DROUGHT PROJECT

Rayon Cantemir has 64.400 inhabitants (10,6% urban and 89,4% rural population) and is situated 150 km south of Chisinau. Cantemir town itself has 6.000 inhabitants.

Please see project map annexed.

 

Coherence of the project with the national policies of the partner country, particular situation in the project region or special priorities; which changes in the country or region shall be influenced by the project?

 

There are 3 school entities in the city of Cantemir and 2 kindergartens with the total number of 742 and 255 children respectively.

 

In the case of the schools, the studies begin on the 1^st of September and last until the 31^st of May. Officially, there are 160 days for which we would offer meals.

 

2 out of the 3 schools, as well as both kindergartens have their own kitchens and conditions for preparing food and special premises, where children would eat. The 3^rd school (Lyceum Al. Pushkin) is located next to the premises of the local government and the Primara and the canteen of the latter will be rented for the purpose of the project.  

 

All the kitchens have their own drinking water supply system and sewage system. In one of the schools there is a gas supply system, and in another one they expect to install it very soon. 

 

In all the schools and kindergartens there is a special person, the chief of the managerial unit, who is responsible for the corresponding school canteen, and a person that is responsible for the transport.

 

The urban community (the Mayoralty) concludes delivery contracts with different companies, private enterprises etc. following open contests, organized in compliance with the Regulations on the Transmission of Official Public Orders. The open contests are organized once in three months, twice or even once per month.

 

Rural diets consist of staple (wheat), vegetables, occasional meat and seasonal fruits. Tea with bread, cheese and honey are consumed at breakfast. Meals consist of soup, bread and Mamalika (corn and cheese mixed with either fish or meat). Nationally, about 4%are suffering from acute malnutrition and about 4% of children are underweight.

 

Forms 1 – 4 (current situation)

 

The nutrition value of the meal depends on the daily sum that is allocated for each child for the period of the whole year. For the year of studies 2007/2008 the planned  sum amounts to 3 MDL (circa 0,18 Euro) for one pupil per meal a day.

 

The payments for the meal for the pupils of the primary school forms are done mandatory from the public budget: in the localities outside the Chisinau municipality these payments should be done from the corresponding urban/rural community budgets. This kind of payments is covered from the corresponding urban/rural communities’ collections. That means that children from primary school get a free-of-charge meal (a kind of lunch) each day.

 

The nurse working at the school is the person that sets up the daily menu. She is also responsible for the verification of the quality of the meal and food products utilized for the preparation of the meal.

 

The forms beginning with the 5^th grade (current situation)

 

The menu and the nutrition value of the meal prepared for the pupils who do their studies at the primary school are the same as that for the 5^th and up forms. The children from the 5^th and up forms just have the possibility to additionally buy cookies or buns.

 

During the general meetings with the parents and pupils of the whole school, and of the  separate forms, that are organized at the beginning of each year of studies or once in three months, it was decided that children should have meals and how much the parents would pay for it. For the year 2006/2007, for the first time, a sum of 3,3 MDL (0,21 Euro) for a pupil a day was set. However, only 15% of all V-XII graders are eating at school because the other parents can not afford to pay for their children’s school meals.  

 

At the beginning of each month after the holding of the general meeting, the school administration collects money from the corresponding forms on a monthly basis. The sum that had been collected is brought to the local bank and transferred to a special account of the corresponding school. (Each school delivers money to the bank with no implication form the part of the Mayoralty. The Mayoralty offers just the payment infrastructure that is needed). In the schools there is no own accountancy unit. The schools’ competence is related only to getting and keeping of the records of the products obtained. The schools elaborate monthly reports regarding the expenditures they have done during the corresponding month from this money. The recording is done both regarding the money amounts and the quantity of food products.

All the payments are not done in cash but through a bank transfer. 

 

The school nurse is the person who sets the menu for each day. She is also responsible for the verification of the quality of the meal and the food products utilized for the preparation of the meal.

           

The parents have the right to get any kind of information regarding the way the money was spent. Additionally, the teachers are the persons to whom the children can complain or express their wishes, for example, regarding the quality of the meal.

 

Kindergartens:

 

Children that go to the kindergartens eat 3-4 times a day. The total cost of the meal is 9,6 MDL/day (0,6 Euro) during the school year 2006/2007. From the above stated sum in the amount of 9,6 MDL, the parents pay 3,2 MDL per day. (The remaining part of the sum in the amount of 6,4 MDL is paid by the Mayoralty). The parents’ money is collected each month and brought to a local bank, where they are transferred to a special account that is also administrated by the Mayoralty in the way it was described above.

 

From the organizational point of view, the transfers are done from the part of the urban community (the Mayoralty) because there are no accountancy units at the school institutions. The schools and kindergartens anyway institutionally “belong” to the Primaria Cantemir. The schools may only get keep the records of the products they obtained. The schools elaborate monthly reports regarding the expenditures they have done during the corresponding month from this money. The recording is done both regarding the money amounts and the quantity of the food products.

 

 

Project data