Description
The project “DIRECT IMPACT!” will allow the development of an innovative and integrated package of social services for children and young people from groups at risk, including those with disabilities, of Rroma origin and affected by migration from Iasi, Constanta and Mures counties. The project has 4 objectives: 1. To increase the quality of living for 300 children/young people from groups at risk, with disabilities and of Rroma origin, through an integrated package of social services offered in the ADV Romania Day centers in Iasi, Constanta and Mures and through accessing vocational workshops in four lines of work; 2. To pilot two new services in the Iasi county – internship and job coaching – 6 young people with disabilities and/or of Rroma origin will benefit from professional training; 3 of them will be employed on the free labor market; 3. To replicate within ADV Iasi the migrant integration pattern of Caritas Norway – to be accessed by 50 people within the project; 4. To strengthen organizational capacity/increase ADV visibility in the field of social services through revising the 2015-2020 strategy, the Human Ribbon event.
Summary of project results
The project responded to the need for specialized services for children and young people in vulnerable situations in Iasi, Constanta and Mures counties. It aimed to increase the quality of life for 300 children and young people through services offered in youth centres, pilot two innovative services – internship and job coaching, replicate a support service for migrants based on Caritas Norway model, and strengthen ADV Romania’s capacity in the field of social services. Within the project, over 300 children and young people (3-29 years) with disabilities, many of them Roma, from the child protection system or from other risk groups, have benefited of counselling, educational, recreational and personal development services provided within Day Centres. Through an internship programme, 3 young people with disabilities and 3 of Roma origin were employed in a work insertion social enterprise (manual bindery/digital printing, document archiving services, tailoring). They developed new abilities and knowledge required on the labour market. Three of them have been supported through a job coaching programme in accessing and maintaining a job. A number of 55 people affected by migration (Romanian citizens intending to go to work or study abroad, children left behind by migrant parents, foreign citizens – third country nationals), benefited from information, counselling and personalised assistance, within the newly replicated service in Iasi, following a model run by Caritas Norway. A total number of 102 Roma people received services within the project (from the beneficiaries mentioned above). Over 70 representatives of public authorities and NGOs in social, medical and educational services identified and/or developed during seminars the attributions of each institution in crisis situations, procedures that have to be followed, recommendation for more efficient interventions, ways in which the NGOs can support institutions in social emergency situations and supply services in crisis / post-crisis situations. The project consolidated ADV Romania’s role as social services supplier, facilitating the diversification of services and the increase in the number of direct beneficiaries, thus generating positive effects among the beneficiaries. It also contributed to create the premises for ensuring the long-term sustainability of social services, as a result of intense lobby and advocacy actions among public authorities regarding financing / subsidizing social services.
Summary of bilateral results
The partner Caritas Norway ensured the transfer of know how towards two specialists of the promoter during an exchange visit in Norway. It presented the social services model for migrants, including Roma people. During the exchange visit, the Romanian staff understood the complexity of the migration phenomenon, from the needs of the persons intending to leave to another country to the social, cultural and legal dimensions related to this. All this newly acquired knowledge was very important in establishing the new service for migrants in Iasi, Romania. A representative of Caritas Norway visited the project promoter to monitor and supervise the new service for migrants. The partner better understood the differences between the two countries in terms of institutional infrastructure, types of beneficiaries and their needs, having a positive assessment of the way the model was replicated and adapted to the Romanian context. Both organizations expressed the openness to further collaboration on migrant issues.