Childhood without abuse - towards a better child protection system in Eastern Europe

The project concerns a collaborative initiative of NGO's in 6 East European countries to raise awareness and expertise in relation to the problem of child abuse and neglect in those countries. The project is coordinated by the Empowering Children Foundation (earlier - Nobody's Children Foundation) from Poland. In cooperation with coordinators from each of the participating countries - Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine - there are created opportunities to enhance understanding and standards of prevention and intervention across the six countries.
Taking into consideration differences between the countries, the project aims to:
• develop regional standards and solution in the field of child abuse and neglect;
• train professionals dealing with child abuse and support them through networking, good practices, contact with international experts;
• work out more effective system of a direct assistance for abused children in the region by raising social awareness on the problem of child abuse.
The basic activities conducted within the frameworks of the project include trainings, supervisions and site visits and conference, publications, social campaigns, research analysis. The following issues will be particularly focused on during the project implementation: sexual abuse of children, well-being of children participating in legal procedures and supporting families in using positive disciplining methods. Planning and implementation of the project activities will be based on the notion of resilience of children.

The first stage of the project "Childhood without abuse" lasted from March 2005 till the end of 2009. It involved the same countries, and additionally the Republic of Macedonia. Each year of the first stage of the project was devoted to different theme: prevention, diagnosis and intervention, legal protection, interdisciplinary work and finally, institutional abuse.

The Childhood without Abuse project is sponsored by OAK Foundation.

 

Coordinators of the project, May 2011