2015-2016

ANNUAL REPORT
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Organizational profile ............................................2
Global Youth Service Day ......................................4
Adobe Youth Voices
National Student Conference ................................6
iEARN-Moldova Teacher Network ........................8
iEngage ....................................................................10
Girls in the LEAD....................................................12
Online Tools for Institute of
Education Sciences Employees ..............................14
Donation of teaching materials from North Carolina
-Moldova Partnership Office..................................16
Our strategic partners ............................................18

ACADEMY FOR INNOVATION AND CHANGE

THROUGH EDUCATION
AICE is a nonprofit organization aiming to provide innovative programs in education which promote positive lasting
change on the local, regional and international level.
We enable local individuals and institutions to develop key
skills in such areas as quality education, integration technology for development, civic engagement, youth empowerment, gender equality, regional development.
AICE employs highly professional experts in education, research, project management, human resources, online teaching and learning with extensive experience in various fields
related to education and professional development.
Our team collaborates with other NGOs specialized in international education, such as American Councils for International Education, English Teaching Resource Network, Moldovan English Teacher Association, iEARN (International
Education and Resource Network), VIF Learning Center,
Youth Service America, Adobe Foundation.

OUR TEAM

DR DANIELA MUNCA-AFTENEV
A transformative leader in Moldovan cross
-cultural education and exchange programs, with more than a ten year expertise in managing educational projects,
online teaching methodology, projectbased inquiry, global classroom development, diplomacy, service-learning, alumni development, and ESL/EFL (teaching
English as a second / foreign language).

OUR VISION
We believe strongly in the
power of education that
simultaneously improves
the quality of life both of individuals and the wider society.

OLGA MOROZAN, PHD

An expert with extensive experience as
project coordinator and trainer in various
national and international projects and
programs connected to education and social sciences. Advanced skills in designing
and
teaching
e-learning/face-to-face
courses in Education and Social Sciences,
Management and Leadership for all age
students, pre-/-in-service specialists in
education, psychology and management,
future leaders of Moldovan society.

CORINA CEBAN
An educator with a 16 year experience in
teaching English as a foreign language.
Works in the V.Alecsandri Lyceum from
Bli and is an Acccess Microscholarship Instructor. Holds the 1st didactic degree in teaching English and has graduated the E-teaching Program from University of Oregon, USA.

EDUCATION IS THE
MOST POWERFUL
WEAPON WHICH YOU
CAN USE TO CHANGE
THE WORLD.
NELSON MANDELA
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In March, 2016, over 50 educators
from various regions of Moldova
gathered their forces to involve
over 300 students of all ages in the
celebration of the Global Youth
Service Day initiative.
The Global Youth Service Network
is a coalition of local, state, national, and international organizations
committed to engaging children
and youth as leaders through volunteering, community service, service-learning, national service, and
voting/civic engagement.

"Mihai Eminescu" Lyceum,

Ungheni

"Vasile Alecsandri" Theoretical Lyceum, Clrai

Evrika Lyceum , Rbnia

,,Gura Cainarului'' Gymnazium, Gura Cainarului

Gh.V.Madan Gymnasium
no.99, Trueni

Petru Movil
Lyceum, Chisinu

Sergey Rudenko
Lyceum, Vulcaneti

"A.Russo" High School, Bli,

Sngerei

"V. Alecsandri" Theoretical

Lyceum, Scumpia, Fleti

GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY CELEBRATION:

