IMPROVING MOLDOVAN INFRASTRUCTURE—Moldova faces many obstacles in its path to modernization—among them a crumbling infrastructure.  One government program supported by the World Bank gives communities grants for repairs they choose, as long as they pitch in, too.

Most trains pass Calfa in a blur—only one a day stops.  For a long time, the train was the only reliable link to the outside world. Rutted by rain and snow, the village’s dirt road was often impassable.  But the community pulled together to scrape and grade the road, and to install drainage.  The project was paid for in part by a government grant supported by the World Bank.

KEEPING PATIENTS WARM IN HOSPITALS—In Soviet times, central heating really was centralized, with large systems in cities and towns providing citizens’ homes and government buildings with heat and hot water at below market rates.  But in the end days of the Soviet Union, heating systems were poorly maintained and financed, and many hospitals did without heat.  Now, with Moldova struggling in a slow transition to a market economy, the World Bank is assisting hospitals all over the country to keep their patients warm.

HELPING MOLDOVAN WINE EXPORTS—Wine making has a long tradition in Moldova.  In Soviet times and afterwards, Russia bought almost all of Moldova’s wine. Today, Moldova is looking to expand its traditional export market by seeking new buyers in Europe and Asia.  The Moldovan government, with help from a World Bank program, is assisting wine companies to find new markets.

BUSINESS START UPS IN MOLDOVA—The former Soviet nation of Moldova is still adjusting to its transition to a market economy: Economic output plummeted between 1991 and 1999.  Despite strong growth in the last few years, nearly a third of its citizens are impoverished, and unemployment is high.  But a government program supported by the World Bank is helping to create income earning opportunities in rural areas like Glodeni—a county where half the work force is out of a job.