CRDC, part of “Ten Stories, Ten Voices Against Gender-Based Violence”

On 16 September 2026, A.O. Centrul Regional de Dezvoltare Comunitară participated in the event “Ten Stories, Ten Voices Against Gender-Based Violence”, held at the UNFPA Moldova office and dedicated to organizations implementing local initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality, preventing violence, and supporting women, girls and young people.

The event brought together representatives of the ten civil society organizations selected under the grant programme implemented by the Gender-Centru Association, under the umbrella of the Gender Equality Platform, with the support of UNFPA Moldova and funding from the Government of the United Kingdom.

Over the next four months, the ten organizations will implement initiatives tailored to the realities of the communities in which they work, while more than 2,000 people are expected to directly benefit from information, prevention, support, education and community mobilization activities.

For us, the meeting was an opportunity to talk about A.O. Centrul Regional de Dezvoltare Comunitară, our experience of working in the Cahul region, and the way we develop local interventions that combine the prevention of gender-based violence, social cohesion and community engagement.

CRDC’s experience and the intervention developed for the Cahul region

During the event, we presented the work of our organization and the project “Together for Safety: Social Cohesion and Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in the Cahul Region”.

The initiative is rooted in the reality of a diverse community where women and girls from the host community, refugees and migrants, children, young people and older persons live and interact.

Through the project, we aim to bring the discussion about violence prevention closer to people in an accessible format adapted to the community, to promote relationships based on respect and non-violence, and to help create environments where women and girls can access information, support mechanisms and safe spaces for dialogue.

An important element of the intervention is that the prevention of gender-based violence is not addressed separately from other processes taking place within the community. For us, safety, integration, social cohesion and trust between people are deeply interconnected.

For this reason, the project activities aim to create shared spaces where people with different experiences and life circumstances can interact, discuss and contribute together to promoting a safer and more supportive environment.

Ten organizations, different contexts, the same responsibility

The meeting on 16 September also highlighted the diversity of interventions being developed in different regions of the Republic of Moldova.

The ten selected organizations address the prevention of gender-based violence, the reduction of stereotypes and discrimination, the empowerment of women and young people, digital safety, access to services, economic autonomy, education on healthy relationships, and capacity building for professionals working in communities.

Each intervention responds to a different local context, but they all share the same underlying idea: sustainable change becomes possible when information, services and opportunities effectively reach people.

One of the important aspects discussed during the event was the role of local organizations. A constant presence in the community, relationships built over time and direct contact with people make it possible to identify needs more quickly and adapt interventions to the specific realities of each community.

For A.O. Centrul Regional de Dezvoltare Comunitară, this approach is essential. Our activities are developed based on the experience of the communities we work with and on local partnerships built with institutions, organizations and people who contribute every day to community life.

Participating in the event “Ten Stories, Ten Voices Against Gender-Based Violence” gave us the opportunity not only to present what we are doing in Cahul, but also to learn more about the experiences of other organizations, the challenges encountered in different regions, and the solutions being developed directly within communities.

At the same time, such meetings create space for exchanging experience, building new connections and strengthening a community of organizations that, despite working in different contexts, share the same objective: better informed and better protected women and girls, safer communities, and relationships built on respect, equality and solidarity.

This activity is organized by A.O. Centrul Regional de Dezvoltare Comunitară under the umbrella of the Gender Equality Platform, with the support of Gender-Centru, and is part of a programme aimed at empowering women-led organizations in their efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.

The initiative is supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and funded by the United Kingdom.

The photographs used in this article were provided by Gender-Centru.