On Saturday, inhabitants of Slobozia-Dusca celebrated the Village Day, together with guests from over the Nistru River, at the renovated Cultural Hall, considered the “business card” of the community. The facility was renovated with European financing in the framework of the “Support to Confidence Building Measures” Programme, implemented by the UNDP.

Over three hundred people came to the Cultural Hall to celebrate the Village Day. “With the occasion of any holiday, we come here to meet, to talk and to admire those who perform on the stage”, says Elena Nistor, a local inhabitant.

The village Slobozia-Dusca is well-known also in the region thanks to its artistic bands: fanfare, women’s band “Nemurele”, folk dance band “Tarancuta”, with a number of awards received in national and international contests. The musicians are hosted by the Cultural Hall of the village. Even children from Criuleni, the district centre, come to Slobozia-Dusca to take classes of piano, accordion or aerophone instruments.

The rehearsals take place in the well-lighted classrooms, which are warm during winter time and cool in summer. But it was not always like this. This building was built back in 1970. The first capital repairing works, which included roof renovation, change of engineering networks and thermal insulation, were carried out in 2016, meaning in 46 years since its launch into operation. This was made possible due to the EU financing amounting for 178,560 Euro, the equivalent of 4 million MDL or an annual budget of the village.

 “During the winter time, before renovating the Cultural Hall, all the artistic bands were rehearsing by taking turns, as only several premises were heated during the cold season. And now this building is the business card of the locality, and we are glad that we got all the EU support to see this project coming true”, says Sergiu Istrati, the mayor of the locality.

“Ensuring local population with more favourable living and working conditions is one of the concrete effects of the European Union's involvement in building confidence between the two banks of Nistru River", stated Fabien Schaeffer, project manager to the European Union Delegation in the Republic of Moldova.

The Cultural Hall from Slobozia-Dusca hosts the majority of cultural contests in the zone, with artistic bands coming also from the left side of the River Nistru.

“I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to Slobozia-Dusca. I am sure we will meet together more often”, said Natalia Tolosenco, the leader of “Datina” band from Ternauca village from the left side of the River Nistru.

It was also in Slobozia-Dușca, in 2012, when with the EU support of 1.6 million MDL, the kindergarten building was renovated, creating two new classes for children. “We solved a big problem for the community. The children got enrolled in the preschool system, and the parents obtained the possibility to get employed”, affirmed Ina Iliescu, the director of the kindergarten.

The Cultural Hall and the kindergarten from Slobozia-Dusca are among those over 80 infrastructure objects renovated through the programme financed by the European Union “Support to Confidence Building Measures”, implemented by UNDP Moldova. The Program contributes to enhancing confidence among the inhabitants from both sides of the River Nistru by involving local leaders, representatives of business environment and civil society in joint projects for business development and improvement of social infrastructure.