EMPOWERED TO COPE - Resource Centre · 12 empowered to cope – children left behind Save the Children Sweden has supported the local NGO “Child Rights Information Centre” (CRIC)

EMPOWERED TO COPE– CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

EMPOWERED TO COPE– CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

Independent review of the “Social Inclusion of Children Left Behind by Migrating Parents” Project, implemented by the Child Rights Information Centre, Moldova

Commissioned by Save the Children Sweden

The vision

Save the Children works for :

– a world which respects and values each child– a world which listens to children and learns– a world where all children have hope and opportunity

The mission

Save the Children fights for children’s rights.We deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives worldwide.

Author: Séverine Jacomy Vité, independent consultant.

The views, statements and conclusions expressed in this report are those of interview respondents and/or of

the author and are not necessarily shared by the project implementers and donors. Many contributions to

the analysis are the outcome of working sessions and inputs from the members of the CRIC team in charge

of the project implementation: M. Cezar Gavriliuc, Executive Director of CRIC and Project Coordinator, Ms.

Daniela Platon, Responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation and M. Josif Moldovanu, Member and President of

CRIC Board and Project Training Coordinator.

ISBN: 978-71-7321-323-3

Code no: 10355

© 2008 Save the Children Sweden

Project leader: Eva Larsson Bellander

Graphic Design:Annelie Grafisk Form

Save the Children Sweden

107 88 Stockholm

Phone: +46 8 698 90 00

Internet: www.rb.se

E-mail: [email protected]

3EMPOWERED TO COPE – CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND

EMPOWERED TO COPE– Children left behind

Independent review of the “Social Inclusion of Children Left Behind by Migrating Parents” Project, implemented by the Child Rights Information Centre, Moldova

Commissioned by Save the Children SwedenSeptember 2008

SHORT VERSION

EMPOWERED TO COPE – CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND4


Table of contents

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91. Project background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112. Evaluation context and methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153. Project activities and implementation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.1. Radio programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193.2. Media campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213.3. Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233.4.Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273.5. Monitoring and coaching of field activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4. Recommendations on children left behind by migrating parents, beyond the scope of CRIC’s project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

5. Annexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Annex 1: Map of Moldova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Annex 2:Table of the number of school-age children with parents abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Annex 3: Rights based approaches in CRIC’s project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Annex 4:Timetable of the project’s training activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Annex 5: SWOT analysis undertaken by CRIC project team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51



Abbreviations

CRIC/CIDDC (in Moldovan) Child Rights Information Centre DDEYS District Department for Education, Youth and SportsGDP Gross Domestic Product IOM International Organisation for MigrationMEY Ministry of Education and YouthMSPFC Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child NGO Non-Governmental OrganisationTDH Terre des HommesOSCE Organisation for Secutity and Cooperation in EuropeUNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund



Executive summary

Labour migration is an acute phenomenon in contemporary Moldova, with about a quarter of itseconomically active population occupied abroad. In order to earn money and often due to the ille-gality of their stay abroad, migrants can spend several years away from their children, sometimeswithout being able to come home to visit them. They communicate by means of phone and parcels.At best, children left behind live with the remaining parent or with a relative; at worse, they liveon their own. All of them have to bear new duties and often find themselves in psychological oremotional distress, despite the improved material situation that remittances and presents from theirparents bring them.

In 2006, in collaboration with UNICEF, the local NGO Child Rights Information Centre(CRIC) undertook a qualitative study to disclose the situation of these children and decided todevelop school-based activities and publications to address the issues revealed by the study. As thisproject supported by Save the Children Sweden is now entering its second phase, there was a needto assess its initial achievements and potential developments. The objective was to nurture CRIC’sproject planning and management, but also to inform potential advocacy and capacity-building bySave the Children Sweden at European level. The evaluation - based on a desk review, interviewswith beneficiaries and institutional players, as well as evaluation sessions with the project’s team –reviewed the preliminary impact, sustainability and rights-based approach of the project.

The project’s aim was to contribute to reducing the vulnerability of children left behind bymigrating parents, by raising awareness and building the capacities of children, parents and pro-fessionals working with children through a series of distinct but interrelated activities: a radio pro-gramme, a media campaign, the publication of one guide for professionals, one pocket book formigrating parents and pocket book for children left behind, and the provision of training, moni-toring and coaching of educational professionals in five districts of Moldova.

Media work, including the radio programme, was found to be efficient and cost-effective interms of reach out, type of information and generating attitude change. Their coverage could notbe evaluated but indications of impact came from testimonials, which also underlined the need toexpand towards the internet and TV. Sustainability was a concern and a number of suggestions aremade to reactivate this project component. All three publications were highly rated by beneficiar-ies and project partners. It is recommended to develop a strategy to now target parents who arealready abroad, Russian speakers and other populations such as elderly care givers. As for trainingand support to teachers undertaking activities with children, it also received very positive feed-back.

It is recommended to expand the project team to respond to new areas and new populations,while preserving their high quality and adaptability to local needs and situations. Over a year, activ-ities in class were undertaken for over 4000 pupils monthly on average, consisting of information,self-expression, debates, exercises, games, etc. Pupils demonstrated satisfaction, increased under-standing, better coping and improved relations with teachers. Yet, CRIC should have more directcontacts with children, increase activities with parents and strongly develop cooperation with oth-er sectors and NGOs, in order to avoid an exclusive focus on teachers and prevent the risk that theyconfiscate responsibilities towards children left behind.

Replication and advocacy should be mainly explored by Save the Children Sweden and it is rec-ommended that a number of issues that CRIC cannot cover are addressed as a matter of urgencyby other players in Moldova.


1. Project background

In Moldova, it has become common to see family members go aboard to earn money due to the lackof employment opportunities or decent revenues in the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union.In the latest years, this phenomenon has increased considerably. As of mid-2006, about a quarter ofthe economically active population – 350 000 of whom are still members of a household in Moldova- was occupied abroad. Remittances now constitute about a third of the country GDP1. Althoughmigration is an effective strategy to escape poverty and largely contributes to domestic consumptionand education, it also has many negative socio-economic consequences in Moldova, such as brain-drain,lack of qualified manpower, family breakdowns and demographic crisis2.

