IPIS: A think-tank that is leading by example, bringing people from all sides together in Moldova to work for a better future. The Moldovan Institute for Strategic Initiatives (IPIS) is housed in a bright airy modern office with block-colour walls on a busy street of elegant but slightly rundown buildings in central Chisinau. As we drink a morning tea and unwrap some local chocolates, Andrei Popov, one of IPIS’s founders, and Maria Levcenco, Coordinator of Media and Communications and designer of this attractive office space, both admit they both barely slept last night. For once, this is not because of political upheavals in Moldova; they blame their teething babies. They join Ina Shupac, IPIS Executive Director. Another of IPIS’s founders, Vladislav Kulminski, cannot join us today as he is in Minsk in his capacity as Adviser on Foreign Policy and Strategic planning to Maia Sandu’s former government.* Popov explains that IPIS was created in 2016 when a group of like-minded prominent individuals more used to dissecting and discussing their country’s challenges over coffee, decided to form a new entity that could make a real difference to Moldova. EED gave the think-tank its first seed funding – indeed the chairs we are sitting on today are thanks to this funding. As Popov describes, “We wanted to create a platform that could bring people together. We wanted to show them that all Moldovans can participate in civic actions regardless of their geopolitical or ethnic backgrounds. All the members of IPIS come from […]