commissioned to Scruples Research by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) aims to map viable economic activities that can benefit refugees and vulnerable host community households in the northern districts of Moldova (Ocnita It was conducted between 01 February 202 4 and 05 July 202 4 context-specific information to guide economic activities and identify key local collaboration opportunities for NRC’s livelihood programming The study’s primary goals included determining differentiated income-generating opportunities and the necessary legal and assistance requirements It also aimed to identify stakeholders who could bridge market gaps assess the feasibil-ity and economic viability of priority activities and pinpoint available jobs for the displaced population It also assesses systemic challenges and suggests mitigation measures includ-ing the impact of Moldova’s potential EU accession on relevant policies including qualitative and quantitative methods and desk review provided reliable data to inform NRC’s pro -ject design An in-depth desk review laid the groundwork for subse-quent steps Fifteen Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with community leaders and other stakeholders focused on mar -ket gaps Six Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted across Ocnita targeting specific community groups such as refugees and the Roma community along with host community members exploring income-generating activities and identifying skills gaps and support mechanisms 265 Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) surveys were completed using the Forsta system focusing on purposive sampling through the critical case sam -pling method Participants were recruited through both Scruples Research and NRC’s partners at the local level was adopted from the design phase through the inclusion of female and male refugees and host community members including persons with disabili -ties and the Roma community despite recent gross domestic product (GDP ) growth is fragile due to its dependence on remittances and energy imports from Rus-sia and Ukraine and creating logistics and transportation challenges in many sectors 2 Agriculture remains the main income resource for refugee and host community members with 67% of households relying on seasonal agriculture in Ocnita and Briceni while it is mainly throughout the year in Soroca This has impacted the financial stability of host and refugee community members engaged in agriculture with small local farmers selling to large exporters Moldova’s EU Accession and evolving export routes bring new opportunities highlighting the need for increased knowledge and EU business engagement to stabilise the local economy and create new employment opportunities food processing offers additional opportunities in the region such as the canning factory and dairy warehouse in Soroca especially during high-intensity work periods with no weekends while the low season offers a more standard work schedule but with reduced compensation sellers’ use of social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok has started to become popular Considering the reduced population due to low wages and the migration of youth abroad for better-paid opportunities the local market volume and skilled human resource capacity remain challenging Informal employment is high among refugees and Roma community members in Soroca This is is mainly due to barriers such as language skills an unfamiliarity with the legal landscape and documentation requirements Roma experience significant discrimination for market opportunities as they are often only able to secure manual labour jobs instead of those offering potential career growth Emerging sectors such as Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and financial services show significant potential for Moldova’s future They are expanding their share in the market starting from central cities such as Chisinau to the countryside Ocnita and Briceni in where this study was conducted Soroca is found to have a more diverse economic landscape with more opportunities in agriculture Ocnita’s economy has a more limited capacity and few opportunities Briceni falls in the middle in terms of the capacity of the local economy number and volume of businesses and employment opportunities The Government of Moldova (GoM) offers several programs and opportunities for entrepreneurs to expand their market share including business support initiatives for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and underrepresented investors offering subsidising interest rates on bank loans and extending repayment periods and training programs on entrepreneurship business set up and acceleration processes limited financial capacity and a lack of foreign investments prevents the GoM from achieving its full potential by expanding these services across the country EUROPA PENTRU TINE!Află despre beneficiile și oportunitățile oferite Republicii Moldova de Uniunea Europeană 25 July - Prime Minister Dorin Recean today visited a cattle farm of the Colesnic family entrepreneur Sergiu Colesnic presented a project on extension of the business he planned to build a big stable on the ground nearby the farm The PM discussed with the farmer challenges and opportunities of the agricultural sector stressing the importance of the government’s support for the development of local farms ‘’The agriculture is an essential pillar of our economy and the farmers deserve every support in order to continue to flourish and innovate,’’ the prime minister said A good deal of the technology used in the business was got through government’s projects – with the help of the Organization for Entrepreneurship Development through the Agency of Intervention and Payments for Agriculture the Colesnic family bought about 100 race cattle heads The milk got is sold at milk factories from north Moldova All materials featured on this site are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Technical-technological administration: Information Technology and Cyber Security Service. