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Description
The project aims to develop an integrated community intervention model addressing the specific needs of disadvantaged families living in 6 communes in Mures and Harghita counties, by facilitating the access to quality services. The direct beneficiaries are 60 pregnant women, 240 children aged between 0-6 years and 120 parents from disadvantaged families (on average 70 beneficiaries / commune). Indirectly, professionals and volunteers working with or interacting with vulnerable groups (minimum 25 volunteers, 6 teachers, 65-70 representatives of local actors) will benefit from the project. Activities include:
-establishment, in each of the 6 communes, of a center "Safe Start", to provide socio-educational services (development and early education, parental education, individual social / psychological counseling, group activities for pregnant women / counseling) and socio-medical (group activities on health issues for mothers etc.)
-developing a local professional network made up of public, non-governmental institutions and other relevant actors, in order to facilitate the exchange of experience, the development of inter-institutional relations, respectively the dissemination of the model developed within the project.
The partners are the 6 administrative-territorial units to which the beneficiaries belong (listed in the partners section); they are involved in recruiting the beneficiaries, providing specialized medical and social assistance services, respectively ensuring sustainability.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to address the severe lack of services in six rural communes from the central part of Romania (Mureș and Harghita counties). There is a shortage of social, educational, and healthcare services for young children and parents (especially for mothers), a situation that led to an increased risk of social exclusion and poverty as well as health issues and infant mortality.
A particular emphasis is put on the lack of social services for families with pre-school children (aged up to six years) where there is a strong need to develop basic social and healthcare services, including access to parental counselling and to specific assistance. Pre-school children raised in an environment not suited for their needs are more likely to face problems in the next stages of life and therefore access to quality services is needed from the very moment of their birth.
To address the previously mentioned challenges, the project implemented an integrated services model which are provided in the community. This model consists in setting-up six „Safe Start” community centers in each of the target communes. These centers act as providers of interdisciplinary complex services for pre-school children and their families from the earliest stages of life. Expecting mothers and families are provided with basic socio-medical services, while the young children benefit from early education programs provided through the centers. Moreover, the families were also included in a parental education program in order to ensure a more suitable environment for young children.
The services are provided by a multidisciplinary team per center consisting of the following personnel: educator, social worker, psychologist, and socio-medical assistant.
The main beneficiaries of the center were 71 expecting mothers, 165 pre-school children (aged between 0 and 6 years), and 120 vulnerable parents and families. Besides services, 60 packages consisting of essential items were distributed for the new-born babies.
The main achievement of the projects was the setting of essential services for expecting mothers, new-born babies and pre-school children in six rural communities. Such services are usually provided in the urban areas and are often inaccessible for the target groups. By bringing these services right in the communities, community as whole will be the main beneficiary as it will have access to quality services, while the children will have the prospect of having a better start in life.