Chisinau - Today, April 12, the Cahul District Council received a wheelchair accessible FIAT Ducato minibus donated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Moldova, with the financial support of the United States State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration.

The donation of the 4 seats + 2 wheelchairs accessible minibus worth 45.180,00 Euros, as part of a collaboration between IOM and General Directorate of Social Assistance and Family Protection of the Cahul District Council, aims at supporting people with disabilities with the adapted transportation to access following social services provided by the Cahul public authorities:

•    "Personal Assistance", to transport persons with disabilities to receive medical investigation and treatments, as well as for submission/receiving of different personal documentation.
•    "Social care at home", to support the Cahul District’s Mobile Teams in assisting pensioners with disabilities at home. 
•    “Day center for children with disabilities”, to transport to children aged 0-18 years old with sensory (hearing, visual), physical, mental disabilities in a range of 20km.
•    Complex of social services for children in difficulty "ÎMPREUNĂ" - to provide transportation for children to school, kindergarten, extracurricular activities.  

The handover ceremony in Cahul District Council was attended by Nicolae Dunas, Head of the Cahul District Council, Oxana Radu, Head of the General Social Assistance and Family Protection Department, and IOM Chief of Mission, Lars Johan Lönnback, who said: “Cahul is an area which receives a lot of refugees because of the language and cultural affinities. IOM is grateful to collaborate with Cahul with this agreement for a dual use of a van to transport persons with disabilities as well as to provide transportation for refugees. I am happy to see progresses on IOM livelihood programs on Ukrainian refugees in Cahul District”. 

The Head of the Cahul District Council, Nicolae Dunas, thanked IOM Moldova and the United States of America for this support, for this special equipment and vehicle which will be used directly for those in need. “It is a direct support that embraces the society for the inclusion of Moldovans and Ukrainian refugees the various social activities of the District Council,” he said.

The donation is part of the continuous IOM collaboration with the Government of Moldova to organize a fast tracked, safe and dignified transport n case of an emergency situation.
 

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For more information, please contact: 
Riccardo Severi, Project Officer - Media and Communications, IOM Moldova 
rseveri@iom.int