PROJECT PROPOSAL TO THE KAS

CREATING AWARENESS AND EXPERTISE ON SOCIAL POLICIES IN MOLDOVA

Building Human Capacities and Expertise through a Social Lab

Project Goal:

Create, design and manage a Social Policy Lab as an expert lab on welfare policies in Moldova. Produce policy
reports as early warning briefs, addressing emerging concerns, fears, facts or warning signals that could present
serious risks for the citizens of Moldova. The social lab shall prevent or assess risks that may jeopardize public
health issues (management of hospitals, primary care) with the aim to avoid critical pitfalls of the decision-making
bodies. The project will activate as a Social Lab, open to public and decision-makers, a source of continuous
monitoring and public interventions on social issues of public concern (pensions, wages, labor), it will be able to
intervene on various public policy debates and simulate scenario development for the resolution of some of the
topics debated by the public. The team will be assisted by professional social researchers, while using the format
to expand expertise and knowledge, involve willing to get involved young researchers, students, professors, junior
decision-makers, combining advocacy with complex studies, conducted by university researchers.

Applicant: Association DECID + IDIS Vitorul

Profile of the Applicant Organization:

IDIS is an independent think tank, established in 1993 as a research and outreach organization, incorporated
according to the Moldovan laws on non-for-profit and non-governmental organizations. For more than 21 years,
IDIS undertakes professional research in economics, politics, decentralization and subsidiarity, foreign policy and
regional conflicts. In addition to the scholarship studies, IDIS is also monitoring various governmental actions and
programs of long-standing interest, like: implementation of the DCFTA, compliance with the Council of Europe
membership commitments, etc., leading publishing activities, organizing regular public debates and conferences,
TV and Radio talk shows. As such, IDIS is a multi-issue think tank, which combines a group of intertwined
professional clusters, organized into thematic areas (economics, politics, social affairs, foreign affairs), which allows
us to better coordinate and allocate existing resources.

Association DECID

Summary:
There is a critical demand in Moldova for enhanced expertise in social policy evaluation, targeting policies
conducted on health, social care, child protection, elderly care, unemployment, housing, labor, etc. There is a
strong demand for social policy – oriented research, based on professional / continuous training, providing
excellent consultancy services, building capacities with stakeholders. Leveraging years of experience in the
research and advocacy, IDIS is willing to adopt a practical approach by creating a SOCIAL LABORRATORY through
which it can create capabilities in monitoring, assessing and follow-up on social policies, of growing concern to the
population. Due to the lack of accountable governance, several decisions targeting sensitive issues (pensions,
wages, social benefits) lack alternatives. The public is often only a spectator or final beneficiary of these sort of
policies, without understanding their costs, benefits, impact and expected or undesired consequences. The Lab will
build up a practice of assessing social policies, by creating team-work of social policy analysts, well connected to
other think tanks, unions, other stakeholders, with whom they will establish long-standing and lucrative
cooperative mechanisms. The Lab will target draft proposals of new social policies, as well as it will assess older
policies/programs that have been implemented in the past, and can be assessed in reverse-analysis order. The
Social Lab will gather social policy experts, but also junior researchers, willing to learn by doing, collect, gather,
process socially verified data, primary and secondary data, conducting policy simulations and data analysis on
targeted areas of interest, stimulating a learning interaction between stakeholders (official and social).
The project will enable both organizations to manage a dynamic forum for interactive dialogue between decision-
makers, policy-staffers and academia (expert community), as a ‚neutral but educated social-learning platform’.

Project duration:
May 2019 – May 2022

Project implementation:
As a long-standing effort, the project will function as a policy-incubator, designed to investigate sensitive issues of
the welfare state (health, social care, wages). This sort of topics carry on a huge impact on the welfare and
population (health, pensions, employment, vocational opportunities, and benefits).

The Lab will assist decision-makers and emerging democratic audiences with various techniques of fact-checking,
policy monitoring, policy evaluations and risk analysis, with the aim to enhance the quality of decision-making in
Moldova. The Lab will create and disseminate positive practices, feeding media and general public awareness.

The Social Policy Lab with the task to provide first-class expertise, impact evaluation of governmental programs,
assess the costs and benefits of various policy initiatives, in-coming bills (laws and regulations), or unaddressed
(pending) social issues.

As a sort of Early Warning Instrument, the Social Policy Lab will produce regular Policy Briefs, Policy Papers,
Policy Memos on social issues, while producing real-time reactions to the existing policy actions or inactions in
education, health, social care, child protection, elderly care, unemployment, housing, etc.

The Lab will conduct open public debates through its Outreach Agenda with the aim to inform stakeholders on
various pitfalls, estimates, checked facts and statistics.

