Căplani village has always been a village of working people, a village with traditions and developed infrastructure. However, starting with the 90s the situation began to change dramatically, as in many other villages in the Republic of Moldova. The enterprises in the village have ceased to operate. The locals began to leave the village in search of a job. The infrastructure, due to lack of money, began to decline.

The citizens of Căplani soon realized that no one will come to make their lives better, they are the ones who should be actively involved in creating comfort in their home. Valeriu Tabunșcic, the mayor of Căplani village, is already in his 4th term.

He initiated several projects to improve public services In the locality, most of them were accomplished with the financial contribution of local households. His motto is: “We can achieve beautiful things for the village, but only with the participation and contribution of both parties involved: residents and municipality.”Any work or investment of the municipality is always discussed in public, and in most cases is supplemented by the personal contribution of locals, but also by local businesses. Recently, there have been many positive changes, experienced by the residents. Thus, the first and most pressing problem solved was the water provision.

Today almost all of the households in the village are connected to the central water supply network. Later, about 90% of the streets were improved using stone from a local quarry that had been abandoned for a long time. Likewise, already this year all public institutions in the village will be connected to the centralized sewerage system. To manage these services, a municipal enterprise was founded, which today is in financial self-management and which saves a significant part of the municipality’s efforts and resources. “The municipal enterprise allows to administer the communal services more efficiently and in a transparent way. Every year the enterprise publishes a  report where the costs and tariffs for the public services are explained. Thanks to this, the users of the services understand better what the tariff is made of and how they can get involved to streamline the delivery of the service. For example, two years after the launch of the water supply service, we understood that the tariff we set does not cover the costs of service management and this can affect the quality of water delivery or even the interruption of the service. Then, together with the people from the village, we agreed to increase the tariff, to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the water supply in the village.” says Valeriu Tabunșcic, the mayor of Căplani village.

Street lighting remains an acute problem for the villagers. During previous years the municipality tried to solve the problem with their own means and resources. With the limited resources available the municipality installed 100 street lights that were connected to the power grid of the adjacent homes. This means that each of these 100 households was responsible for turning on the street light at night and also for covering the costs for electricity consumed. When later these lights required maintenance the households could not afford to contract these services. Therefore, the municipality decided to look for other financial opportunities for the realization of a more ambitious project of public street lighting of the entire locality for which the costs were estimated at exceeding over 1 million lei.

“We were actively looking for funding opportunities and we were happy to learn about the call for applications for the selection of partner LPAs of the project MĂ IMPLIC. I like the name of the project because it describes very well the attitude of the people of the village Căplani. Every resident is involved in creating comfort and improving living conditions in the village. Street lighting is a major need for us. As night falls, the village becomes numb. You do not see people on the street by night, there is no action happening. The first bus in the village leaves at 05.00 in the morning, well, people have been going to work in the dark for years, and the flashlight is a must-have accessory for them. That is why the people from the village are ready to contribute financially and to get involved in solving the problem, actively participating in the meetings organized by the project. From the moment street lighting appears, the village will take on another, more dynamic life. Finally, people will feel safe, especially theose over 600 retirees and 100 people with disabilities. The project will also include the lighting of the biggest attractions in the village – Cișmeaua din Căplani, which we hope will soon become a tourist attraction in the area. This is a complex of 20 springs with soft freshwater, giving health. I invite you to discover this picturesque place, even at night. ” says Valeriu Tabunșcic, the mayor of Căplani village.

In the period 2021-2023, the village of Căplani will implement a project aimed to improve the street lighting service, with the support of the Project “MĂ IMPLIC”, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by SKAT Consulting. Following the signed agreement, the LPA will benefit from funding (maximum 65,000 CHF), consulting, and capacity building services. The Project “MĂ IMPLIC” will help the LPA and the service provider not only to improve the infrastructure but also to develop long-term approaches to keep this infrastructure in good shape and to have sustainable models for financing the provision of services. In our work, we will ensure that local citizens, employees of LPAs, NGOs, economic agents are actively involved in modernizing public services in the community and especially that the less advantaged have equal access to these services.