Children abandonment

The most recent statistics of the National Authority for Children’s Rights Protection (January 2005) show that 32.821 children, are living in public or private residential institutions, 55 % per cent being over 14 years old. Beside this, other 50.238 children are protected in a family-like environment, such as foster families or enlarged families.

The rate of child abandonment in maternity wards was 1.8% in 2003 and 2004. A third of all children abandoned in 2003 were benefiting by the end of august 2004 from a final protection measure (with their biological or foster family), which shows that the child is subject to various temporary protection measures for a prolonged period.

Roma population

The Roma ethnics are the second minority group in Romania after the Hungarians, reaching 2.5% of the total population (between 1,8 millions and 2,5 millions of people). In the “2004 Romania ’s progress report towards accession“ it is stated that “De facto discrimination against the Roma minority continues to be widespread and the social inequalities to which the Roma community is exposed remain considerable.

80,9 % of the Roma population live below the poverty line, in inadequate housing, without services and overpopulated. Only 61% per cent of Roma children 7-16 years old are enrolled in school. The low enrolment of Roma children in pre-school and primary education is a major obstacle to breaking the intergenerational cycle of exclusion. 24% of the men and 70 % of the women doesn’t have an occupation, neither a modern nor a traditional one.

HIV/AIDS

Among the 14.387 persons living with HIV, 7.797 are children and adolescents infected nosocomially during 1986-1991. Around 800 children living with HIV have been abandoned by their family before or right after the discovery of the diagnosis. They are living now in public or private centres and a small number in foster families.

Discrimination is still encountered by a large group of children and young people living with HIV/AIDS while accessing basic services like health services (especially chirurgical interventions and stomatological) or attending mainstream school. Knowledge about prevention and transmission of HIV/AIDS has increased over the last decade, although less significantly in rural areas and among the Roma minority.

Unemployment

At present the official unemployment rate is of 6,2%. Only 60% of the population aged between 16 and 59 years of are employed. As a result 30% of the population lives in poverty. A high rate is registered by the long term unemployed (21,8 %) and among the young people (21.2 %) and between women (44 %).

CSOs sector

The Romanian NGO sector consists of close to 30,000 NGOs. However experts in the field estimate that only about 2,500 of these are “active”. About 20 percent of the active NGOs work in the field of social services. Important steps have been made in implementing child protection reform and many NGOs working in this field have strengthened their service delivery capacity and received recognition from local governments.

In the child protection starting with January 2005 is in act a new legislative framework. Among the specific objectives of the actual govern is the one of commissioning of 40-45% of the current social services to NGOs before 2008, with the required changes in the legislative framework.

At present (January 2005 statistics), about 17% of the total number of children in residential care are living in private centres, and about 30% of the total number of centres are managed by NGOs.

The Romanian programme financed under “The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria”, 44% of the funds for services in favour of the persons living with HIV/AIDS are managed by NGOs. This is a particular situation because in other countries the proportion balances in the favour of state institutions.

Romanian NGOs are still highly dependent on foreign support and only few are able to attract local resources. The range of services provided is not always based on market demand, as NGOs tend to adjust their programs to grant opportunities rather than existing needs. However, local resources of funding still represent a small percentage of NGOs revenues. The number of NGO-local government partnerships has increased mostly as a result of funding opportunities that required this kind of partnerships.

Bulgaria , General context

Its transition to democracy and a market economy after the collapse of communism has not been easy. It was not included in the list of countries invited to join the EU in 2004. However, Bulgaria signed an EU accession treaty in April 2005 and, depending on the pace of reforms, is on course for membership in 2007. Bulgaria has a total population of 7,8 million people and the gross domestic product per head is 6280 euro, representing 29,4% of the EU 25 average (2003 indicators).

Children abandonment

“The 2004 Bulgaria progress report towards accession” mentions that “significant progress has been achieved in adoption of the legislative framework related to child welfare”. However, despite a number of efforts, the living conditions of children placed in institutions in some cases continue to be inadequate. There is no comprehensive approach to the closure of institutions on the basis of agreed criteria and to develop and promote alternative forms of care. The institutional set up for child protection is rather complex. It involves five ministries as well as two agencies and their local structures with insufficiently resourced Child Protection departments.”

Child rights NGOs (NGO Alternative Report on Bulgaria ’s Progress Towards EU Accession, 2004) , believe that there are still some 31,000 children living in institutions, the same estimate made by the European Commission in its 2003 Regular Report. The same report states that th e number of children entering institutions is not decreasing and there is a risk the system will not fundamentally change if needy families are not helped.

Roma population

7% of the total population are Roma people, the second minority after the Turks (9 %). In the 2004 Bulgaria ’s progress report it is stated that “People from ethnic and cultural minorities, notably from the Roma community, continue to be marginalised, de facto discrimination in education, employment, access to health and public services”.

Children of 42 per cent of Roma families do not complete primary education, and an estimated 13 per cent of Roma adult are illiterate.

Between 400000 and 2 million people, many of whom are Roma, face the prospect of being excluded from the health insurance system from the beginning of 2005. The existing system for funding health contribution of unemployed Roma through the municipal budget meets obstacles in the poorest municipalities (stated in the NGO Alternative Report on Bulgaria ’s Progress Towards EU Accession, 2004 ).