Implement randomized social policy evaluation1, fact-checking for various governmental programs or announced
plans; simulate the effects and impact for various policy initiatives, usually having exceptionally high costs and
social consequences on the population.

IDIS Social Lab experts will be open to social media to spread out new ideas and expertise, enabling them with
first-class expertise on the pending social policy decisions, in parallel with IDIS own debates (podcasted through its
institutional web-portal (www.viitorul.org).

The Lab will deploy its team to work as Mentors with various organizations demanding social-policy advice, to
evaluate technical and concept configuration of various policy-instruments, to benchmark planning and execution
of social policies, to assess various risk factors that could harm the implementation of the best instruments of
intervention.

The Lab will serve as a sort of early warning instrument on various social policies, considered by the
governmental authorities (institutional stakeholders). The Lab will be able to create an interactive forum where
IDIS Experts will discuss policy effects, impact and anticipated results from its inter-active format of conversations
with both acting practitioners, as well as direct beneficiaries for the social policies.

The Social Policy lab will be open to independent social media for expertise, enabling them with first-class
expertise on the pending social policy decisions, in parallel with IDIS own debates (podcasted through its
institutional web-portal (www.viitorul.org).

The Lab will serve as a sort of early warning instrument on various social policies, considered by the governmental
authorities (institutional stakeholders). The Lab will be able to create an interactive forum where IDIS Experts will
discuss policy effects, impact and anticipated results from its inter-active conversations with both acting
practitioners, as well as direct beneficiaries for the social policies.

IDIS Team of Experts:

Name Proposed Experts Key-qualifications
Radu Project Coordinator Public Policy Expertize
Moldovan
Public Horia Pavel Junior, Welafare policies
policies Viorica Tocari Junior, Communication policies
Cristina Jitari Junior, Legal Advisor
Ionela Țurcanu Junior, Financial Analyst
Natalia Bondarciuc Junior, Public Policies Expert

1
Use of Randomization in the Evaluation of Development Effectiveness, E. Duflo and M. Kremer, July 2003; Scaling Up and
Evaluation, E. Duflo, May 2003, Nonexperimental Versus Experimental Estimates of Earnings Impacts,
Social Policy Mariana Iațco (idis) Professor, FRISPA/ASEM
Dorin Vaculovschi (IDIS) Professor, Welfare policies
Carolina Ungureanu Policy analyst, EU-certified policy evaluator

Project expected impact:

The Social Lab will be able to create an interactive forum where IDIS Experts will discuss policy effects, impact and
anticipated results from its inter-active format of conversations with both acting practitioners, as well as direct
beneficiaries for the social policies. The SOCIAL LAB will serve as a sort of FORUM of professional learning on social
policies, involving think tanks, universities, unions, political parties, governmental experts.

The Lab will build up a good team of social policy analysts, who will establish productive relationships with
stakeholders build momentum and recognize opportunities for exposing their ideas. The Social Lab will facilitate
effective exchange of views between decision-makers, policy-staffers and academia (expert community in various
universities or think tanks), promoting it as a ‚neutral but educated social-learning platform’.

Launched to monitor, assess and evaluate social policies, the Lab will build up effective channels of communication
and cooperation with central government, other stakeholders and actors (unions, local governments, business,
social workers, academia, media), who shall be part of the policy-making process. A Social Barometer will be
produced regularly.

The Lab will attract representatives from a group of the leading national universities of Moldova. Their joint-
cooperation will guarantee the implementation of credible tools of policy evaluation, cost-benefits analysis, and
impact assessment and monitoring of various social policies (education, health care, social protection,
employment). The project will assist targeted state-agencies in improving the quality of evaluation and monitoring.

Outcomes & Outputs:

