National Forum for Entrepreneurs

Yesterday was a big day for Winrock. The staff had been working hectically for the past couple of weeks to organize the National Forum for Entrepreneurs that was held at the very posh "Hotel Codru." Apparently the hall in which they held the day-long event is where ministers meet to sign important bilateral agreements and hold other official business. Winrock, along with the Lichtenstein Development Service (LED), has overseen the project titled Moldovan Employment and Entrepreneurship Education and Training Activity (MEEETA) for the past several years. This program has trained thousands of young entrepreneurs across Moldova about how to start their own businesses and has provided funds to more than 150 to help make this possible.

Although there were no speeches on the agenda of this event focusing on human trafficking, economic development is extremely important in preventing this phenomenon. As the forum was coming to a close, one of the young entrepreneurs made a final comment that illustrates this point. Thankfully, she was one of the very few people who said something in Russian so I could actually understand. She presented the director of Winrock with a couple of huge bouquets of balloon flowers and thanked her, through tears, for showing people that they can make a living in Moldova so that they don't have to leave their families and take the risk of going abroad.

There were lots of TV crews at the forum and I found a couple of videos online. The first is in Romanian and you can see my boss, Georgeta, around 1:06 and the director of Winrock, Sofia, directly after her. You can also see Chi Pham, the country director of the Lichtenstein Development Service, who was the only person to present in English. The second is in Russian and if you look carefully you might see me in the background at the registration table where I was trying to help/not be in the way.

http://www.trm.md/index.php?module=stiri_int&news_id=21444
http://ru.publika.md/link_56131.html