Save the Children Romania

Non Profit ID card: present your project/organisation/campaign

Questions answered by Gabriela Alexandrescu, Executive President, Save the Children Romania.

– Where are you based? Bucharest, Romania.

– What are you called? Save the Children Romania.

– What are you doing and why? We are implementing a comprehensive programme meant to protect, prevent school abandonment and ensure social integration for those children whose parents have left to work abroad due to a difficult economic situation. Most of these children live in disadvantaged or socially discriminated areas and, deprived of their parents’ love and supervision, risk to exclude themselves from society, to abandon school and face psychological problems.  

– Do you have a website/email? www.salvaticopiii.ro/romania_en/index.html, rosc@salvaticopiii.ro.

– Do you have a facebook link/name? Organizatia Salvati Copiii Romania

– What makes you so special? The children we work for, the volunteers that help us, the purposes for which we fight.

 

The turning point

–  How did you start? We started the programme in 2009 as a protection measure against the new reality some areas in Romania were coping with. When Romania became part of the European Union, enabling Romanians to circulate within the European Union with no restrictions  in search for better jobs, a massive economic migration process took place. The negative consequence of the phenomenon was that children were left at home alone, under the surveillance of grandparents or other relatives or even left by themselves if they were teenagers they were considered big enough to take care of themselves and their little brothers and sisters. Save the Children opened an educational centre in each of the eight most affected counties, where it provided educational support, psychological counselling, free time and socializing activities and ensured regular connections between parents and children through the internet.  

– What keeps you going every day? Children: they determine us not to spare any effort to make their life better. Therefore, every single case, every emotionally and socially recovered child means winning a long and hard battle.

– Who is your target? Our goal is to protect the fundamental Rights of the Child: free access to education, the right to an emotionally healthy life, the right to play. In this programme, our target is represented by children from disadvantaged areas who have been left at home alone, deprived of their parents’ love and care at an age when their company is essential for the children’s healthy emotional and social development.  

– How are you financed? The major contributions are made by Enel Cuore Onlus and Intesa SanPaolo Bank. There are activities in the programmes for which we have raised and are still trying to raise funds from local authorities or private companies.

 

The challenge

– A proud moment? We take pride in every child that has been recovered and reintegrated in school and society, that has found again the joy of playing with other children, of learning and of keeping a close  relationship with her/his parents abroad.

– A problem you face? The main problem that we are facing is the big number of children that need this kind of programme and our limited financial possibilities.

– Your personal motto when things get hard? Every time things seem harder than ever before, it’s enough to remember the main reason that keeps us going– the happiness of the children.

– Another cool project/organisation/campaign you would like to recommend? In 2010 we launched a new programme called “Every child matters” which is part of the global programme “Every One” initiated by Save the Children International and which aims at combating and preventing child mortality. It targets children under the age of 5 who die because of preventable diseases. Romania occupies a shameful 1^st place in Europe in children’s mortality; therefore the programme was a must. For the moment, it is a pilot programme, developed in 16 localities from 4 counties. Mothers and future mothers, mostly from rural disadvantaged areas, are being informed and advised on how to take care of their little children and healthy workers are being trained in order to offer their services to the ones in need. For a long-term successful work, partnerships with the medical local authorities are being concluded.

www.salvaticopiii.ro/romania_en/index.html

 www.enel.it/enelcuore/en/associazione/chisiamo

Go to Vita Europe Non Profit ID card on City of Turky.

Click here to go to the full list of all our Vita Europe ID cards.