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Description
In Slovakia, there are approximately 5000 children in almost 100 children''s homes (family centres). There is plenty of evidence that children growing up in institutions do not form a secure relationship and life in a facility has a negative impact on them. Institutional staff are paid for childcare, prioritizing the safety and physical needs of children before meeting their individual psychological and social needs and adequate approach to their childhood traumas.
Children without families suffer from a lack of love and proximity, a healthy social background, role models and individual support, which are key to achieving a successful transition into the adult world. Although the state invests a lot of resources in the care of these children up to the 18th year of their life, after leaving the institution they are exposed to homelessness, end up without work and cooperate in illegal activities. The BUDDY project has been created to help young people who leave their children´s homes and need help to integrate into life. BUDDY is a community-based volunteer program based on the training of a volunteer (tool of change), who then takes care of the child. BUDDY is something between a mentor and an older friend. A team of psychologists and social welfare professionals carefully selects, trains and associates one volunteer with one child (12 years old or older) from a child''s home.
The program also has a wider impact and engages supporters of orphanages and other civil society organizations. At the same time, the program has great benefits for volunteers - giving them a new perspective on the world, experience and personality development such as humility, empathy, patience, self-reflection, gratitude, knowledge, and revaluation of values. The project''s target groups are children and young people from children´s homes, people from local communities, vulnerable groups and people at risk of poverty.
Summary of project results
The project was aimed at recruiting new BUDDY volunteers, supporting existing volunteer-child pairs and preparing for further growth in the Slovak Republic. During the project, 436 applicants were interested in volunteering thanks to recruitment activities. There were 3 information-training meetings "Dating with the program", 51 individual interviews and 5 group interviews. In the given period, the project attracted 15 new volunteers, thanks to which 10 new children from the Centers for Children and Families managed to participate in the BUDDY program. At the same time, the project implementers managed to establish cooperation with 3 new Centers for Children and Families (Trenčín, Bratislava, Holíč). During the project, the coordinators held more than 300 support meetings with volunteers, children and staff of the center for children and families. In the last quarter also in the form of a group online meeting of volunteers. In the field of education, Workshops Day, 2 specialized trainings for working with the Hviezda development tool and in the spring, thanks to the coronation period, 4 online trainings on selected topics were held. There were also 3 meetings with volunteers and children in the form of the Buddy Club. Another 9 pairs are already working with the Hviezda development tool. Thanks to the hiring of a program manager, strategic planning in the summer of 2019 and subsequent adjustments to the selection process, the educational process and the care of couples, the organization is already ready to grow into a new region. From the autumn of 2020, we plan to launch the BUDDY program in eastern Slovakia as well.