Albania Helping communities protect their own children

Project : Albania 5 May 2011 | children in street situation prevention protection systems reintegration social exclusion inclusion

Saranda, Albania, 20 April 2011: Recognizing that no single agency has the knowledge, skills and resources to address the complex needs of children in vulnerable situations, the Child Protection Unit teamed up with the Saranda Orphanage to establish a Daily Social Centre in the community with the support of the Local Municipality, Terre des hommes and UNICEF in Albania. The center’s inaguration ceremony on 20 April 2011 was attended by many children, parents, community members, representatives of local organizations and local municipality officials, including the Mayor of Saranda, Mr. Edmond Gjoka.

Situated within the premises of the Saranda orphanage, the Social Daily Center will provide vulnerable children in the local area with daily hot meals and a safe environment where they can play, socialize, do their homework and receive various forms of support and counseling from the professionals working at the Saranda orphanage and the Child Protection Unit. The children who will seek refuge at the center are expected to be local children between the ages of 5-14 years old who lack proper parental care, have abandoned or are struggling in school, are living, working and/or begging in the street, and in general, children who are deprived of basic food, medical care and fulfilment of other psycho-social needs.

The children’s families which need information on accessing local services or require actual social and economic assistance will receive support at the centre by way of referring them to the local Child Protection Unit and other social services providers. The Social Daily Centre in Saranda will be operating 5 days per week from 8.00-16.00. Within week two of its operation, already a group of 12 children in street situations are receiving continuous support at the Saranda Daily Centre.

This initiative is a heart warming and inspirational example of what happens when a local community cares and various local actors from the public and private sectors respond pro-actively and creatively to child protection needs identified in the community. Centres such as this are critical in addressing these needs and the plight of children and families who fall prey of vulnerable situations because they are offered no other alternatives.

Providing support for vulnerable children and their families in this way is the classical example of ensuring child protection at the local level in an integrated and sustainable way. Terre des hommes and its partners are very proud to support this initiative in the context of our larger goal of developing a functional child protection system in Albania.[TL]