The local public authorities (LPAs) are encouraged to take part in a new competition for the creation and extension of public crèches. The call was launched today by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The authorities of localities with a population of more than 5,000 inhabitants can participate in the contest, IPN reports.

For the extension of crèches, the Government will allocate 20 million lei. The maximum amount for the project is 1.5 million lei, with the possibility of increasing this amount by 15%. The additional costs will be covered by the LPAs.

In 2023, 20 localities benefited from the crèche extension program, which meant 15 new crèche groups created and 20 crèche groups renovated and prepared for the cold season. Furthermore, 8 new groups were created with financing from the foreign partners and 10 groups were renovated. Eight family-type crèches and 2 crèches set up by employers were launched.

According to Minister of Labor and Social Protection Alexei Buzu, the extension of public crèche groups is essential to support young families, young mothers who want to harmoniously combine work and family life and who want to return to work as soon as possible. The employment rate among women who have a child of preschool age remains extremely low. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to build as many crèches, kindergartens as possible and to offer alternative childcare services.

Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu encouraged all the local public authorities of the first level to actively participate in this competition, thus contributing to improving access to early education for children and to the sustainable development of each locality.

Starting today, July 1, the local public authorities will have 30 calendar days, until July 30, 2024, to prepare the technical documentation and fill in the participation forms. The selected projects are to be implemented by the end of 2024.