In Moldova both fathers and mothers migrate abroad for work. Men and less qualified work-ers tend to migrate primarily to Russia to work for example in construction work. There, they donot need a visa up to three months, and they can speak Russian, which a majority of people inMoldova still speak due to the Soviet legacy. Women and qualified workers from Moldova movemainly to Western Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal) where jobs can be found in the service industry(nursing, au pair, etc.). Migration in Western Europe is usually illegal and therefore more costly,whereas it may yield better revenues. This implies that is it very risky for parents to come back tovisit their children in Moldova. At the same time, most vulnerable children left without supervi-sion are more often those of parents with a low socio-economic background having migrated toRussia or Ukraine.

As of 2007–2008, there has a growing trend towards family reunification, with some migrantsmanaging to establish themselves legally in EC countries or in Russia with a permanent permit.Yet, in the EC, reunification policies have so far usually been limited to spouses. This has actuallyresulted in more children remaining in Moldova with none of their parents.

In Moldova, like in other East European countries, internal migration is also taking place butthe implications are not as problematic as with external migrations. Parents’ visits back home aremore frequent and can be better planned. Therefore, this has not been the focus of communitysupport work.

One of the issues which were not taken into consideration until recently – although it had beendocumented in other countries3 – was the impact of migration on migrants’ children. In order toearn money and often due to the illegality of their stay abroad, migrants can spend several yearsaway from their children, sometimes without being able to come home to visit them. They com-municate by means of phone calls and parcels, containing money, food products, gifts and clothes,but their absence has a very strong impact on the children that they have “left behind”.

1. For a quick overview of the migration situation see: Migration as it is, IOM, 2007. For more details on remittances, see: Remit-tances in the Republic of Moldova: Patterns, Trends and Effects, IOM, 2007. For a regional perspective, see: Ed. A. Mansoor and B.Quillin, Migration and remittances, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, World Bank, 2007.2. See The Impact of Remittances on Communities, Families and Children, SU/SSC, UNICEF, UNDP, Chisinau 2007.3. For instance, in a paper by Dr. A.Jones, J. Sharpe and M. Sogren, Children’s Experiences of Separation from Parents as a Conse-quence of Migration, Trinidad, 2004, the authors demonstrated that “children separated from parents because of migration were morethan twice as likely as other children to have emotional problems although their economic status was improved. One third had seriouslevels of depression or interpersonal difficulties affecting schooling and leading in some cases to suicidal ideation. Differences were foundin relation to gender and ethnicity. In addition to separation through migration, several children had experienced serial losses e.g. bereave-ment, parental divorce, parental imprisonment, or change of caregiver. Resiliency factors included school performance and belief infamily reunification. Surrogate care arrangements (usually with relatives) provided for children’s material needs but did not address chil-dren’s emotional problems”.


Save the Children Sweden has supported the local NGO “Child Rights Information Centre”(CRIC) based in Moldova for a number of years. Since December 2006, an innovative project enti-tled Social Inclusion of Children left behind by Migrating Parents was implemented by CRIC, basedon an assessment of the situation and experience of children in relation to parents’ migration. Thisstudy4, supported by UNICEF, proved very important to help disclosing and understanding thephenomenon of migration and its impact on children, and especially teenagers, left behind inMoldova.

In the study, 159 children aged 10 to18 and 62 adults were consulted. More than a fourth ofthese children asserted that they had one parent abroad and 9% of the children said that both theirparents had migrated. In the figures given by teachers from two districts during the present evalu-ation, proportions of children left behind appear to have increased since this study.

The study documented how parents’ departure had an impact not only on children’s materialconditions, but also on their emotional development, their social relations and their school per-formance. This entailed complex long-term and short-term changes, depending on a multitude of

4. The Situation of Children Left Behind by Migrating Parents, UNICEF and CRIC (CIDDC), Chisinau, 2006.

?Children left behind: How many are they? Who are they?

According to official statistics collected by District Departments of Education of theRepublic of Moldova, the number of children with migrating parents in 2007 were 99547, of which 69 136 with one parent and 30 411 with both parents gone. Most pro-fessionals acknowledge that these figures do not cover the totality of children left behind,since some families hide the absence of the parents and some pre-school children maynot be included in the statistics.The common figure given by informants for 2008 is that35 000 children in Moldova have both parents out of the country.

The great majority of “children left behind” are not “home alone” as they are placedwith a relative, a grand parent or a close friend of the family. Usually, these care giversare not legally declared and may feel they have a limited responsibility over the child.According to a new labour law to come into force in January 2009, parents leaving foremployment abroad will have the obligation to announce their departure and receive acertificate from local child protection authorities for their work contract to be registered,but as this measure only applies to legal employment, it does not change the situationfor the majority of people who leave illegally (i.e. on a tourist visa).

Some children – mostly teenagers- are left without caregiver.They leave alone,with moreor less contacts with their support network (family, neighbours) and usually some phonecontacts with their parents. They have to manage alone their time, money, nutrition,hygiene and school work. Some of them have to take care of their siblings. In rural areas,many household duties such as cutting wood, cultivating land, mending the house, fallon them.


factors: the duration of the separation from parents, the child’s preparation for an independent life,the relationships with their care givers and the attitude of community members towards the chil-dren. In most cases, children’s relationships with migrating parents became more distant – if notcold – with time, even after their return. Teachers had various mixed attitudes towards them: envyof their better conditions of living, and/or sympathy and emotional compassion.

At the local level, public institutions were not concerned with the situation of migrants’ chil-dren because this group of children was actually considered to be privileged rather than vulnera-ble. In addition, there seemed to be a general lack of knowledge and understanding of child devel-opment issues among the staff of such public bodies.

Most children left behind had not been prepared for leading an independent life and they didnot benefit from any special assistance in developing abilities or self management, management ofresources and advice on how to lead a healthy life style. The support provided by caregivers andother close persons did not satisfy their needs.

In summary, the study showed clearly that there were no established or systematic mechanismsto protect and support children left behind– neither at family, community or school level. Thismotivated CRIC to develop a project to start addressing the needs of these children through a num-ber of medium scale activities, in relation with national and local authorities.

Hence the project Social Inclusion of Children Left Behind by Migrating Parent was conceived asa response to the findings of the study The Situation of Children Left Behind by Migrating Parents.It started in December 2006 with initial financial support from Save the Children Sweden, IOMand the OSCE mission to Moldova. Funding was re-conducted in May 2008 for a period of twoyears by Save the Children Sweden, who also supports other CRIC activities.



