Submitted by Victor on
On 16 June, the report Moldova 2015. The Child Protection Index. Measuring the Fulfilment of a Child’s Rights was presented in Chisinau, Moldova.
The event took place within the General Assembly of the The Alliance of Active NGO’s in the Field of Social Protection of Family and Child in the Republic of Moldova (APSCF).
Andy Guth presented the data collection methods and the results of the index in Moldova. According to Mr. Guth, the Child Protection Index initiative was born from the desire to better monitor the child protection systems in the region and facilitate political dialogue and sharing experiences at regional level.
“In the case of the Republic of Moldova, the Index shows that efforts to align the legal framework with the UNCRC requirements need to continue. The deinstitutionalisation process, the implementation of alternative family care structures and strengthening the prevention system to support families and children at risk are important steps in this direction. Further investments need to be considered to ensure the necessary capacity for services and a better coordination among the main interested sectors: social protection, health, education and justice”, declared Mr. Guth.
Mariana Ianachevici, Executive Director of AVE Copiii Association and ChildPact President, highlighted that the Child Protection Index was created to monitor and influence child-related policies at national levels so that together civil society can be an active and influential voice for policy and implementation changes nationally, regionally and internationally.
“The Child Protection Index is a great advocacy tool as it reflects the status of the child protection reform at regional and national level; it identifies the needs and the gaps in the child protection system and allows for trans-regional comparison, bringing together actors from different sectors and creating the framework for regional cooperation between governments, donors and civil society”, declared Mrs Ianachievici.
The Child Protection Index reflects the functionality of the child protection system in Moldova according to UNCRC criteria, based on available data until the end of December 2013. According to Stela Vasluian, APSCF President, the data collection process was extremely difficult because of the lack of relevant information available.
“It is possible that for the next data collection and evaluation process, the situation in Moldova would be much better, considering the immense efforts undertaken to develop social services addressed to different categories of children”, declared Mrs Valsuian.
The Child Protection Index – a joint project by World Vision International and ChildPact – is an independent tool to measure each country’s child protection reforms in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The pilot in Moldova is financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania through Romania’s Development Cooperation Programme (RoAid) and implemented with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia. The Index points out how each country performs across 626 indicators adapted from the official UNCRC implementation checklist, with the understanding that child protection is a system of different parts, levels, actors and responsibilities within families, civil society and government.