Republic of Moldova From Social Exclusion Towards Inclusive Human Development
The risk of social exclusion is highly correlated with lack of or limited access to utility services. Only 53% of the population has access to safe drinking water, about 45.9% has access to improved sanitation facilities and 45.7% to improved sewage systems. Rising costs of utility services additionally limits the opportunities for economic inclusion, especially for poor households. Tariffs for utilities increased by 29.2%, for transport by 20.1%, for public catering by 15.9%, and for health services by 8.8%. Labor migration has dubious implications for social inclusion. Thanks to the fact that over 23% of the active population of Moldova went abroad for work in 2000s, living standards improved significantly. Average incomes from remittances in 2008 accounted for 19% of average disposable incomes for the total population and over 25% in rural areas , making many household highly dependent on such incomes. But the income stream comes at huge social cost: the children of families of migrants that work abroad, particularly those with both parents out of the country, are particularly vulnerable as they are left in the care of other family members, neighbors, and sometimes even under no supervision at all.
Exclusion from social services and social protection The share of social expenditures in the state budget was on the rise and in 2009 made up 70.2% of the total budget (or 32% of GDP). The most significant share of the overall social sector expenditures was allocated for social protection and this share grew by one third in the period between 2000 and 2009 (from 10% to 15.1% of GDP respectively). Education expenditures, which increased from 5.7% of GDP in 2000 to 9.4% in 2009, came second in terms of total budget allocations. Healthcare spending rose from 3% of GDP in 2000 to 4.7% in 2006 and 6.4% in 2009. Still, despite the increasing financial allocations exclusion from social services remains a challenge.
Exclusion from education Gross enrolment rates slip down from 95.1% in 2002 to 94.4% in 2005 and further down to 90.9% in 2009. Quality and access to education services remains a main issues, especially in rural areas. Income poor households face particular barriers in terms of their children’s access to quality education, as the informal payments are widespread in education system. Poor access due to remoteness of the relevant education establishments and a lack of transportation constitute another important factor of exclusion from education contributing to low enrolment rates in remote areas without own schools and early dropping out from the education system. Attitudes of both parents and of teachers matter and can make things worse. On the one hand, parents of low educational backgrounds are often more tolerant to their children dropping out of school. On the other hand, negative (or sometimes even hostile) attitudes, poor understanding of children’s strengths and needs and the limited skills on the side of the teachers are barriers that make some groups of children particularly vulnerable to exclusion. About 25% of boys and 8% of girls said that, in younger grades, they were verbally or physically abused by teachers. Pressing need to ensure household incomes also lead to voluntary exclusion of children from education and placing them to informal or formal economy. Another source of exclusion is lack of parental control in migrants’ families.
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