SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit Hermann-Gmeiner Fonds Deutschland (HGFD) and the 5 locally registered SOS Children’s Villages National Associations Albania, Armenia, Belarus, North Macedonia and Ukraine, since October 2021, are successfully implementing the regional project entitled “A right to Family – Deinstitutionalization to reform child protection systems”, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project aims to improve children´s rights with a specific focus on supporting the reform of alternative childcare systems and the deinstitutionalization process in the 5 project countries.
SOS Children´s Villages in Albania, Armenia, Belarus, North Macedonia and Ukraine are non-profit non-governmental organizations and active members of SOS Children’s Villages International, which comprises more than 130 SOS Children´s Villages national associations. We work together with a single vision: every child belongs to a family and grows up with love, respect and security.
Albania, Armenia, Belarus, North Macedonia and Ukraine are confronted with numerous challenges at different levels that make successful de-institutionalisation of their care systems massively difficult. In general, children in the target countries are placed in state care due to various circumstances related to family circumstances (e.g. poverty), individual characteristics (e.g. special needs/ disability) and specific risks (e.g. abuse and violence). Poverty is one of the main risk factors for family separation and institutionalisation of children. The placement of a child in state care has less to do with the fact that the child has lost parental care (orphans, children of parents who have been deprived of parental rights) but is a consequence of the widespread poverty and vulnerability of families and the unavailability of preventive support and alternative care services. Only if these challenges are met will countries be able to effectively address the causes of children’s separation from their families through preventive services and, where necessary, provide quality care for children.
Poor planning and implementation of De-I strategies largely stem from a mismatch between stated policy objectives and actual capacities, resources, knowledge to implement these objectives. Implementation gaps and thus non-compliance with stated policy objectives stem from systemic deficiencies at macro, meso and micro levels.
Please click here for more information ToR External evaluation BMZ De-I project.