Project duration: May 24, 2019 – December 31, 2019.

Geography of project implementation: Chernihiv region.

purpose of The project aims to improve the performance of the social assistance system and social services in Ukraine for low-income families.

Project target group: residents and employees of boarding schools, employees of social services, state and non-state, municipal organizations, families with children in residential institutions.

Within the framework of the project "Modernization of the Social Support System in Ukraine", measures are being implemented to spread family forms of upbringing for orphans and children deprived of parental care, and to prevent social orphanhood (reform of children's orphanages) in pilot regions of Ukraine, namely in Kyiv, Odessa, Chernihiv regions and the city of Kyiv.

The process of transforming residential institutions involves a comprehensive approach that includes:

– identification of boarding schools with the worst quality of life for children, development and approval by executive authorities or local self-government bodies of a regional plan to increase the volume of family-based care services (reform of boarding schools) and formation of plans for the transformation of specific boarding schools with the gradual withdrawal of children residing there (return to biological families or placement in family forms of upbringing);

– creation, on the basis of reformed boarding schools, of centers for providing social services or forms of raising children in conditions as close as possible to family ones (taking into account the needs of the community);

– development of a social services model in accordance with the needs of the community, with a special emphasis on early identification services for families in difficult life circumstances, with the aim of timely resolution of family problems to prevent children from ending up in residential institutions.

Within the framework of the implementation of the project activities, it is planned to ensure the development of information and communication technologies in the field of social protection of the population, build a new model of providing social support to the population, reform the institution of the social inspector, lift families out of poverty and encourage them to achieve economic independence, reform children's boarding schools, increase the role of the community in meeting social needs, etc.

The NGO "Social Initiatives for Occupational Safety and Health" also joined this project and acts as a subgrantee and participates in three areas: analysis of the needs of orphans, children deprived of parental care, children with disabilities, families with children in difficult life circumstances, in social services; development and implementation of a mechanism for funds released after the reform of boarding schools for the development of social services at the community level, or forms of child rearing, with conditions as close as possible to family ones; advisory support for the implementation of mechanisms for interaction between all bodies and organizations working in the field of children's rights protection, and the provision of social services to children and families with children in difficult life circumstances, including in united territorial communities.

 

Grantor: Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine with the support of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development