1. Regular social monitoring of the policy-making environment in Moldova, targeting the main institutional
stakeholders (Ministry of Social Affairs/Protection, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Agency for
Labor Employment). Four (4) issues of a Social Statewatch will incorporate primer policy assessments on
various social areas and topics.
2. The Social Lab will hold bi-monthly policy briefings, preceded by Social Reviews (electronic leaflet spread
out to the networking partners and stakeholders), enabling an interested audience to plan and engage
with the upcoming policy priorities. Monitors will appear in Romanian with summary in English.
3. Specific social programs and policies will be targeted inside of the Social Lab for specific professional
evaluation reports, policy papers, position papers and briefs, as a feedback mechanism, fact-checking of
costs, benefits, possible pitfalls or conceptual flaws and estimated impact. The Monitoring reports will
address various programs and initiatives in the social sector reform. At least 10 Evaluation Reports will be
conducted on policy interventions.
4. Screening on-line professional debates over the most overarching social programs and policies. This will
follow the scope of policy-outreach to engage with all state and non-state stakeholders, raise awareness
and educate various pressure groups on the challenging nature of decision-making, while mitigating risks
and opportunities for equitable employment and effectiveness of social policies. At least 12 policy debates
podcasted at IDIS via its emerging social channels (Twitter, FB, web-portal and other links).
5. The Policy Lab will enable social modeling and cost-benefit simulation as policy exercises, aimed at
increasing the quality of policy dialogue and communication between experts and decision-makers. Social
Lab Experts will involve beneficiary actors and organizations in searching for social-policy innovation and
advice, assimilating necessary skills to understand a wide variety of policy-techniques and instruments, to
benchmark planning and execution of social policies, to assess various risk factors that could harm the
implementation of the best instruments of intervention. At least 4 specific in-house training sessions will
be implemented involving at least 20 beneficiary organizations (CBOs, organizations working for persons
with disabilities, trade unions, etc).
6. Regular in-house training for interested groups and social actors, conducting joint-research activities with
other stakeholders, implementing open or expert-led data analysis, simulating joint-work on policy
evaluation, checking out survey data and available statistics, organizing webinars for social assistants, and
exploring other forms of getting involved with social policy-makers (central and local governments). At
least 3 in-house training will be conducted.
 Budget:
Budgetary Item I YEAR (2018-2019) II YEAR (2019-2020)
1. Senior Experts Salaries
3 x 500 x 12
2. Junior Experts Salaries
4 x 300 x 12

3. Administration costs:
Conference room and amenities / maintenance
Accountant / part – time
1 x 200 x 12

4. Printing /
Layout and Design for Educational supplies:

5. Social Barometer (Omnibus) –

social data collected via representative, national polls :
(4-10 questions, 1.237 respondents)

6. Policy debates /
Outreaching instruments:

7. Consultants/Translation

8. Electronic Equipment for the Sociometric Lab

9. Travel/DSA (local)

10. Project related costs:

TOTAL Euro :

How will enable this Project our partners’ strategic capacity?

The Social lab will deliver transparent, accessible and intelligible policy solutions that will allow both the public to
participate openly in the debate and will enable the policy-makers to receive from the civil society the feedback
concerning the policy-goals that the decision makers set.

The Social Lab will deliver strategic expertise to its partners in Moldova on welfare policies. As a leading think tank
in Moldova, IDIS will cooperate with DECID in this format of experience sharing and building capacities.

Experts from two important universities will ensure contracted research studies will maintain high-standards and
excellence in all of its activities, drawing on the experience of its first 15 years of continuous work, and on the
aspirations it has set for itself.

High standards in research, consultancy, training and policy-interventions will reward its permanent and associated
pool of experts. We set up the institutional scope for IDIS to institutionalize an enhanced learning framework
through which it can share and distribute best practices, visionary ideas, based on sound methodological
instruments, developed through an intense cooperation between its experts, contributors and direct target-
groups, seen as partners and clients.

We envision to hold a series of cross-institutional dialogues, known as ‘planning talks’ (with counterparts from the
Baltic States, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, US, UK, etc.,) and key-officials of Moldova on a number of broad strategic
issues that go beyond crisis management or the day-to-day concerns.
We plan to undertake broad analytical studies of regional and functional issues, identifying gaps in the policy,
institutional setbacks, initiating policy planning, while formulating specific policy recommendations and proposals
to fill these gaps. Policy Statewatch on economic and social trends/policies will be elaborated and spread out
towards a targeted audience (politicians, media, executive officials, think tank community).

The funding will allow IDIS to implement a full-fledged monitoring instrument of the social, economic and
institutional policies of the state in Moldova, enabling civil society to advocate under a common voice, at both
national and international level, with the need to address as seriously as possible the challenges and threats that
are experienced by transitional societies like Moldova.

IDIS commits to actively engage itself in the field of policy planning and advocacy for reforms. The topics of the
policy-oriented research, training and technical consultancy is highlighted above, in the specific planed
department’s charters, while prioritization of the research agenda will be systematically adjusted. Special kinds of
training will be further developed at IDIS as ‘packages for deliver’ with: business associations, local think tanks and
CBOs, state and public officials, media and civic activists.

Democratic Partners in Moldova will be able to receive timely assistance in evaluating welfare policies, find out
remedies and act in advance in the sensitive areas of budgetary spending, while equally allocating resources to
cover other areas of interest (minimal wage, pensionary reforms, education and medical services). An active public
outreach will assist Social Lab in highlighting its contributions to the growing demands for new and innovative
policy alternatives, which will attract key figures in business community and civil society, local governments,
academia, media, politicians and other people who have a serious impact on the public opinion.

The proceedings of these discussions are presented in advance to the targeted auditorium of participants, and the
same problems are discussed on life TV and Radio talk shows. Raising public awareness of challenges of democratic
development constitutes the objective of such activities.

Project Logframe (implemented timetable)

Experts professional records

Project evaluation and results