APRILMAY 2016

"Mihai Eminescu" Lyceum,

Hnceti

Balatina Theoretical Lyceum

Gavazi Public School, Georgia

"B.P. Hasdeu" High School,

Drochia

Vasile Alecsandri Lyceum,

Bli

"Mihai Eminescu" Lyceum,

Floreti

Gymnasium no.2, Drochia

Boris Dnga Lyceum,

Criuleni

Ivan Ivazov
Lyceum,Taraclia

Teoretical Liceum
Evrika, Rbnia

Theoretical Lyceum
"Alecu Russo", Sngerei

"Mihai Eminescu"
School, Cantemir

"Dimitrie. Cantemir"
Lyceum,Edine

"Lucian Blaga" Lyceum,

Iargara

"Mihai Eminescu"
Lyceum, Soroca

Gura Cinarului
Gymnasium, Floreti

Bneti Gymnasium,
Telenesti

American Language
Center, Chiinu

REGIONAL PROJECTS
The environmental issue is one of the most up-to-date
problems of our society as our surroundings are debasing day
by day. On the 23 of April I and 25 pupils from the Theoretical
Lyceum "Boris Dinga" tried to solve this problem. So, in order
to do our city a better place to live we have cleaned the local
park from Criuleni. It was a great experience as for me as for
my students, they were excited to do such a great and useful
thing. Most of them said that they would have spent all the day
in front of computer, but this experience was thrilling. We
worked with the local authorities and workers of the city. So,
we have done a marvelous thing for all the citizens of Criuleni
city. I think that this action is a motivational thing for all the
mankind, we are what we repeatedly do, so we should do great
things for becoming great and significant people.
Sclifos Tatiana, Boris Dnga Lyceum
We celebrated Global Youth Service Day on the 21st of April,
12 students participated in the project. We decided to green our
school with indoor plants. Our parents and the school
administration helped us a lot. They bought new flower pots
for our project and brought a lot of young plants to school to be
planted. During the project we laughed and had a lot of fun ,
students form primary school were very impressed by our
project and promised to participate the next year. Students
searched for information about different plants. Such kind of
projects help us make the world and our community a better,
and a more beautiful place to live in. We realized we can
change the world to the better when we participate in the
Global Youth Service Day.
Victoria Comerzan, "Mihai Eminescu" Theoretycal
Lyceum
6th grade students celebrated Global Youth Service Day by
organising the Waste Wise School Project. They conducted a
waste assessment survey and waste audit, two litter and three
food that goes uneaten raids, gave presentations to their peers
and the students of elementary school, made very impressive
posters. Even though the event was held after classes, students
worked hard and really enjoyed it. They were wearing blue
gloves but claimed they thought green. So the mottos of the
campaign Let Us Be Green Hearts and Make Beautiful Things
Happen were brought to life. The students proved to be real
young leaders who feel they can do something to change the
world for the better. And though not all had the courage to
become active participants of the event (we saw puzzled looks
and astonished eyes), it made a lot of young people think of the
problems of littering.
Elena Bogoeva, Petru Movila Lyceum

ADOBE YOUTH NATIONAL STUDENT

MEDIA CONFERENCE
On March 12, 2016 up to 100
Moldovan educators and students
from all around Moldova who
created the most outstanding
media productions as part of
various international projects
participated in the Adobe Youth
Voices National Student Media
Conference. The event
recognized best student media
projects, strengthened the local
iEARN-Moldova teacher network
and launched the new iEARNMoldova logo.
All winning
projects were published online,

on the project blog and were

submitted to participate in the
iEARN-USA Virtual Media
Festival, which is an international
initiative organised every year in
order to award best student
projects created as part of
intern ational colla bo rative
initiatives.

WINNING PROJECTS

Two video projects created by Moldovan students were selected

to be presented at the
iEARN-USA Virtual Media Festival
on June 17

Craciun Victoria, Gymnasium nr.99 Gh.V.Madan

Cordial
congratulations
to all
participants
of
the
Adobe Youth Voices
National Student Media Conference, hosted in March 12 in Chisinau. I would like to share my joy and
happiness of being among those teachers and their students, who have brought their contributions in
accomplishing that event. Although that event was organized under the form of a competition , and some
of the projects were rewarded with presents, for me all the participants are winners. Winners , because all
of them have earned a lot, by being an iEARN member learning with and about the world. Each of them is
iENGAGE hero by living his life in an unordinary way, bringing his/her contribution to change the
world s vector in the right position. Each of them spent one day in the life a little bit differently, by coming
out of their comfort zone and being there. All the participants themselves are creative arts as they spread
the word about our country, culture in such extraordinary and creative ways using a large variety of
online tools.
Gruca Dumitru, Theoretical Lyceum " V. Alecsandri"
I would like to say a great THANK YOU to the organizers of the Adobe Youth Voices National Student
Media Conference, for giving the chance to both teachers and students to participate at the conference. The
conference proved that students from all Moldova are eager to new challenges and learning new things.
iEARN gave the possibility to our school and students to be a part og Global Community. Here students are
able to
create, research, share opinions and become global citizens. iEARN projects develops
communicative skills and responsibility to students. We would like to to participate in other similar
iEARN projects and events in the future, because we always should keep the door open to new knowledge,
partnership, challenges and Global Community.
Irina Mutruc, High School "Ion Creanga"
We've been involved in iEarn projects since september 2015 and it was a surprise to discover what a great
and beneficial experience this is. All my active students are really impressed and consider participating in
this very efficient and interactive. They found new friends, they are continually improving their English
through communication and their project works, they have learned to create media works and found out so
much information about youth from all over the world! The conference organized in March was an
amazing experience too. The representatives of my groups that took part at this event, were very impressed
by the great number of students that attended and their interest in global issues, their wonderful media
projects and how various they were. Such kind of events encourage the students to be active and buid their
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self-confidence.

