On March 3, 2022, a Memorandum of collaboration was signed between the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Moldova (hereinafter MLSP), Keystone Moldova, Diaconia, and Concordia in order to improve the normative framework that regulates the activity of social canteen services.
The action is part of a wider package of interventions carried out within the European Union funded project “Partnerships for Inclusive and Resilient Social Canteen Services,” which aims to improve the quality of social assistance canteen services by updating the legal framework and implementing an innovative mechanism for food donation and redistribution to social services.
Based on the Memorandum, the three non-profit organizations will provide technical assistance to the central public authorities over the next three years to update the regulatory framework on the functioning of social assistance canteens. At the same time, they will provide the MLSP with methodological support for the elaboration of the Minimum Quality Standards for the social canteen services, as well as the development of the methodology for calculating the costs for canteen social services. Also, innovative models for the provision of social canteen services will be piloted in accordance with international practice.
According to the Memorandum, the MLSP will set up an advisory group to facilitate the dialogue and participation in the project, in the process of developing and promoting the methodology for calculating the costs of social canteen services and the normative framework that regulates the activity of social canteen services.
The collaboration between civil society representatives and public authorities will allow for the participatory development of a regulatory framework that will contribute to increasing the quality of social assistance canteen services and facilitating access to services for vulnerable groups affected by food insecurity, including in emergencies.
The project Partnerships for Inclusive and Resilient Social Canteen Services is financed by European Union, co-financed and implemented by P.I. Keystone Moldova, the Public Association “Concordia. Proiecte Sociale,” and the Religious Institution Social Mission “Diaconia.” The total value of the project is 1,327,609 EUR.
