In small communities across northern Moldova, such as Șoldănești, Rezina, and Florești, young people, like people everywhere, have plans and a desire to change the world around them. They see the problems their communities face and often discuss possible solutions. Yet, there is still a significant gap between wanting to change something and knowing how to take action.
Many young people use social media and digital tools every day, but few know how these same tools can be used for civic participation or advocacy. Civic Labs Nord Moldova project aims to help young people find the necessary opportunities, knowledge, practical tools, and, sometimes, confidence, to take action.
Beyond the capital
Victor Babcinețchi is a young civic activist from Moldova. Over the years, he has worked with young people and has been involved in civic education, youth participation, community initiatives, and digital engagement activities. This experience has allowed him to understand the challenges young people face in rural Moldova.
In Moldova, many educational opportunities, development programs, and civic initiatives are concentrated in the capital, Chișinău, or other large cities. For a young person from a small town or rural community, participating in such activities may involve transportation costs, limited access to information, or simply the absence of someone who encourages them to take the first step. At the same time, even in rural regions, young people are among the most active users of social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other digital platforms are part of their everyday lives. However, using technology does not automatically mean understanding its potential as a tool for civic participation.
A social media post can become the beginning of an awareness campaign that identifies a local problem. At the same time, digital platforms can facilitate communication between citizens and local authorities or connect young people from different communities around a common initiative.
Yet the digital environment also brings challenges. Misinformation, limited media literacy, and a lack of knowledge about safe and responsible online participation can make it more difficult for young people to safely navigate these digital communication spaces.
Victor Babcinețchi understood these problems and opportunities and launched a project, the Civic Labs Nord Moldova – Youth Digital Civic Activation, which would allow young people to increase their participation in civic initiatives.
From digital users to digital citizens
The project works with young people from Șoldănești, Rezina, and Florești, three regions in northern Moldova where access to structured civic education and digital democracy initiatives remains limited. The goal is to strengthen the digital and civic competencies of at least 60 young people and help them understand how accessible technologies can be used to contribute to their communities.
Through six civic workshops, mentoring activities, and a Regional Civic Hackathon, participants will explore topics such as civic participation, local decision-making processes, digital advocacy, transparency, misinformation, and the responsible use of online tools.
During the project, participants will form local teams and identify challenges affecting their communities. With support and mentorship, they will develop their own digital civic initiatives. These initiatives may include online awareness campaigns, community issue-reporting pages, digital advocacy actions, or other accessible solutions designed by young people themselves. The project aims to support the development of between nine and twelve youth-led digital civic initiatives.
The participants will then come together during a Regional Civic Hackathon. This will be one of the most important moments of the project because young people from three different regions will have the opportunity to meet, exchange experiences, work on their ideas, and present possible solutions.
A problem faced by a young person in Șoldănești may also be familiar to someone from Rezina or Florești. By bringing young people together, the project can facilitate connections that may continue beyond the project itself.
What success looks like
The real impact of Civic Labs Nord Moldova cannot be measured only by the number of workshops, participants, or initiatives developed, but in what happens afterward.
Success would mean that participants from Șoldănești, Rezina, and Florești continued to communicate, collaborate, and engage in new civic actions together.
Civic Labs Nord Moldova project will last beyond the formal project period through the connections created between participants and the digital initiatives they develop. The hope is that the informal network formed through the project will remain active and that some participants will become the people who encourage other young people to get involved. One of the main goals is also to create meaningful opportunities for civic participation of young people in regional and rural communities of Moldova. Important changes do not always begin in large institutions or capital cities. Sometimes, they begin in a small room, around a table, where a group of young people discusses a problem in their community and asks one simple question: “What if we could do something about it ourselves?”
Thus, the role of the project is to help them find the answer, and, most importantly, to give them the knowledge and confidence they need to turn that answer into action.