IEARN-MOLDOVA NATIONAL
NETWORK
iEARN is a non-profit organization made up of over
30,000 schools and youth
organizations in over 140
countries. iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online
using the Internet and other
new communications technologies. Over 2,000,000
students each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide.

iEARN-Moldova network
has more than 300 registered teachers and over
1000 students who participate in various international online collaborative projects every year. Under the
constant guidance of our
experts, Moldovan educators connect to their colleagues from over 140
countries around the world.

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY

IEARN-MOLDOVA EDUCATORS
most impressive international projects we
can list the following initiatives:

This year was especially fruitful for the

iEARN-Moldova teacher network. From September 2015 to January 2016, almost 300
newly registered educators and students from
10 regions of Moldova joined various international projects and initiatives, such as the
Holiday Cards Exchange", which connects
international students from various regions
of the world through cultural card exchange.
10 teams comprised of Moldovan teachers
and students from Access Microscholarship
Program and iEngage Project received and
sent reciprocally mail packages with holiday
cards celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas,
New Year and other national holidays from
10 countries, Tunisia, United States, Russia,
Mexico, Spain, Lithuania, India, Taiwan,
Thailand, and Belarus. During the entire 2015
-2016 academic year, 22 educators from Moldova, together with almost 500 students,
joined 10 iEARN Learning Circles projects to
collaboratively develop and implement 35
online global learning projects (20 projects
during the fall semester and 15 projects during the spring semester) in collaboration with
educators from Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Belarus, Canada, Taiwan, Tunisia, Australia, United States, Egypt, Romania, India, Algeria,
Germany, Georgia, Ukraine, and other
iEARN member countries. These international initiatives offered a cross-cultural and
cross-curricular interpretation of the global
problems related to the environment, education, architecture, communication, cultural
exchange and social interaction. Among our

Our Rivers, Our World

Places and Perspectives
Global issues: Education/
Environment
My Hero
Computer Chronicles
My City and Me
Teddy Bear Project
One Day in My Life
'Traditions and Customs of Europeans & Around the World
A Healthy Life Style
Holidays Around the World
Internet Risks and Advantages in
Education
Political Corruption
Make Every Day Earth Day
No water. No Life. No Green. No
Blue.

This project was one of the winners of the

2015 State Alumni Engagement Innovation
Fund created by State Department in 2011 to
support alumni initiatives that promote shared
values and innovative solutions to global
challenges. A team of alumni from Moldova, all
experts in international education led by Daniela
Munca-Aftenev (Muskie) and Olga Morozan
(Access Microscholarship) elaborated a project
which was selected from among 800 applications
received from worldwide alumni.

IENGAGE: JULY 2015MAY 2016

The project informed, trained and empowered 35 English
Language teachers from various regions of Moldova and 12
teacher-trainers from Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus and Crimea
(who have extensive previous experience in international
online collaborative projects) to work together online and
partnership with American schools and universities using
the Internet and other new communication technologies
while participating in various civic engagement
initiatives. The project strengthened the importance of
international collaboration and civic activism in Moldovan
schools and universities on a national level. The project
empowered a regional network of socially active teachers and
students ready to reach out to their communities and learn
from American colleagues while engaging in various
community development projects.

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SAMPLE IENGAGE PROJECTS

Prozorovschi Daria collaborates with educators from US

and Taiwan to put together a digital book for the "Our Story
Book" Project

The project aimed to collect different ideas from diverse cultures and
countries to complete one amazing story. It was a fruitful teamwork
between Moldova, USA and Taiwan resulted in an adventure book
about a The Girl with Her Dog. We had the great opportunity to start
the story and create the book cover. Students enjoyed a lot the
possibility to collaborate with children from other countries and
communicate with them on iEARN forum. This project made students
from our community understand the importance of English language
and motivated them to do their best in mastering a foreign language. It
also helped them to experience the joy of international collaboration.

Maria Costi helps her students fly peace and friendship

kites on March 21st

My students and me have recently participated in an amazing event.