2. Evaluation context and methodology

Although it has renewed its financial support to the project on the basis of its own regular contactsand positive collaboration with CRIC, Save the Children Sweden requires an analysis of the pro-ject’s first stages as it embarks on a second phase. The issue is also highly relevant among its part-ners in Ukraine, Estonia, Romania, and other countries affected by high rates of migration. Hence,to be able to advocate and build capacity on this innovative project, it was deemed important todocument and analyse the process of the project’s planning and implementation and to identify itsresults.

On CRIC’s side, it seems early to aim at an evaluation of the full impact and results of the proj-ect. Rather, the purpose of the evaluation is to learn from the activities undertaken thus far to nur-ture their continuation and potential expansion, their diversification and/or their adaptation in oth-er contexts/countries. Ideas could be found of new players to involve and new approaches to devel-op. The project team usually has no time to self-reflect in a coordinated manner, beyond the imper-atives of the project. So, the initiative to undertake the project review was welcome. CRIC hasalready formulated in the past its interest in receiving support to establish a permanent system tomonitor its work. This review is one step in that direction. It is also for CRIC an opportunity toreceive external technical feed-back on its work.

At the time of the evaluation, the outcomes of the project were only starting to become mani-fest. CRIC’s team was starting to sense that the project was “opening the eyes” of key players - teach-ers, parents, public authorities – on the vulnerabilities and needs of children left behind by parentsworking abroad. The project’s strategy had already been readjusted over the first year of its imple-mentation on the basis of identified needs and opportunities. In particular, activities initiallyplanned with peer educators were not undertaken so as to focus training activities more exclusive-ly on teachers – who demonstrated a strong sensitivity to the issue, a need for permanent supportand the capacity to become central players in the social inclusion of children left behind. The eval-uation assessed these activities, as well as the didactic and information materials produced in theframework of the project and the media work undertaken to reach out to a broader audience.

The evaluation could be of interest to institutional project partners (the Ministry of Educationand Youth and the District Departments of Education). Although collaboration has been smoothwith these partners, the evaluation could reinforce their support and raise interest from otherdepartments or districts than those already involved.

Other central authorities might also benefit from the review. During the summer 2008, thePrime Minister Cabinet of the Republic of Moldova, who started coordinating the developmentof a National Plan of Action against Juvenile Delinquency, sent out a request for information on activ-ities undertaken with children left behind throughout the country, considering them as a contri-bution to the prevention of juvenile delinquency to be included in the Plan. The project evaluatorwould like to warn against any direct association to be made between the issue of juvenile delin-quency and children left behind since no data has shown any strong correlation between these chil-dren’s situation and their offending rate. Anecdotal evidence collected through the evaluationprocess pointed to an increase in self-harming and occasional “anti-social behaviour” among chil-dren left behind, rather than criminal offending5. Still, central authorities may learn from positive

5. This was also confirmed by the study The Impact of Remittances on Communities, Families and Children, ibid.


approaches developed by the project to develop participatory activities with juvenile offenders.Hence, the evaluation has two main purposes. Firstly, the evaluation is to assess how, to what

extent and with which initial results the project has been implemented and what future directionsit should take to continue fulfilling its aims. Secondly, the evaluation is to document the projectfor information to external players and explore its value in terms of potential replication and pol-icy development, as well as the gaps that should be filled by CRIC or other players. It was agreedwith Save the Children Sweden that two versions of the report would consequently be produced:a technical report for the use of project implementers, partners and donors; and a shorter analyti-cal report documenting the approach taken by the project for a broader national and internation-al audience.

There is also a sense on the part of both organisations that exercises such as this evaluation con-solidates their partnership and mutual understanding, and can be used as a tool to explore addi-tional funding sources and partners. This evaluation could also nurture the development of a Euro-pean project. There is actually a problem of brain-drain from Moldovan NGOs and a tendency forfunding agencies to redirect resources towards governmental institutions. Hence, as an NGO, it isall the more important to test out, document and demonstrate the quality and efficiency of one’sactivities, in order to obtain and maintain financial and other forms of support.

Desk review

The evaluation process started with a desk review of existing literature on children left behind bymigrating parents6. The bulk of the documentation focused on the specific situation of Moldova.Reports on the situation in Albania, Romania and Ukraine were also reviewed.

The desk review also involved a rapid analysis of all project-related documents available in Eng-lish or Russian: the initial study, the initial project proposal, narrative and financial reports, revisedproposals, didactic and information material produced in the framework of the project and CRIC’sannual report.

Data collection

On the basis of the desk review, data collection was planned to take place in two phases. A firstphase consisted of one week in Moldova learning from CRIC’s team on the project’s implementa-tion through reflective sessions and listening to project beneficiaries and direct partners in semi-structured interviews in several locations in August 2008. The second phase consisted of interviewswith institutional players involved in the project or generally concerned by the issue of childrenleft behind by migrating parents in Moldova, followed by a final de-briefing session with CRIC’steam in September 2008.

The evaluator also benefited from her background on local child rights monitoring mechanismsin Moldova7 which had involved interviews with various child welfare institutions back in January2007, and from one meeting in Save the Children Sweden offices in Stockholm with Ulrika Pers-son and Eva Bellander, respectively in charge of the Education and the Migration activities of the

6. For a good summary of literature see Chapter 7 of J.O’Connell Davidson and C.Farrow, Child Migration and the Construction ofVulnerability, Save the Children Sweden, 2007.7. S. Jacomy, Child Rights Monitoring at Local Level, A pre-study in Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Sweden, 2007Save the Children Sweden.


8. See the “Principles of participatory evaluation” in annex.

organisation’s European Programme, which helped clarify the evaluation objectives and expectedoutcomes.

Evaluation methods

Evaluation methods were simple and as much as possible participatory8 given time constraints andlimited samples of beneficiaries and targets involved. CRIC’s project team was fully involved andpresent in most interviews. The views and recommendations of interview respondents are includ-ed in the evaluation conclusions and recommendations. It was proposed to undertake a participa-tory planning session with a selection of key partners and beneficiaries, but timing was not goodfor such a process – which CRIC may undertake itself in the near future.

Principles of participatory evaluations

l Participatory evaluation focuses on learning, success and action.

l The evaluation must be useful to the people who are doing the work that is being eval-uated.

l The evaluation process is ongoing and includes ways to let all participants use the infor-mation from the evaluation throughout the project, not just at the end.

l Recognition of the progression of change - knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviour - isbuilt into the evaluation.

l The project sponsors are responsible for defining the specific project evaluation ques-tions, the indicators of success and realistic timeframes.

l Participatory evaluation makes it possible to recognize shared interests among thosedoing the work, the people the work is designed to reach, the project funders and oth-er stakeholders.

