Description
The project aims to increase at inter regional level the access to social services, both directly by establishing a new service targeting elderly with disabilities, and indirectly by promoting social services and long term home care in those communities with reduced or inexistent access to social services in 4 counties from the South and South-East part of Romania. The project will develop a new type of service – permanent assistance for 30 elderly with dementia in Harghita County, will provide specialized training for 30 specialists and 40 family members of elderly with dementia and will promote within 70 public authorities, NGOs and initiative groups good practices and success stories of social service contracting and home care development in rural area achieved by Caritas in the counties from the center of Romania. Four Change Association will be responsible for coordinating the promotion and visibility, will coordinate information and awareness campaigns and meetings with local authorities. The counties included in the project include large Roma communities and therefore the partners will ensure the promotion of tolerance and multicultural understanding.
Summary of project results
The project "Building interregional bridges for increased access to social services in Romania" aimed at developing social services for elderly people from different perspective of interventions: direct provision of services, increased level of information and awareness among public authorities, transfer of best practices among public and private social providers and higher level of competences for public decision makers regarding the need to develop social services for elderly, especially in the rural areas of South Romania where these services are not developed. Within the project, 37 elders that suffer with dementia/Alzheimer received day care and home care services in Odorheiul Secuiesc, Covasna County, while 40 family members developed increased level of competencies regarding how to provide better care for their love ones suffering dementia/Alzheimer. Beside the development of the new service for elderly, the project aimed to transfer best practices and expertize from the Center to the South of Romania. The project included a strong component of transfer of expertize from the promoter, Caritas Alba Iulia Association – Medical and Social Services, the most well-known social service provider for elderly in the centre of Romania, and the partner Four Change Association, a young NGO that intents to increase the access for social services for elderly living in the rural areas in South Romania. The project brought on the local public agenda the issue of home care for elderly in counties where there were no such services developed. The promoter shared the best practices in developing social services for elderly and promoted the importance to create such services for elderly, as well as for the communities. Several brochures and a movie were developed and used during the meetings, describing and exemplifying the way home care services for elderly can be organized and how to develop associative structures at local level to help solving local problems. A number of 24 meetings and 4 regional seminars were organized for more than 150 specialists (public and private) and decision makers from 5 counties (Buzau, Calarasi, Vilcea, Giurgiu, Ilfov). A number of 22 professionals working in the public sector have acquired knowledge about the needed steps and instruments to develop a home care social service for elderly in their communities and became social agents of change in their regions, mostly lacking of home care services.
Summary of bilateral results