Access of vulnerable groups to services of water supply and sanitation was the theme of the round table that took place at the initiative of the Congress of local Authorities of Moldova on April 17, 2013 in CALM premises. The event hosted over 20 women mayors members of CALM Women Mayors Network. The purpose of this meeting was to identify the problems of vulnerable group’s access to water and sewage services, the experiences of implementation of the gender equality aspect and vulnerable groups in the existing pricing policy.
During the meeting each participant had the opportunity to present their own experience related to the issue of access to water and sanitation services of vulnerable groups in the respective municipalities and to tell about the identified solutions for each problem in part. The discussion allowed the identification and assessment of risks, challenges and implementation stages of the concepts of gender equality in access to water and sanitation services in Moldova. The Mayors drew particular attention to the fact that many times due to economic and financial reasons opportunities for local authorities to include vulnerable groups are limited. However, the LPAs are institutions that work directly with the citizens and try whatever is in their powers to take account of these groups in the tariff policy, while the central Government ignores the situation in the territory and attempting to take from LPA the prerogative to say the final word in approving tariffs. At the end of the meeting the participants underlined the need to identify a model of calculation and approval of tariffs for water and sewage services, taking into account vulnerable groups and ensure their access to these services.
