Our city is the place where we spend most of our time and where we carry out a variety of activities: work, spend time with family and friends, learn and have any other activities. It can make us happier or it can be a constant source of stress, which Chisinau is at the moment. "First people, then spaces, then buildings" - said the well-known Jan Gehl. We expect such a visions from our local elected officials.
Primaria Mea (My City Hall) is a community of citizens who want a comfortable, accessible and beautiful Chisinau. The project was launched in March 2016 by a group of young people, Challenger graduates, following a GOTV (Get Out The Vote) campaign for local elections. We understood that citizens do not know who their municipal councilors are, what role the Municipal Council has, what is the role of the people in the decision-making process and how they can act for a better city.
We have been monitoring what councilors have been doing for four years, researching urban issues, trying to come up with solutions, but our most important role is to facilitate information, understanding and communication between citizens, local elected officials and civil servants. Citizens are the ones who need to be asked about priorities, involved in the development of solutions and their implementation. Once the residents of the capital monitor the activity of those they have elected and get involved in the decision-making processes, the efficiency of the latter is bound to improve.
Democracy is a continuous effort, which is not limited to election day. We want our elected officials to be trustworthy, that is why we keep an eye on them.
In 2018 and 2019, Primaria Mea (My City Hall) expanded its activity in two suburbs of Chisinau - Durlești and Codru.
Primaria Mea (My City Hall) Projects:
- Construim orașul (We build the city) is a tool through which citizens can report problematic buildings, find out what the legal steps in case of illegal construction are and share good campaign practices if they have stopped this type of construction.
On this platform, we invite citizens to report illegal constructions, share their experience and motivate others to take action. We want to show the extent of the phenomenon and ask the authorities to change the situation.
As one resident who managed to stop an unauthorized construction together with their neighbors told us: if 5% of the tenants were involved, there wouldn’t be so many problematic buildings.
- On date.primariamea.md (data.primariamea.md) we show what is happening in Chisinau using figures. We want to explain indicators, how they affect our daily lives and identify certain trends. Data visualization helps us summarize complex information and make it more accessible to citizens.
A current challenge for Moldova is the limited access to information, data is presented in unfriendly formats and sometimes disappears from the public space, which makes it much more difficult to analyze some issues. We hope that, through this effort, the authorities will become more open to qualitative and consistent data collection, including making it accessible to any citizen.
- alegeri.primariamea.md (elections.primariamea.md) was created to inform Chisinau residents about the 2019 local elections. The platform will be updated for the next local elections. On this platform you can find information about candidates and the solutions they propose for priority issues, vote for the solutions you like and follow when and where we organize information events for residents in the city.