We flew kites on March, 21st. It is an international project dedicated to
the Polish doctor and writer Janusz Korczak, who was a staunch
advocate of children's rights. He is editor of children's newspapers and
the founder of the orphanage. Students were happy from the very
beginning and they came to school and made their kites. Students
enjoyed the event: they wrote messages about peace, friendship, about
their dreams on the kites.

Viorica Arnut involves her 6th grade students in the

Holiday Card Exchange international project

I participated in this amazing project with my 6th Grade pupils. At the

beginning they asked me the question How would the pupils from other
countries understand us? And suddenly they realized that English is the
way of communication! We were 8 countries in the group: Taiwan,
Slovenia, Russia, Belarus, Jordan and USA. We received envelops from
all countries. The cards done by the pupils were wonderful! We have
learned a lot about the culture, the traditions and the holidays around
the world!

Moldovan students collaborate with peers from USA,

Belarus, Colombia, Romania and Russia as part of the
Places and Perspectives Project
"I decided to join this project because it encouraged my students to
explore regional history, culture, government, and geography by
sharing their knowledge with people from different locations. 8
international schools were involved in the exchange: Kumertau,
Bashkortostan Region, Russia, Mogilev, Belarus, Norwood,
Massachusetts, United States, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Malmyzh, Kirov
Region, Russia, Roldanillo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Everyone from
the group chose a project to sponsor and wrote a detailed Project
Idea .for the group members. in my final project publication.
12 students from the 12th form took part in the project.

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GIRLS IN THE LEAD

Corina Ceban, our regional
expert from Balti, coordinated the Girls in the Lead Project with the financial support
of US Embassy to Moldova.
The project recruited, trained
empowered 20 young girls
from three regions of Moldova. These girls worked collaboratively with different educational agents, such as Peace
Corps, American Councils for
International Education and
Mostenitorii NGO from Balti, in order to develop leadership skills necessary for a successful career in the 21st century. Project beneficiaries included a total of 50 girls from
Balti, Ungheni and Edinet, so
that all of them were able to

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develop their strategic abilities and critical thinking skills

through intellectual games
and problem-solving tasks.
The trained girls organized
comprehensive sessions, with
the focus being on the leading
role of girls in a modern society, in four different regions
of our country (Edinet, Soroca, Balti, and Ungheni). The
activities began with debates
and photo collages based on
girls life in the family and
school community. The end
of the project was the creation
of a virtual regional network
aiming to connect teachers
and students from participating schools.

EMPOWERING YOUNG WOMEN FROM

EDINET, SOROCA, BALTI AND UNGHENI
The project itself was divided into two parts:
Leadership activities with experts
from Moldova (American Councils for
International
Education
and
Mostenitorii NGO from Balti) and USA
(University of Montana). The girls were
recruited from three schools, one national
and two Russian schools from the same
district of Balti. The activities offered girls
various opportunities to grow up more
confident and empowered as successful
By the end of the project, participants:

Identified their personal leadership styles

and individual strengths in order to get
engaged in service learning opportunities;

Developed strategic abilities, critical

thinking skills through intellectual games
and problem-solving tasks;

Improved their communicative abilities to

effectively solve interpersonal conflicts
through techniques relying on social and
emotional intelligence;

Created an inspiring vision of their professional future and were motivated to engage in brave initiatives inspired from a
new leadership vision.

women of the 21st century.

Project participants organized comprehensive sessions, with the focus being on the leading role of girls in a modern
society, in four different regions of our
country: Edinet, Soroca, Balti, and
Ungheni. The activities began with debates
and photo collages based on girls life in
the family, school and local communities.
Activities in the form of games were conducted in between the sessions, being funny, unique and educational. The project
culminated with the creation of a virtual
regional network which disseminated the
educational games and team building activities created by project participants in
the regional English teaching community.
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ONLINE TOOLS FOR INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATION SCIENCES EMPLOYEES
18 employees of the Institute
of Education Sciences: researchers, educators, heads
of various departments and
superior lecturers, registered
to participate in the project
which aimed to equip them
with the tools necessary to
integrate online technologies
in their daily work. Face to
face workshops and online
sessions were organized to
help participants learn how
to improve the projects they
coordinate under the Institute of Education Sciences.
They learned how to create
and run a blog, how to organize online conferences, how
to manage an online academic course, how to create personalized online tests and
how to integrate social media
networks in their daily work.

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By the end of the project,

each participant designed
his/her personal website
which served as professional
portfolio. The project was
financed by IREX (International Research and Exchange Board).

