Program Highlights
Educator Applies Democratic Process to School Management
One teacher and one small village will never be the same after participating in the USAID-funded Citizen Participation Program (CPP.) The educator, Aurelia Buzila, was so transformed after managing the school renovation project that she has since been promoted to principal. She is now determined to change her community and individual lives within her community of Sofia, a small village in northern Moldova.
Last spring, Buzila was elected to lead the Community Initiative Group (CIG), which spearheaded the CPP project to renovate the school. Buzila recalls an epiphany she had during this experience, “I realized that simple citizens can improve things! The project gave me experience and more confidence. Before that, I was [hopeless.]”
Buzila, like many other CIG leaders, first hesitated to take on the management of the community project. Her job as a teacher was overwhelming enough. She says: “I was in charge of many things. I didn’t think I had any energy left for an international project, which would bring greater responsibility.”
Gradually, though, she discovered that “the more you work, the more you recharge your batteries. This is because everything I do is focused on one major goal.” Buzila was instrumental in raising funds from the community. She organized discos for students and other fund-raising events to help reach the required matching contribution from the village.
Since the project’s completion, the former CIG leader stands out as a progressive and democratic manager at the school. She has certainly changed the school’s management and “can sense the change in the atmosphere: my colleagues are more relaxed, because they know their opinions are being taken into account. It’s all about how you approach issues.”
Buzila incorporates the democratic processes and tools she learned through the CPP project. For example, the staff now debate issues at meetings and try to reach a consensus. She knows the final decisions she makes are reasonable.
Ms. Buzila has also found energy to reinvest in troubled youth whom others have given up on. This, too, is a product of her involvement with CPP and affirmation that things can change. Buzila says: “Some teachers assured me that [the students] were a lost cause. I couldn’t believe it. I talked to them, starting with the viewpoint that each of them is an individual.” Buzila’s efforts to tutor, mentor, and involve these youth in volunteer activities has changed how the villagers view the students, and indeed how the students view themselves.
The way CPP interacted with its beneficiaries made Buzila realize the importance of cooperation and inclusion. She says, “The feedback we receive, positive or negative, is a direct consequence of the approach we take.” Buzila is committed to tackle any and all challenges in her future. She and the village of Sofia have been forever changed.