Promotion equal treatment for vulnerable and unaccompanied children (Civil Society Component – Bulgaria and Romania)
Duration: Dec.2005-Dec.2007
Objective: Strengthen the capacity of Bulgarian and Romanian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) already active in the field of minors' care, in promoting and improving social inclusion and equal treatment of disadvantaged children trough a better knowledge of needs, EU good practices. This is achieved through permanent participation in existing EU CSOs networks and an increased understanding of the role NGOs can play in public life and in the design and delivery of social policies.
Main activities: analysis of the local policies/good practices and identification of 4 priority issues related to disadvantaged children inclusion; organization of international workshops and online conferences on specific issues relevant to each country; training and study visits to Romanian and Bulgarian CSOs key actors; creation of a project web site and data base; elaboration of promotional materials and dissemination activities.
Expected results: The networking and cooperation capacities of Bulgarian and Romanian CSOs will be improved through participation in existing EU networks, setting up of permanent working groups with all relevant authorities, donors, multilateral agencies and stakeholders at the local, national and international level; organization of two international seminars on the most relevant topics identified. The mainstream will be based on the presentation and sharing of concrete and successful experiences of cooperation between CSOs in EU countries and relevant authorities so that the role of CSOs can be recognized by Romanian and Bulgarian authorities in the design phase of social inclusion policies. This will eventually lead to the full involvement of Romanian and Bulgarian CSOs in the process of reforming and providing social policies in the two countries. The intervention capacities of Bulgarian and Romanian CSOs will be specifically improved though training, leading to higher quality in the activities of prevention, protection and care services, etc.
The expected impact on indirect beneficiaries – disadvantaged children – will be the improvement of their living conditions, the decrease in the number of children placed in state-special-institutions and the parallel increase in the number of children living in home-like facilities. The social inclusion of children will also be improved. Most important, by promoting a preventive approach to the treatment and care of children and their families affected by different types of disadvantages, a decrease in the number of children deprived of family care, abandoned, marginalised because of their special conditions can be expected.
Leading organization: GVC - Gruppo Volontario Civile, Italy, International Social Service - Bulgaria is one of the two Bulgarian partners together with "Child and Space".
Role of ISS-Bulgaria: ISS is the Project Manager in Bulgaria for the phase 2 of the Project. It will take on the organization of the international seminar/workshop and the coordination of the network at national level in Bulgaria. As a partner the organization will channel project objectives and activities to the relevant stakeholders regionally and locally in order to set up formal/informal local cooperation networks.
Financed by the EU – the part for the activities of ISS-Bulgaria – 20 815 EUR