SAMPLE PERSONAL BLOGS CREATED BY PROJECT

PARTICIPANTS

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DONATION OF TEACHING MATERIALS FROM

NORTH CAROLINAMOLDOVA
PARTNERSHIP OFFICE OFFICE
On May 15 Moldovan teachers and students from 60 schools from various regions
around the country received teaching materials from North CarolinaMoldova Partnership Office. The donation was coordinated by Lora Sinigur, North Carolina Secretary of State Office and Irina Rusanovschi, President of Phoenix NGO. Our special guest, Ray West, President of Moldova World Childrens Fund, handed in teaching materials to our most active teachers and students.

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QUOTES FROM MOLDOVAN TEACHERS WHO

RECEIVED TEACHING MATERIALS FROM
NORTH CAROLINA
We are very grateful to Academy for Innovation and Change through Education and North Carolina - Moldova Partnership Office, to Elaine Marshall, Eleonora Sinigur, Ray West and Irina Rusanovschi for this extraordinary donation of books that are like a refreshment in our daily teaching work. Having consulted them with
my colleagues we realized how interesting and useful they are. The final Global Youth Service Day Conference
was a general amazing review of all our achievements and it was great!Thank you all for this awesome opportunity! Irina Mutruc, Ion Creanga Lyceum, Balti

We are grateful to Academy for Innovation and Change through Education and North Carolina for their
wonderful gifts. Books are very useful and will make the English lessons more creative and interactive. Special
thanks to Daniela Munca and Olga Morozan, who get my students involved in online projects and motivated
us to engage in international projects. Victoria Comerzan, "Mihai Eminescu" Lyceum, Floresti
Students in Iargara would like to sincerely thank Academy for Innovation and Change through Education

and the North Carolina- Moldova Partnership Office for their generous donations. The books have been a
wonderful addition to our classrooms in Moldova. Students are excited and motivated to continue learning English through these new books. Again thank you for the time and effort that you committed to this
project. We really appreciate it and we look forward to participating in future programs that will be
sponged by both of these wonderful organizations. Porubin Ina, Iargara, Leova

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OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERS

iEARN is a non-profit organization made up of over

30,000 schools and youth organizations in over 140
countries. iEARN empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and
other new communications technologies. Over
2,000,000 students each day are engaged in collaborative project work worldwide.
The Adobe Youth Voices, a program created by
Adobe Foundation, ignites young peoples Creative
Confidence the ability to harness creative skills
to solve problems through the power of digital
storytelling. Through Adobe Youth Voices, TakingITGlobal works in partnership with NGOs, educational institutions and youth organizations in
an effort to engage youth aged 13-18.
Founded in 1986, YSA supports a global culture of
engaged children and youth committed to a lifetime of meaningful service, learning, and leadership. With half the worlds population under age
25, our mission is to help all young people find
their voice, take action, and make an impact on vital community issues. Starting in 2016, YSA will
focus all our assets and outcomes on achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

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VIF International Education, based in North Carolina, USA, builds global education programs that
prepare students for success in an interconnected
world. VIFs professional development, resources
and consultation services are easily packaged to
address specific goals and needs and are deployed
in partnerships that support individual teachers,
teacher cohorts within a school or across a district,
or whole-school and district-wide initiatives.

The North Carolina - Moldova Partnership was formalized on

April 22, 1999 by the Republic of Moldova and the State of
North Carolina. It has since evolved into a partnership that
includes the efforts of many more organizations and individuals to include private firms, civic organizations and nonprofit agencies. The partnership is a bi-lateral association
with planning committees in both North Carolina and the Republic of Moldova who work together in a cooperative effort
to improve and enrich the lives of everyone it touches.

American Councils for International Education is a premier, international nonprofit creating educational opportunities that
prepare individuals and institutions to succeed in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world. Through academic exchanges, overseas language immersion, data-driven research, and educational development programs, American
Councils designs and administers innovative programs that
broaden individual perspectives, increase knowledge, and deepen understanding.

The English Access Microscholarship Program

(Access) provides a foundation of English language
skills to talented 13-20 year-olds from economically
disadvantaged sectors through after-school classes
and intensive sessions. Access gives participants English skills that may lead to better jobs and educational
prospects. Participants also gain the ability to compete for and participate in future exchanges and study
in the United States. Since its inception in 2004, approximately 95,000 students in more than 85 countries have participated in the Access Program.

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E-mail: academiaise@gmail.com
Web: academiaise.weebly.com