Source:Guide to Project Evaluation:A Participatory Approach,National Clearinghouse onFamily Violence, Family Violence Prevention Unit, Public Health Agency of Canada, August1996.

Evaluation criteria

Among the traditional OECD evaluation criteria, Save the Children Sweden especially highlight-ed impact and sustainability in the formulation of the terms of reference for the evaluation. Accord-ing to CRIC’s team, it was too early to evaluate the impact of the project on its beneficiaries andif this had been the central aim of the evaluation, its methodology should have been more centredon prime beneficiaries (children) and should have tested a broader sample. Yet, one criteria used toassess the validity of the project and its potential development were the actual changes in knowl-edge, attitudes or skills witnessed by evaluation participants among the main targets: children, par-


ents and professionals. As for sustainability, it is engrained in the project activities and philosophy.The aim of the project is to empower beneficiaries to undertake activities and change behavioursbeyond the timeframe of the project. The project’s team actually intends to move from leadershipto coaching and transfer of competence. Whether these aims are fulfilled is one central question,together with the issue of the financial and organisational sustainability of the project.

In addition, as both Save the Children Sweden and CRIC define themselves as child rightsorganisations, it seemed essential to evaluate to what extent the project had a rights based approach.Finally, a SWOT analysis was also undertaken by each of the three key project team members whichallowed a moment of self-reflection and demonstrated a high level of correspondence between indi-vidual and collective perceptions within the team. These two exercises influenced the conclusionsand recommendations of the overall evaluation and are available in a consolidated form in annexof this report – both as a source and a complement to the evaluation report itself.


3. Project activities and implementation

The project’s aim was to contribute to reducing the vulnerability of children left behind by migrat-ing parents, by raising awareness and building the capacities of children, parents and professionalsworking with children through a series of distinct but interrelated activities:

l Radio Programme

l Media campaign

l Publications

l Training

l Monitoring & Coaching

3.1. Radio programme

The project planned that every month on the National Radio Station a 30 minutes program ded-icated to children and adults would be broadcasted to address the consequences of parents’ migra-tion on children’s emotional and social development, and to inform listeners of existing services forvulnerable children at the community level.

Two journalists specialized in children’s radio programmes with over 18 years of experience werecontracted to undertake this activity. One of them had collaborated with CRIC in the past andexpressed interest in collaborating to this new project. Although they are employed by the publicNational Radio, journalists are apparently allowed to participate in remunerated projects. In thiscase, the project’s budget covers fees for the journalists’ work on the programme’s preparation, paiddirectly to them, and the cost of broadcasting time paid to the National Radio Station.

Prior to the project, the two journalists had been traveling across the country and noticing theimpact of migration on the country’s population. In particular, they had noticed the situation ofgrandparents overwhelmed by the care of young children, teachers having to care for children leftalone while also having to cultivate land to survive and the difficult emotional state of some chil-dren placed in foster families or in institutions. Their work experience with children over twodecades made them notice that taboos and self-censorship have become less powerful in Moldova.The Soviet tradition of preparing children for interviews or public appearance is gradually decreas-ing, so that they felt the radio programme to be developed in the framework of the project couldreflect people’s real needs and thoughts.

In 2007, the programme consisted mainly of documentary material recorded in the country-side with community leaders and key players such as teachers, doctors and priests, who provideda variety of pedagogical and spiritual experiences, as well as technical advice. Another programmebroadcasted in the morning (6.00–8.00 a.m.) was based on interactive discussions between theauditors and one guest. In 2008, two new programmes were developed, one for adults and one forchildren. These are both based on mini audio plays, followed by interactive dialogue with auditors.

Auditors are mainly rural as the National Radio is the main radio available out of the capital,Chisinau. The journalists observed that girls call much more than boys (approx 1 boy for 15 girls).More girls are also willing to act in the mini plays. Most teachers and teenagers questioned aboutthe radio programme in the course of the project review actually did not listen to the National

Radio. In particular, young people argued that TV and internet are much more attractive to them.There are actually no available data about the actual number of auditors. The main indicator ofimpact ad audience came from auditors’ phone calls.

The journalists felt that the radio programme gave auditors a better understanding of the phe-nomenon of migration and of its consequences. According to them, there was no feeling of repe-tition as each interview, each testimonial was unique. Some auditors occasionally phoned to explainthat they were planning to migrate but that due to the programme, they would think better whoto leave their child with or delay their departure to prepare their children better. Some childrenactually shared not only their case, but also their own recommendations on what could be donebetter in such a case. Overall, the journalists felt that the programme was most useful for parentsabout to leave. They believe that the programme makes people change their views about values,about the importance of money and the use one makes of it. “The more you talk, the more the aware-ness and the values evolve” reflected one journalist.

The radio programme also has a number of inherent limits:

l The radio programme has no capacity of direct intervention or communication with local socialservices in high risk cases identified for example through testimonials;

l The limited financial resources of the programme imply that few interviews are collective andthat travel to the field cannot be extensive. In particular, the journalists wish they could do morecollective interviews and work with teachers.

l The programme does not include political debates since freedom of expression and media inde-pendence are still an issue in Moldova.

Conclusions

The impact of the radio programme is difficult to measure in terms of audience and target’s satis-faction. Yet, there are some direct testimonials that the programme induced some changes. It canalso be assumed that this activity has the advantage of reaching out in a cost-effective way to themost isolated areas and populations (eg. elderly in charge of children left behind). The fact that itis interactive (unlike TV) is also an asset. There is a concern of sustainability as a radio programmeis inherently short-lived and a certain disconnection from the rest of the project, as its implemen-tation is out-sourced.

Recommendations

In terms of potential developments, based on some of the journalists’ suggestions, developing a CDof past audio plays could be a good way of making them available as pedagogical material for school-based activities – for instance, to initiate class debates – which would solve the lack of sustainabil-ity of the activity’s outputs and their connection with the rest of the project. Another future devel-opment could be to start addressing family reunification in the mini plays and in the live debates.Indeed, a growing number of migrants are managing to legalize their situation abroad and are bring-ing their children to settle abroad. Although this is usually good news for the family, settling abroadin a different culture and in a precarious economic situation would also require adequate psycho-logical preparation and planning on the part of both adults and children. As the CRIC study



demonstrated, reunification abroad or at home is often difficult especially if separation has beenlong. Parents and children are usually faced with increased communication problems when theyreunite. The journalist also felt that the “myth” of good life abroad is still alive and that testimo-nials of those having lived there may still be needed to provide a more realistic picture, which jus-tifies a continuation of the radio programme generally.

