Nirnova Basin Association, new platform for intercommunity cooperation and water management at the basin level

The community development association “Nirnova Basin” held its constituent meeting on April 24, 2019 at the headquarters of the Nisporeni Regional Council. The Association aims to strengthen the management capacities of water stakeholders by a governance model based on intermunicipal cooperation and the watershed approach. It does this by bringing together representatives of seventeen municipalities and two watershed Raions (Hincesti and Nisporeni) within the same entity. The creation of this association is part of the decentralized cooperation project that we are coordinating in Moldova.

This participative management model, based on the principle of pooling technical and financial resources, aspires to promote the protection and sustainable management of water resources, while allowing the development of water and sanitation infrastructure and improved public services.

The Constitutive meeting of the Association was also an opportunity for members to elect the bureau, consisting of the President and three Vice-Presidents. For example, Mr Ghenadie Verdeş, current president of the Nisporeni Raion, was unanimously elected president of the association; he will be supported by six vice-presidents: Petru Cozlan, Iurie Levinchi and Victor Sinogachi for Hincesti, Vladimir Bodeanu, Serghei Echim and Victor Ivanov for Nisporeni. During the four years of their term of office, the president and vice-presidents will work together to implement the association’s action plan adopted during the constitutive meeting.

The creation of this association is one of the results of many years of work and commitment in Moldova. With the aim of establishing a “de facto intercommunality” that allows for the emergence of a new governance model and the improved and sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation within the basin’s territory. It is also in line with the Moldovan priorities in the sector i.e.aspiring to decentralize water and sanitation management to the level of local authorities. Promoting their grouping within community development associations is planned as is facilitating a shared response to the various water and sanitation issues in the regions.