, and the great vulnerability of the poor to shocks. The Moldova poverty assessment 2016 includes three prongs of analysis: this report, which explores trends and the drivers of poverty and shared prosperity, and the accompanying analyses, ‘a jobs diagnostic for Moldova’ and ‘structural transformation of Moldovan small-holder agriculture and its poverty and shared prosperity impacts.’ The jobs diagnostic explores the main labor demand and supply challenges in Moldova in more detail, while the analysis of structural transformation focuses on the agricultural sector and whether it can become a driver of progress.
See Less -
Working Paper 105722 MAY 01, 2016
Dávalos, María E.; Nguyen,Tu Chi; Matytsin,MikhailDisclosed
This report sheds light on information sources and on gaps in educational and occupational choices in Moldova by presenting findings based on original data collected in 2015.
... See More + To support the government in reinforcing Moldova’s career guidance and information systems for education and jobs, individual interviews and focus group discussions were conducted during the 2015 school year with secondary and tertiary students, graduates, parents, and teachers. The data address, for the first time in Moldova, issues related to how students make choices, what information they use and what they lack, and what assistance they find useful. As previously noted, one issue with career guidance in Moldova is that non‐school actors are only minimally involved in such activities. This report highlights how career guidance involves numerous actors well beyond the education system by examining the sources of information that students use and extensively reviewing international experience. The remainder of the report is organized as follows: section two describes the methodology of the study, with an overview of what factors into educational and occupational choices and the data used to assess the role of information in Moldova. Section three presents the main findings from both quantitative and qualitative data. Section four discusses the policy implications of the findings and presents examples from other countries of systematic educational information and career guidance that could be useful in designing reforms in Moldova.
See Less -
Working Paper 106494 APR 01, 2016
Levin,Victoria; Safir,Abla; Guallar Artal,Silvia; Johansson De Silva,Sara; Munoz Boudet,Ana MariaDisclosed
The main purpose of this study is to monitor the business environment and assess the impact government policies and the regulatory requirements have on businesses operating in Moldova.
... See More + The project was carried out based on the following goals: (i) providing the government of the Republic of Moldova and the national and international institutions with quantitative data on the cost incurred by businesses to comply with government regulations; (ii) provide support to the government of Moldova on quality policy analysis with a view to implement the necessary decisions to improve business and investment climates in Moldova; (iii) assist the civil society institutions that make recommendations and need to monitor their impact; and (iv) establish a tool to monitor the evolution of business environment and the impact of the measures taken to reduce barriers and corruption in business. The sample covers 634 companies, excluding agricultural enterprises, individuals and banking institutions and the data was collected throughout October-November 2015. The key findings were as follows: (i) compared with two years ago, the registration procedures lasted longer; (ii) the number of companies that build their premises by themselves substantially decreased; (iii) the duration of obtaining licenses reduced from 18 to 11 days and, the licensing costs were reduced by about 40 percent compared to 2013; (iv) duration of import procedures maintained a downward trend since 2012; (v) the time needed for customs procedures for export remained at the past two years level; (vi) the time for certification of individual batches of goods decreased, but it grew for certification of product lines; (vii) the share of those who need sanitary certificates has decreased in the past five years, reaching 34 percent in 2015; (viii) the frequency of inspections has decreased, but the positive effect was canceled by the increase in time spent by inspectors at a company; (ix) the conditions on the procedures of registration and taxation have not changed; (x) the company’s share dropped more than three times compared to 2009; (xi) as a result of the economic crisis, the number of companies facing over staffing had increased; (xii) state involvement in the conclusion and execution of contracts was a rare practice; and (xiii) both the duration and cost of obtaining phytosanitary certificates were lower than for other types of certificates. To conclude, the general time indicator practically remained unchanged during 2009-2015. Small fluctuations were due to natural dispersion rather than any improvement or deterioration in perception.
See Less -
In 2012, the World Bank signed five agreements with MRDPA for advisory services, out of which one relates to the growth poles policy and to its improvement for the programming period 2014-2020.
... See More + This agreement has three components: 1) an analysis of the growth poles policy, 2) energy efficiency studies for each growth pole; and 3) a review of the Integrated Development Plans prepared by the growth poles for the period 2007-2013. In this context, South Muntenia Regional Development Agency, through the coordinator of Ploiești Growth Pole, requested the World Bank, under a project funded by ERDF through the Technical Assistance Operational Program 2007-2013, to support the Growth Pole in implementing the recommendations stemming from the previous analysis with: 1) updating the Integrated Development Plan for 2014-2020; and 2) proposing an improved institutional framework for coordinating the planning, implementation and monitoring of projects under this plan. The current document of the Integrated Development Plan belonging to Ploiești Growth Pole was developed during the period 2008-2009 and approved and submitted to South Muntenia RDA in April 2010. It contains a total number of 93 projects with a total value of RON 5,136,143,583.91, out of which 762,515,322.81 are EU funds, and the remainder comes from the national budget and the beneficiaries’ own contribution. In the process of updating the plan, the implementation status of these projects will be studied further, while attention will be also given to the unimplemented projects in order to see whether they will be included in the documentation, depending on their response to the new development conditions of the growth pole.
See Less -
The agricultural and food production sector plays a key role in fighting poverty and food insecurity in Moldova, but is facing critical challenges to modernize and integrate into the international market.
... See More + This paper focuses on smallholder farms, which make up 95 percent of all farms, and explores their potential for growth and the poverty links. Findings reveal that structural change is slow and smallholder farm growth in Moldova is an exception, not the rule. Only a small share of smallholder farms have the interest or capacity to commercialize but need targeted support policies to grow, intensify their farm activities, and integrate into the markets. For the remaining majority, enhancing their livelihoods calls for policies beyond the agricultural sector to help farm households diversify toward non-farm income.
See Less -
