Ten Moldovan civil society organisations have started an intensive Communication Labs programme (Comm.Labs) to develop communication campaigns aimed at building public trust and mobilising greater support for civil society. The Comm.Labs kicked off with a two-day event in Chișinău on 8-9 September 2026, bringing together participating CSOs, communication and fundraising mentors, representatives of the European Union and civil society experts.
This year’s Comm.Labs in Moldova place a particular focus on the role of communication in strengthening the financial sustainability of civil society organisations.
Over the coming weeks, participating teams will work on campaigns that encourage citizens, communities and other stakeholders to support civil society through mechanisms such as the 2% designation, individual and recurring donations, volunteering, partnerships with businesses and other forms of support.
During the Kick-off event, participants presented their initial campaign ideas and began working with their assigned mentors to identify strengths, gaps and priorities for further development. Practical sessions focused on the essential elements of an effective communication campaign, understanding what motivates people to support a cause or organisation, and building the trust and relationships needed to turn public engagement into tangible support.
Irina Besliu, Civil Society Programme Officer at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova, reaffirmed the EU’s continued commitment to supporting civil society in Moldova: “The European Union continues to stand alongside civil society in the Republic of Moldova and support organisations that work closely with citizens and communities across the country. Strong and sustainable civil society organisations are essential for Moldova’s democratic development. I encourage the participants of the Comm.Labs to use this opportunity to test new approaches, learn from one another and find new ways to engage people in supporting the causes that matter to their communities.”
“Moldova’s European integration is not only about institutions and reforms, it also requires an active and sustainable civil society that can engage citizens and build trust around the changes taking place in the country. Communication Labs helps organisations strengthen their ability to reach people, mobilise support and build stronger communities around their work,” said Iulian Groza, Executive Director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE), a consortium partner of the EU-funded Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility project.
The discussions also encouraged participants to look beyond communication as a way of promoting individual projects and consider how it can support the longer-term development and sustainability of their organisations. “We need to look at ourselves not only as a collection of projects, but as an organisation that needs to develop, become more visible and remain sustainable in future. Communication is therefore very important for us,” said one of the Comm.Labs participants.
The Kick-off event marks the beginning of an intensive campaign development period. Until 15 October 2026, each organisation will work with an experienced communication mentor to refine its strategy, better understand its target audiences, develop messages and communication approaches, identify realistic ways to mobilise support and define expected results.
“Communication Labs is very much a learning-by-doing programme. The participating organisations come with their own campaign ideas and work with mentors to challenge assumptions, understand their audiences better and turn those ideas into realistic communication campaigns,” said Olga Kennelly, the Team Leader of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility. “It is also a competitive process: all ten teams will develop and submit their final campaign proposals, and up to three will be selected to receive EU support for their implementation, with an average budget of approximately EUR 8,000 per campaign. But regardless of the final selection, our aim is for every participating organisation to leave the programme with a stronger campaign strategy and practical skills they can continue to use.”
For many participants, the experience was different from what they had expected from a capacity-building event. Rather than primarily listening to presentations, teams spent much of the Kick-off event working on their own campaign ideas. Through practical exercises, peer discussions and individual work with mentors, they were encouraged to finetune ideas, identify missing information and translate broad social objectives into clearer targets, actions and measurable results.
One participant described the value of this process: “The questions from the mentors helped me rethink my idea. You realise that you may be missing information or that there are things you have not taken into account. That was very useful because I want to work on something that will genuinely work.”
This practical work will continue throughout the mentoring period, with teams further developing their campaign strategies and exploring how stronger communication can help them build trust, engage supporters and diversify their sources of support.
Ten Moldovan CSOs participating in the Comm.Labs programme:
- “Adăpost și Alinare” Association
- Association of Young Diplomats
- Femei pentru Femei (Women for Women)
- InnoVillage AO
- Institute for Rural Initiatives
- “MOTIVATIE” Association National Coalition “Life without Violence “
- National Youth Council of Moldova
- TEKEDU
- “Regional Centre for Community Development” Association
Background information
Comm. Labs is a capacity-building programme of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility project, funded by the European Union. It supports civil society organisations in developing and implementing effective communication campaigns through a practical learning-by-doing approach combining training, individual mentoring and campaign development. The 2026 Communication Labs in Moldova bring together ten civil society organisations working in different fields and communities. The programme aims to strengthen their strategic communication capacities, with a particular focus on using communication to build public trust, broaden their supporter base and contribute to greater financial sustainability through diversified resource mobilisation.
The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility supports civil society organisations and activists across the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) to strengthen their capacities, engage citizens and contribute to democratic development and positive societal change.
For more information about the Comm. Labs, please contact Elena Palivoda, Communication Expert of the EU-funded Eastern Partnership Civil Society Facility project, at [email protected].
