Description
The project addresses the need of children placed in institutions to receive care, attention and encouragement. The project aims at creating a network of volunteers bound with long-term visits to the institutions to enable children there to have friends and close people to share their concerns and joys. First, a standard methodology for access to the institutions will be developed with input from the stakeholders. Standard access conditions will be negotiated in meetings and telephone interviews with 20 children’s homes. Second, an interactive information platform for the volunteers will be developed enabling data and good practice sharing. Third, the friendship programme will be developed. The visits to 10 children’s institutions will be organized. Finally, the local network of volunteers will be expanded by recruiting and training local volunteers. The project will benefit the children placed in institutions, the staff, the volunteers involved and the public in general.
Summary of project results
The project addressed the need of children placed in institutions to receive care, attention and encouragement. A voluntary network of groups with a long-term commitment to visits at a particular home for children without parental care was set up under the project. The goal was to ensure that each child has a friend and a close person to share his/her worries and achievements. 448 volunteers joined the monthly visits to the homes. Thus permanent relations were established with 270 children who were regularly visited by volunteers. In addition, a working group for consultations with the heads of children’s institutions and the State Agency for Child Protection started being set up. A database was created with information in response to Frequently Asked Questions (the Volunteer’s Guide). Common methodology for access of persons to the institutions for residential care of children without parents was developed under the project in partnership with the state institutions. Give a Book Foundation continued to be a mediator of the group and the support between the would-be volunteers, the institutions and coordinators in the network of local volunteers continued after the project end. For more information, please, visit
http://podarivreme.org/
Summary of bilateral results