Unemployment

The high unemployment rate (13.4% of active population) determined by one hand the migration from urban to rural areas and a high immigration towards Western Europe Countries or North America . About two thirds of the unemployed are long-term unemployed. Unemployment rates for men have been slightly higher than for women, and unemployment among younger people is about double the average rate.

CSOs Sector

In conformity with the “’2002 NGO Sustainability Index” issued by USAID, in Bulgaria there are around 8,000 NGOs, about half of these being “Chitalisha” (traditional Bulgarian educational and cultural organizations, providing a very limited scope of services). About 1900 of the total are considered “active”. Several long-standing problems continue to hinder the development of the NGO sector in Bulgaria , including dependence on international donor funding, limited possibilities for local fundraising and revenue collection and insufficient service offerings, particularly in the social sphere. 61% of NGOs in the country have no staff employed on labour contract. According to NGO leaders, the majority of their personnel are volunteers.

While NGOs continue to provide services in a variety of fields (from democracy, economic development and environment) they do not sufficiently cover the social sphere, partly due to objective legislative constraints.

In the “2003 Bulgarian NGO sector in the context of development” report it is specified that “factor prohibiting sustainability include the fact that the NGO sector is unstructured, fragmented, lacks meaningful connections and means of internal communication and exchanges”.

• list of target groups (if possible include letters of intent to demonstrate the interest of the identified target groups) and estimated number of direct and indirect beneficiaries

Target groups:

Direct beneficiaries:

- around 70 CSOs Romanian and Bulgarian CSOs (members of the national networks of NGOs: FONPC and Regional Network for Children in Bulgaria conducted by the Association Roditeli, but not limited to their members only), providing services to the most disadvantaged groups (abandoned children, Roma population, young people living with HIV, children with disabilities).

-around 5-10 central government representatives from Romania: National Authority for the Protection of Children’s Rights (please see annexed interest letter in this regard), Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family, National Agency for Employment (please see annexed interest letter in this regard), The Office for Roma and 5-10 local authorities: DGASPC (General Direction of Social Work and Child Protection), County School Inspectorates, AJOFM (County Agency for Employment), County Councils, local Mayor’s Office or Town Hall

-around 5-10 central government representatives from Bulgaria: Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, State Agency for Child Protection, The Social Assistance Agency, The National Council on Ethnic and Demographic Issues, The National Council for Child Protection, Ministry of Education and around 10 local authorities: National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, Municipal Directorates for Social Assistance, Child Protection Departments, local Mayor’s Office or Town Hall.

Indirect beneficiaries:

-around 500 CSOs from Romania and Bulgaria other then directly involved in the project activities, working with the most disadvantaged groups that will beneficiate of the results of the project (materials developed within the project including brochures and the website)

-around 100.000 children and young people, and 40.000 families, beneficiaries of the services provided by the CSOs from Romania (estimations based on statistics about the number of beneficiaries of the NGOs members of FONPC-level of 2002)

-around 20.000 children, young people and families, beneficiaries of the services provided by the CSOs from Bulgaria

• reasons for the selection of the target groups and activities

The CSOs from the target groups are members or close collaborators of the most representatives and recognised federation or network of NGOs active in the child protection from Romania and Bulgaria . In the civil society sector from Romania and Bulgaria the selected target groups are the main actors involved in fighting the social exclusion of the abandoned children, Roma people or young people living with HIV, identified as key problems in the target countries. A crosscutting key area relevant for all the target groups was considered the vocational and employment support for young disadvantaged.

Relevant central and local authorities are also target groups as the role of CSOs cannot be put into practice unless a close collaboration with the state institutions and policy makers according to the principles of partnership and subsidiarity.

Activities like exchanging experiences and networking with European organisations are in the position to favour access to new opportunities of exchanging experiences, learning and partnership for Romanian and Bulgarian organisations.

The working groups of relevant organisations and authorities within each target country in the three area of the project are considered the best ways to plan joint actions and strategies, to increase cooperation between local actors and influence policy makers. As well, given that other countries have relevant experience in key areas (like Romania in the child protection reform, or European countries in advocacy, fundraising and services of vocational and employment support) there are foreseen seminars and conferences in order to exchange experience and learn new methodologies.

• relevance of the action to the target groups

In order to establish the main activities of the project a questionnaire was drafted by FDP and FONPC in order to identify the main issues the organizations meet. The questionnaire was disseminated to around 100 Romanian and Bulgarian CSOs, through the channels of communication of FONPC at the member organizations and through the Association Roditeli (focus organisation of the Regional Network for Children in Bulgaria ).

From the interpretation of the results (around 20% answered), the following relevant issues emerged:

In Romania and Bulgaria , the key areas they encounter difficulties are:

-socio-professional integration of the most marginalized groups (76%)

-the abandoned children (47%)

-Roma population (35%)

-HIV+ infected persons (29%)

The CSOs recognized need of support for:

-fundraising (76%)

-adapting the organization at the challenges of integration in the EU (70%)

-advocacy and public relations (29%)

-other (project cycle management 29%, administrative and managerial capacity, around 47%)

Even if the support for administrative and managerial capacity was selected with a higher score than advocacy by the potential beneficiaries, the last one it was considered more likely to be supported and improved through exchanging experiences and networking activities financed under the programme. As well, support in advocacy it was considered more relevant factor for the sustainability of the CSOs in the long term.