Home / News / Around 650 children with special needs were provided with access to innovative support and educational services in the last three years with the support of the European Union.

Around 650 children with special needs were provided with access to innovative support and educational services in the last three years with the support of the European Union.

Friday, December 07, 2018

Chisinau, 7th December 2018. With the support of the European Union, around 650 children with special needs aged 0-7 from five districts of the country were provided with support and access to innovative services that have contributed to their wellbeing and inclusion. The children have participated, along with their parents, in four support and educational programmes: Communication through Music, Mellow Parenting, Portage and Makaton. These programmes have been delivered for three years by the NGO “Partnerships for every child” /P4EC/, under an EU-funded project in the following pilot districts: Cahul, Calarasi, Falesti, Nisporeni and Ungheni.

The results of the project “Improving access to community-based early years and pre-school support services for vulnerable children with special needs in Moldova” were presented on Friday, 7th December, at a national conference attended by the project partners and beneficiaries.

Valentin Crudu, head of the General Education Department under the MECR, stated at the opening of the event that “Success is only possible when the efforts are shared. When we speak about children we can't divide them by areas: education, social welfare, health or say that the local authority is the only one responsible for the wellbeing and safety of children. The results of this project demonstrate that the child and the family have been in the centre of all the actions”, Mr. Crudu said.

Marco Gemmer, head of the Operations Unit, EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, highly appreciated the efforts made by the project partners. “Thank you for the support provided to children who do not have the privilege of being healthy and you have made sure that they are part of the society.It is very important to make sure that everyone enjoys equal rights in an inclusive community.”

According to Corneliu Tarus, head of the Department for Child Rights and Family Protection Policies under the MHLSP, the child protection policies focus on the development of early intervention at community level so that risks for children can be prevented. “On the other hand, it is very important to have sufficient resources to provide support to children who need inclusion, which begins in the family, school, community. Funds have been allocated in the state budget to this end and we, as representatives of the central authority, will make all efforts to replicate these programmes at national level, so that all children can have access to them.”

Daniela Mamaliga, director of P4EC, thanked the EU Delegation to Moldova for funding this initiative, for being receptive to the problems of families and children and for making these issues a priority on the list of assistance offered to the Republic of Moldova. “Due to this support, Partnerships for every child has managed to bring in Moldova these four innovative programmes that were missing in 2016. Thanks to the joint efforts, we can now say that these programmes are viable in 5 districts of the country and their positive impact is felt, first of all, by children and their families.”

Thus, as a result of project implementation:

  • about 600 children with special needs from the 5 districts have learned to communicate and express their emotions easier through the Communication through Music programme;
  • 16 children with special needs have been included in the Portage programme of assistance and support in home-based education;
  • 30 children with communication problems have been included in the Makaton Language Programme that was adapted to the Moldovan context;
  • 106 mothers have been supported to strengthen their parental skills and relationships with their children within the parenting programme “Mellow Parenting”;
  • 424 parents have been supported to improve their knowledge and skills in understanding the needs of their children and have been helped to access the required support services;
  • Around 100 professionals in the field of education, social welfare and representatives of NGOs have been trained in the delivery of support programmes for children with special needs and their families;
  • 34 practitioners have been trained in the Portage programme, 41 professionals from 18 kindergartens and from the Psycho-Pedagogical Assistance Service have been trained in the Communication through Music programme, 12 national-level practitioners have been trained in the Makaton Language;
  • The new programmes have been adapted to the national context and integrated in the legal and institutional framework; the decision-makers and professionals in the fields of social welfare and education from the 5 pilot districts have established effective mechanisms of cooperation and partnership with the family and have learned techniques of supporting children and families to identify and intervene early in the life of children's problem;
  • Six NGOs from both banks of Nistru river received small grants amounting to 4500 EUROs each for developing models of support and early intervention aimed at children with special needs aged 0-7;
  • Awareness raising campaigns have been carried out to inform about the need to increase access to support and educational services for children with special needs as early as possible, which is a key objective for the realization of the child's rights.

The project “Improving access to community-based early years and pre-school support services for vulnerable children with special needs in Moldova” was implemented by the NGO “Partnerships for every child”, in collaboration with the consortium of Mellow Parenting and HealthProm from the UK, with the support of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection, Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and the local authorities of five project districts. The project amounting to 680,000 EUROs has been funded by the European Union.

Contact person: Violina Lavric,
Communication Manager, NGO “Partnerships for every child”
Tel/Fax: +373 022 92 50 76, 069215862
e-mail: presa@p4ec.md, vlavric@p4ec.md

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