3.2. Media campaign

In order to involve newspapers in reflecting the situation of children left behind, the project plannedto organize two contests: one for professional newspapers and one for school / local youth news-papers, consisting in providing documentary support and awarding three prizes for the best seriesof articles about the consequences of the parents’ migration on children’s emotional and social devel-opment. However, journalists’ turn out was disappointing and CRIC preferred to cancel this activ-ity than to implement it at all costs without the necessary level of participation.

Yet, the project still generated a good volume of media coverage, especially when the variousproject publications were released. Their announcement in press releases and press conferences wasan occasion to communicate about the issue of children left behind more widely. Over a dozen ofarticles or news briefs about the pocket book for parents appeared in the local and internationalpress based in Moldova (BBC, RFI, UN magazine) in Moldovan and/or Russian. And a few addi-tional articles covered the release of the pocket book for children and the project in general.

In October 2007, the project was also the subject of a national TV programme, "Buna seara!"talk-show on Moldova 1 TV. One of the heads of District Department for Education involved inthe project was among the programme guests. This was reportedly an important event to give vis-ibility and legitimacy to the project.

In general terms, CRIC’s communications appear to have a strong impact despite limited meansand absence of visibility in the public space (no vehicles, posters, or leaflets of self-promotion). Thehigh level of media response which they manage to attract through press releases and press confer-ences appears to be related to the following:

l Their child rights and people-centered approach is authentic and quite unique in Moldova;

l The material they produce is original for the Moldovan public because it is usually producedin direct partnership with its audience (eg. children) – rather than being top-down, which isstill the predominant approach is all spheres of life in Moldova that people both accept andresent;

l CRIC’s beneficiaries are actors not only in project implementation but also in project commu-nications. It was mentioned that one District partner was involved in the TV programme onthe project; similarly, in August 2008, CRIC held a press conference with teenagers as mainspeakers to announce the release of their Children’s report to the UN Committee on the Rightsof the Child9. The media turn-out to the conference was apparently very high.

l CRIC has developed a permanent partnership with URMA ta to a Public Relations (PR) com-pany which shares its philosophy and helps enhance its uniqueness. It has contributed to mak-ing CRIC’s visual identity and publications look both more professional and more popular.

9. http://www.childrights.md/en/publications/ochi_en_mic.pdf


It may appear as a paradox that the project’s media work is evaluated positively whereas the mainactivity under this heading was cancelled, but as will be explained under the Project Managementsection of the present report, the flexibility of CRIC and of the project donors to adapt the pro-ject’s activities to its targets’ responses is definitely a strength and a way to make the most out ofthe resources and competences mobilized for the project.

Beyond CRIC’s project, several informants interviewed during the review explained that sever-al other public information initiatives on migration do exist in Moldova: information on risks oftrafficking and exploitation, advice on preventive measures to take before leaving, prevention ofproblems back home, details of hot-lines and resources for help. In particular, People from Nowhere,a theatre show supported by IOM, has had a strong impact in the country. It explores the conse-quences of migration for each member of a local community – up to the suicide of one character.One of the teachers interviewed for the present evaluation attended the play with her pupils andorganized a discussion in class after the show. She explained that the play had been important forchildren to actually put themselves in their “parents’ shoes” in terms of their socio-economic con-siderations, short term and long term reasons for leaving or not leaving, the risks and difficultiesthey face abroad, etc. This developed children’s compassion for the adults and balanced out theresentment that some of them felt towards their own parents. Yet, it also added to their anxiety, asthe play is reportedly focused on most extreme risks such as trafficking and exploitation. Theteacher’s conclusion was that this play was extremely useful in terms of prevention and informa-tion on risks, but not a balanced contribution to everyday coping and support for children andcommunities affected by “normal” migration. She argued that a documentary on “One Day in theLife of a Migrant” would be something that people and children would need to see to have a real-istic view.

Conclusion

It is essential to understand that CRIC’s project is targeting the impact of migration on children,but that it addresses all children, parents and professionals affected directly and indirectly by theissue, whether or not they are particularly vulnerable. This is a project of public information andcommunity-based empowerment through education in a broad sense. This is not a “hard core” anti-trafficking or child protection project, although it contributes to anti-trafficking and violence pre-vention. Therefore, it provides the media with societal information and material on an issue thatis central to the political agenda and to people’s lives, but it does not contribute to sensationalistnews on extreme cases that the media favors or technical risk prevention. In this context, it can beconsidered that the level of media coverage reached by the project has been efficient and cost-effec-tive. The adaptation of the planned activities to media response was sound.

Recommendation

One concern is that communications on the project’s issue and activities have now slowed down. Itis time that the project team, possibly together with their PR partner, starts updating and reactivat-ing their media strategy on the issue of migration and children left behind. This should be based onan analysis of what constitute news and what is still necessary to communicate. It is recommendedto specifically focus on new issues that have emerged throughout the overall project review: prepara-tion for family reunification, national and European level advocacy issues, children’s voices and voic-es from abroad. Actions towards TV companies and on the Web should be largely developed.


3.3. Publications

The project’s initial objective was that 300.000 children and adults would be made aware aboutthe psycho-social consequences of parents’ migration and about the existing services to support chil-dren and families, through both the media activities and the publications of the project. 20 000copies of the pocket book for parents and of the pocket book for children have been printed andabout half of the stock has been disseminated so far. Even added up to the audience of the mediawork and considering that each pocket book may have more than one reader on average, the quan-titative objective of the project in terms of public information remains to be reached. At the sametime, the number of copies of pocket books initially planned (5 000 of each) has already been dou-bled due to the very positive feed-back and growing demand for copies, and thanks to the renewedfunding of IOM and OSCE offices in Moldova for this activity. All the publications were present-ed to the Ministry of Education and Youth (MEY) which showed a good understanding of the issuesand of CRIC’s capacity to address them.