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee We protect displaced people and support them as they build a new future The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas brings renewed hope to Gaza and we are ready to scale up our work to meet the enormous needs We started our relief efforts after World War Two we work in both new and protracted crises across 40 countries where we help save lives and rebuild futures NRC works to protect the rights of displaced people during crisis NORCAP works to better protect and empower people affected by crises and climate change We collaborate with partners on finding solutions to meet the needs of people at risk Get the latest news from our work in the field Yuliya recalled how life was back in Ukraine: “We had a large household pigs… we did everything by ourselves everything we had in the yard is destroyed.” Yuliya and her family are among the 113,132 people who have settled in the Republic of Moldova after fleeing the war in Ukraine. Of these, the majority are women and children. Moldova has received the highest number of Ukrainian arrivals per capita since the start of the war, 978,296 according to the latest data most of whom have moved on to other countries She visited the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)’s North Community Centre in Ocnita after hearing about it from other Ukrainian refugees and REACH to create a consortium called PLACE Since the launch of PLACE in June 2023 at the North Community Centre refugees and host communities have been accessing protection services whose first task is to assess the needs of the people who come for assistance and provide immediate help or refer them to our partners or other organisations that can offer support Yuliya told our team what her family needed: “I was asking for food and clothes for my kids because we had brought very few things I had been travelling alone with my children It was too complicated to travel with them so I hadn’t taken too many bags.” Yuliya received a hygiene kit from our team Yuliya lives with her family in a house in Hadarauti village Ocnita that had been abandoned by its owners for more than ten years which they ceded through the municipality temporarily to her and her family corn and potatoes in a field next to the house to provide for her family “Our situation is much better this year It’s already a good thing,” says Yuliya Yuliya occasionally buys meat and milk and freezes part of it She saves to put bread and butter on her children's plates “I’ve learned to save money for a rainy day we used to go and spend the money without thinking much about expenses and I immediately save some to have at least a small amount remaining from payment to payment to get some bread and butter for the kids.” NRC’s team referred Yuliya and her family to a local NGO distributing food supplies and to our partner One of her daughters has been participating in the activities organised by the PIN team at their child-friendly space in the North Community Centre Yuliya and her family are currently receiving support from our team to register for temporary protection in Moldova “I would rate the service received by NRC at the highest level possible they explained everything clearly and comprehensibly and helped me whenever I asked,” she says Life in Moldova is not as it used to be in Ukraine but Yuliya works hard to build a decent and dignified life for her children they attend a local school and are learning Romanian having new experiences in a new environment Yuliya is growing vegetables in her backyard She tries to be the best example of resilience her children could have continue to provide essential services and activities to refugees and host communities in our North Community Centre home to the PLACE Consortium – a welcoming space for those most vulnerable in the north of Moldova Sign up to our newsletter to read more stories from around the world +47 23 10 98 00nrc@nrc.no +47 90 56 23 29media@nrc.no fundraising@nrc.no Over 90 per cent of our global revenue goes directly to fulfil our purpose This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page You don't have permissions to access this page approved the erection of a bust to Ion Costin and a monument in the memory of the participants in the Chernobyl accident relief works The monument in the memory of the participants in the relief works at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will be built in the Independence square of the northern Ocnita town Thirty three persons from the Ocnita district participated in removing the consequences of the Chernobyl accident construction of the monument and complex arrangement of the adjacent land will be covered from the Ocnita district budget as well as from donations and sponsorships to eternize the memory of political figure Ion Costin and on the occasion of his 130th birthday anniversary a bust to Ion Costin will be constructed in the Ghidighici village The expenses for the working out of the documents on project building the bust and arrangement of the adjacent land will be covered with the financial means coming from donations and sponsorships During the working visit to the districts and towns of the country President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon visited the kindergartens in Ocnita as well as in the villages of Valchinets and Ruzhnitsa which were assisted by the charity fund "Din Suflet" in the frames of the national program for the preschool institutions support.In response to requests from the administration and parents' groups the kindergartens of Ocnita received furniture kindergarten from the village of Ruzhnitsa received furniture and the one from the village of Valchinets - help to bring gas to the food equipment of the institution.In addition the Head of State visited gymnasium in the village of Valchinets where he talked with the students and the teaching staff."We will continue to make every effort to ensure a favorable environment for the growth and development of the future generations we plan to provide assistance to approximately 500 kindergartens and by the end of the mandate of the President of the Republic of Moldova all preschool institutions will receive assistance," Igor Dodon said.