Although the city of Cahul is a relatively large city, unfortunately, it does not have too many well-appointed green spaces, and this has a direct impact on environmental education and aesthetic appearance of the locality. Open World Alumnus Mr. Nicolae Dandiș, President of the "DIALOG" Association in Cahul, Director of the Centre "Pro-Europa", lecturer at the State University of Cahul "B.P.Hasdeu" and City Councilor, has developed the project "Green areas - a platform for cooperation and education in Cahul", which was funded by the US Embassy in the Republic of Moldova through alumni small grants in 2011.

In the central area of Cahul is a land with area of about 5,500 m2 between 2 large housing blocks with over 700 residents. The Association of residents held several meetings to evaluate the wish of each person related to land improvement, their vision of how it should look, how each of them can get involved, what is the impact on the region not only on the residents, etc. The project was initiated by 2 alumni of exchange programs, which gave visibility to the alumni community in the region.

The project's aim was to contribute to nurturing love towards the environment and to create conditions for active recreation by arranging a small park between 2 housing blocks in downtown Cahul.

Project objectives:
-Informing citizens of the reciving area (10 Tineretului St. and 50 M. Frunze St.) about the importance of nature and green spaces for people's health and for aesthetic appeal of Cahul; 
-involvIing residents and volunteers of partner NGOs to carry out the cleaning work, arranging the park in the sector of about 5,500 m2 area determined by the project and approved by the Cahul City Hall.

The project targeted a public land of about 5500 m2 in the central area of the city of Cahul which is located between housing blocks where over 700 residents live. The aimed goals seek the involvement of these residents of institutions or organizations interested in arranging the small park with green area (trees and planted shrubs, flowers, etc), installed benches for rest and demarcation of land with small installations for children. The project team led by Mr. Dandiș mobilized and organized the community in the spirit of learning about nature, recreation and aesthetic appearance of the places where we live, because the event was attended by residents, volunteers from some active NGOs such as Contact Cahul, Sustainable Development Community Foundation Cahul, etc. All actions were broadly publicized in local media.

"There are two things that the Open World experience taught me: to be more active in my community and to be more self confident as an NGO representative. It is always stimulating when you see NGO success stories like the ones I had the opportunity to observe in US - I immediately wanted to accomplish great things in my home city in the South of Moldova. My Open World visit in US encouraged me to be an active leader despite the overall lack of interest and initiative of the citizens in Cahul."

" One of the most memorable moments from my OW trip to Madison was the visit to a local NGO which developed environmental projects - We were all impressed to see that building new cities or houses and developing the local business infrastructure was not the only area of interest for the American citizens. Preserving the natural landscape and respecting the natural world in the area was as important as making money to develop the communities. It was then when I had the idea for my project in Cahul - we also wanted to encourage the community to preserve our natural resources and keep our city clean and green, something which our children would inherit from us in the long run. Despite the fact that initially I was rather skeptical concerning the role of media in an environmental project, after observing the way NGOs and local media interact in Madison, I also collaborated with the local press and TV stations in Cahul, which was actually very productive and efficient for my project."

Spatiile verzi - platforma de cooperare si de educatie in orasul Cahul