Pocket book for parents

My child home alone – Pocket book for parents – was produced with advice from URMA ta. It con-tains information about the consequences of the parents’ migration on children’s emotional andsocial development, age specific characteristics, advice on how to communicate with the child andon how to prepare him/her for parents’ departure and for independent life. It also contains a fewexamples and children’s drawings. CRIC and some of the teachers involved in the project receivedvery positive reactions from parents. It was especially distributed in the Districts that participatein the training activities, but also upon demand in other areas. For example, through other NGOs,Youth Resource Centres and in local health services, such as an AIDS testing centre in one Districtwhere migrants to CIS countries have to go since these tests are required for the delivery of a visa.

Preliminary inquiries made by CRIC to send the booklets to countries where Moldovan migrantsare already settled were unsuccessful (too expensive, administrative barriers, etc.). Yet, if the pocket bookcould be distributed for example in Moscow, Rome, St Petersburg and Istanbul – with maybe a shortexplanatory introduction in the local language on the back cover – it would already be made accessi-ble to over 60% of Moldovan migrants. This could encourage even long term migrants to revisit theirperceptions and values about their situation and that of their children back home. It would be a verysound investment for municipal authorities of these cities to fund the re-print and distribution of thispocket book, because it would either benefit to the increasing psycho-social of their migrant workersor contribute to precarious ones to return or improve their family situation.

Migration as it is, IOM, Chisinau 2007

Destination cities for Moldovan migrants (2006 CBS-AXA Survey)

Destination city Number of migrants Share of all migrants (%)

Moscow 145 388 51,69

Rome 12 815 4,56

St. Petersburg 9 084 3,23

Istanbul 8 597 3,06

Odessa 7 650 2,72

Lisbon 6 294 2,24

Milan 5 801 2,06

Padua 4 849 1,72

Paris 4 222 1,50

Tyumen 3 893 1,38


Pocket book for children

The Home alone – Pocket book for children left behind contains information about child’s rights,migration and human trafficking, advises for overcoming difficult situations, services for childrenin risky situations (see details in box).

Structure of “Home alone. Pocket book for children leftbehind by migrating parents”

How to manage your emotions – What are emotions?– How to identify emotions?– What to do when you experience unpleasant emotions? How you can behave whenyou experience different emotions in a secure way?

How to communicate with your parents– What are parents’ needs from communication?– How to gain parents’ trust?– How to open a discussion and how to communicate your feelings?

How to build relationships with your peers– What means to be friends?– Abilities to say NO– Decisions related to alcohol and tobacco– Decisions related to sexual relationships

How to manage your money – What the money need for? Making a plan for the future– How to develop your own budget and use the money in a proper way

How to plan your time efficiently– Advantages for planning your time– Hints to efficiently plan your time for homework, household activities, and leisuretime activities

Safety behavior– How to avoid danger on the street– Rules for a safe Internet navigation– Rules for a safe behavior when you have fun – How to avoid sexual abuse– What means human trafficking, how to avoid it, what to do when you feel in danger

How to behave in accident situations – The importance of remaining calm and asking for help– Fractures and wrenches – how to prevent and what to do?– Burns, cuts, injuries, suffocation with CO – what to do?

How to ask for and offer help– The importance of asking for help and passing not alone through difficult situations– Abilities to ask for and offer help. Using all means to ask for help, when you are indanger


It was produced after the one for parents and benefited from more creative thinking. It was con-ceived on a dialogue mode to be more readable for children (10–18 old). A first draft was testedwith ten teenagers of different ages and gender. It was there idea to use symbols which they them-selves favor in SMS and in internet chats. Again, the feed-back from interviewers was very posi-tive. The children receive the pocket primarily through their teachers during the first educationalclass on migration issues, but some other children also receive it through their peers of through sec-ondary dissemination. There is currently no Russian version as the Districts targeted by the proj-ect are in Moldovan-speaking areas.

Guide for professionals

1.000 copies of the Guide for Professionals were produced. It contains information about the con-sequences of the parents’ migration on children’s emotional and social development, actions thatcan be taken in order to help these children, methods and concrete activities to undertake withchildren.

A first version was produced by CRIC. It was discussed with the first group of teachers involvedin the project and finalised on the basis of their remarks.

At least one other player in Moldova, has produced didactic material for educational profes-sionals to address migration with children. Pro Didactica is a medium size NGO specialised inteacher training, created 10 years ago with the support of the Soros Open Society Initiative (OSI).Its area of expertise is teacher training, rather than children’s rights or child protection. It receivesvarious grants and has won some tenders of the Ministry of Education in the past. For some activ-ities, it requires contributions from schools, local authorities or teachers, which constitute 5% ofits budget. In 2004, Pro Didactica undertook a study on the psychological development of chil-dren left behind and developed training scholarships for teacher to palliate the lack of school psy-chologists. In 2005–2006, with OSI support, the organisation started the project “A future for ourchildren”. This project consisted of an initial workshop on the professional improvement of train-ers, the production of a guide for teachers “I learn to be”, a ”Pupil’s agenda”, a magazine and a web-site10, followed by training activities, including site visits, for groups of both educational and socialprotection professionals in 6 Districts. A total of 36 people were trained and coached through thisprocess. In 2007–2008, the project continued with the production of a reader for teachers “Read-ing, I learn to be” in Moldovan and Russian. On that basis, 120 teachers were then trained andcoached in two Russian speaking regions (Gagauzia and Taraclia) and 1300 School Deputy Direc-tors from the whole territory were introduced to the guides in a one day seminar, not followed byany specific coaching.

Like CRIC’s material, the guides produced by Pro Didactica invite teachers to a very flexibleand interactive use. After the first guide that addressed issues through a psychosocial approach, theReader Guide is particularly valuable in that it constitutes a second stage in addressing migration(or family breakdown)-related problems through a more literary and philosophical approach whichcan be well integrated into formal education, beyond the educational class. In terms of the train-ing provided together with the material, Pro Didactica has been working in depth across sectors(education/social protection) and with teachers of some areas, but for most of the territory, it hasgiven the priority to wide dissemination and sale of the guides. Representatives of Pro Didactica

10. www.prodidactica.md


join in with CRIC’s appreciation of the fact that it is much more efficient to provide an in-depthtraining than simply distribute the guide, and wish to continue their work in that direction. Theirproject is well complementary to CRIC’s work, geographically and didactically. Their own appre-ciation of CRIC’s work is very positive. They argue that there are many vulnerable children in thecountry and little quality education, which is why such project is so much needed. According tothem CRIC’s asset is to have direct access to these children and to have a child-centred approach,whereas Pro Didactica is more teacher-centred. CRIC is also appreciated for being bold in itsapproach – of being “to the point”.

