The aim of this study is to describe the civil society’s role as democracy promoter in Moldova. The theoretical framework that has been used is theories acknowledging the civil society as an important actor for the democratization process. The study will in addition to the civil society’s perspectives on its role as democracy promoter, examine the obstacles for the civil society to carry out this role in Moldova. One already known obstacle is the financial sustainability of the Moldovan NGOs, which is why the foreign donors’ influence is a third research problem. The theoretical framework has also been used as an analytical tool to structure the findings.

The study shows that the educator role is less adopted due to little attention to the internal structures and involvement of members into the core work of the organisation. The counterpart role is based more on monitoring activities and assisting the government with expertise than promoting the civil society’s own agenda. The dependency on foreign donors’ financial assistance has made the link with the constituency weak.The method being used is qualitative semi-structured interviews with representatives from the civil society.

Keywords: Civil society, democracy promoter, development assistance, Moldova