Conclusions on publications

The publications have been highly rated by a diversity of evaluation informants as being child-cen-tred, comprehensive and solution-oriented – rather than only focused on warnings and dangers asmost child protection information is often perceived. The core messages is not “stop migration”but “communicate, think and handle it better” which is not generating guilt, and sometimes lead-ing parents to revisit their decision to leave or children to negotiate a better “deal” with their par-ents. The project partner company URMA ta has made the whole conception of the material mostprofessional by providing access to a well-known illustrator experienced with children’s material,by ensuring the testing of both the contents and design of the pocket books. The guide for teach-ers is complementary to other on-going initiatives, and the pocket books remain unique. For dis-semination, again, the priority has been given to a qualitative rather than a quantitative approach.CRIC has been carefully distributing the publications through channels that ensure a qualifiedtransmission and efficient targeting of the audience. DDEYS and trained teachers have been theirmain channels, as well as conferences and professional meetings organised by the Ministry of Edu-cation and Youth where the material was introduced before its distribution. The pocket books arealso available on the internet and have attracted attention as far as Romania. The dissemination ofpublications has also been a pretext for teachers to communicate about the project. On a more neg-ative note, dissemination towards migrants already abroad has been insufficient, due to adminis-trative and financial barriers but also to a lack of perseverance on the part of CRIC.

Recommendations on publications

It is recommended to better monitor the distribution of the publications through a simple data baseof dissemination, recording channels and number of copies dispatched. Based on the on-going dia-logue, joint efforts should be made with IOM to distribute the pocket books abroad through IOMmissions, foreign consulates and Moldovan representation abroad, as well as through potential part-ner NGO networks in destination countries such as Italy (eg. through Save the Children Italy). Asimple one page slip should be created and inserted in pocket books both for parents and for childrenand be also made available on CRIC’s website for the project team to receive direct feed-backs fromreaders. Translation of the two pocket books in Russian for audience in Chisinau, Transnistria and inRussian speaking countries should be explored. One NGO in Transnistria was apparently interestedin cooperating and should be re-contacted. If additional financial resources can be found, it is alsohighly recommended to develop a new pocketbook for care givers. It would include the issue of poten-tial family reunification after temporary care in a format and style adapted to the elderly, as grand-parents constitute the majority of care givers for children left behind in Moldova. One NGO calledHelpAge that is working with the elderly should be contacted for potential cooperation.


3.4.Training

Introductory workshop for educational managers

This workshop was planned to be given to educational decision-makers (school managers and headof District Department for Education) of each of the four, and then five Districts: Anenii Noi,Calarasi, Cimislia, Telenesti and Hîncesi (since May 2008). Four sessions were held throughoutthe year 2007. The quantitative targets were largely met as 62 school managers and 4 heads ofDDEYS were involved, instead of the 35 initially planned, covering:

l 15 participants, for 13 schools – Calarasi

l 11 participants, for 10 schools – Cimislia

l 24 participants, for 22 schools – Anenii Noi

l 16 participants, for 16 schools – Telenesti

It must be noted here that the initial proposal planned to also reach out to 200 Local Youth Coun-cils notably through the initial training of 50 members of Regional Youth Resource Centers. Con-sidering the demand from the education sector, CRIC preferred to drop the direct targeting ofRegional Youth Resource centers. Yet, in many of the communities involved in the project, the dis-semination of the publications and some collaboration in the implementation of the activities withchildren were reportedly carried out directly by teachers and through DDEYS with the Youth Cen-ters which provide extra-curricular activities to children. CRIC also argues that the staff of thesecenters is also less in need of training as they are already more sensitive to children’s personal situ-ation and able to use interactive methods with them.

The workshop was developed over two days and its contents were based on the Guide for Pro-fessionals. The participants of the workshop were informed about the consequences of parents’migration on child development and about the aim and the concept of the project. This way, localand school authorities could express an informed commitment and actively support to the projectactivities. The representatives of DDEYS were entrusted to monitor the school-based activities andto facilitate the distribution of the informational materials also in other schools than those involvedin the project. School headmasters would contribute to the selection of form masters and facilitatethe organization of their activities.

This workshop also enabled educational specialists to share their own experience of the phe-nomenon of migration, the impact it has on pupils’ attendance and performance and on schoolmanagement.

The impact of parents’ migration on teenagers’ attitudestowards schools

Educational managers recognized that parents and teachers do not realize how diffi-cult independent leaving can be for a teenager.Teenagers themselves only figure it outonce they go through it.According to educational specialists, teachers are often their only


source of support. Communication with parents is often superficial.As teenagers resenttheir departure and/or want to avoid worrying them, they tend to adopt a yes/noapproach to their parents’ questions

Cell phones are often the first gift that migrating parents offer to their child, as a wayto communicate more easily and as a sign of economic improvement. Cell phones area problem in schools where SMS and games distract pupils’ attention during classes.This has become a disciplinary issue for teachers and has also become a factor of polar-ization between the “have” and the “have not”.The second “stage” is often a computer.Grandparents try to prevent the overuse of the computer and this typically leads to clash-es and increased isolation on the part of teenagers. Nutrition is also problematic, asteenagers cook less and have more money; they buy ready-made food or candies.Thissometimes results in health problems.For girls,boyfriends become central and their socialstatus is very important.They tend to prefer “rich” boyfriends thinking that their parentswon’t have to work in the future.This distances them from their own school achieve-ments and autonomy.

The number of cases and the magnitude of the problem is what motivated school authoritiesto allow and support the project. One head of DDEYS expressed that the project had a clear base-line (i.e. the Study), clear targets and a clear agenda, as well as useful tools (i.e. the Publications).She knew of no other organization working specifically on the issue and with such a participatoryapproach. Once the head of the DDEYS has approved the project implementation on its territo-ry and with the selected schools and teachers, CRIC’s training sessions and the project’s activitiesare included in the official educational action plan at District level.

The districts involved in the project were contacted mainly on the basis of CRIC’s previous expe-rience in these geographic areas and positive relationship with authorities there. Criteria for theselection of Districts included their commitment to a long-term involvement and the interest ofthe DDEYS to focus on the schools most affected by migration in their district. It was essentialthat no other important player would be active in the district to do similar work, so as to avoidduplication or overwhelming of teachers. Overall, from CRIC’s perspective, motivation was a keyfactor of selection.

Unfortunately, authorities in the districts most affected by migration according to official dataare not necessarily the most motivated. One district that participates in the project, Cimislia, showsvery high rates of migration (about 50%) and it is actually difficult to implement the project therebecause teachers themselves experience serious hardship. According to statistics, the South of thecountry is also most affected but CRIC does not have networks there. CRIC argues that there areneeds all over the country so it may as well capitalise on its existing networks. Yet, this may excludepartners who would be motivated if they knew of the project. Hence, the enunciated criteria forselection are not systematically used. CRIC does not have an exact mapping of which agency isinvolved where and of which schools are the most affected in each district. Rather, CRIC relies onits own information and on the opinions and good will of the heads of DDEYS. In a spirit of sus-tainability and long-term commitment, there is also a strong will in CRIC not to work in new dis-tricts at the expense of those already involved – which limits the geographic expansion of the proj-ect, if human and financial resources remain the same.


Key actors and their responsibilities within the project (Source: CRIC)

Ministry of Education and Youth:– Participation in the project development

– Approval of the terms and conditions of the project

– Approval of the informational and didactical materials

developed within the project

CRIC:– Development of the concept of the project

– Communication with the donors and imple-

mentation partners

– Coordination of all project activities

– Development of informational and didactic

materials

– Training and informational support to teachers

involved in the project

– Monitoring and evaluation of the project

– Developing and presentation of the activity

reports to donors and partners

DDEYS:– Facilitation for the implementation of the project

in the schools of the district (training, monitoring

and evaluation activities)

– Selection of the schools (big number of children

left behind, migration consequences on the chil-

dren school performance and behavior, the lack of

services, openness of the school administration)

– Collection of the reports from the deputy direc-

tors for education

– Promotion of similar activities for children left

behind in other schools from the district (through

regional seminars)

Deputy directors for education:– Selection of form teachers (5–10 grades, volunteers, civic education teachers, open to children needs) and facilitation of

the training activities

– Facilitation of the activities developed by form teachers and of the meetings for experience exchange between teachers

in schools

– Collection of the teachers reports in order to transmit them to DDEYS

– Raising the awareness within the community, local public administration, in order to develop plans of action for children

– Communication with DDEYS and CRIC on the activities and results of the project

Form teachers:– Identification of the children left behind

– Children needs assessment

– Developing within the class hours activities for children left behind, organization of the discussions and interactive

activities

– Promotion, organization of the extracurricular activities for children

– Monitoring (observation of the changes in a period of time) of the situation of children left behind

– Offering the emotional support at request

– Activities with relatives and other persons close o children

– Taking in consideration the conditions for pupils security – confidentiality, approaching severe cases, referring to other

services

– Experience exchange with other teachers in order to facilitate form teachers work and improvement of the used

methods (assisting colleagues, group consultations, best practices exchange)

– Filling in the forms for reporting activities with children

– Communication with project team

In-depth training and on-going support to teachers

The project uses and promotes “interactive training” and “experience learning” methods to prepareform teachers who have a privileged access to children to address the issue of migration. This meansthat at several stages of a training session, participants are asked to debrief on what has happenedand to provide input in the following stages of the session. Most of the knowledge transmittedthrough the training is formulated or re-formulated by participants themselves through oral andwritten feed-back, self-reflection and exercises, rather than being “taught”. Upon requests, CRICdevelops thematic documentation to respond to specific questions or requests after the session.

CRIC’s trainers discovered that some preliminary steps were necessary to enable interactiveteaching methods to be applicable with teachers. The training team adapted the training tools andpace to each group. “We found out that teachers don’t know themselves about their emotions and theirneeds. At first there were no nuances in what they expressed. Self-control and self-censorship was verystrong. So, we introduced tools to help them identify, determine and express their feelings. They now usethese tools themselves to break the ice with children. Some of them even invented new ones.”


Why invest in form teachers?

To be a “form teacher” means to be the prime contact person for children of oneclass and their parents on any educational matter – usually over their whole schoolingperiod in secondary education, from the 5th to the 10th grade (i.e. from 11-12 yearsto 17-18 years).While a form teacher has his/her own speciality (eg. teacher of math-ematics) which he/she teaches to various classes, he/she will have one hour per weekof “educational class” with the pupils for whom he/she is a “form teacher”. During thishour, various subjects of general interest may be taught or discussed. However, initialand in-service teacher training does not provide any guidance on how to run this “edu-cational class”. Only, the national curriculum provides details of subjects to beaddressed.

In Moldova, there is usually an average of 25 pupils per class in secondary education.To be a “form teacher” is a voluntary addition to regular teaching.A teacher’s monthlysalary was between 70 and 150 USD/ month in 2008 and being a “form teacher”brings and additional 7–10 USD/month.Teaching time is minimum 18 hours weeklyand 25 hours as a maximum, but with additional/optional teaching functions, someteachers teach up to 30 hours a week.The project’s strategy has been to use this“educational hour” for form teachers to implement activities empowering all childrento better cope with the phenomenon of migration, individually and collectively, whetherthey are personally affected or as peers of affected children. Mixing children with andwithout parents also allows them to give more value to what they have and take forgranted.

The educational class is usually held at the end of a day.According to testimonialsreceived, children now look forward to this hour, whereas they used to skip it.As formteachers are also teachers in one or several disciplines (eg. maths, literature, etc.), sev-eral of them have also introduced mini activities on migration with their other pupils,which actually made the discipline more attractive.


The training comes in addition to the information sessions that teachers receive prior to each newschool year from the DDEYS. However, the project has been negotiated closely with each DistrictDepartment and at the national level, so that it is incorporated into the official activities and cur-riculum. The project is perceived as some extra help to do teachers’ job, rather than as an additionaltask or burden.

According to the feed-back received from several respondents, the main impact of the trainingwas:

l Teachers are better prepared to work with both children and parents; they feel equippedand empowered;

l Teachers do not simply repeat official and media information about migration; they nowown personal knowledge about the issue and the specific situation in their own com-munity;

l Teachers’ approach to the issue of migration is more comprehensive than before;

l Teachers do not label children left behind anymore and are more tolerant towards theirparents;

l Teachers are closer to children left behind – now, children actually warn them beforetheir parents leave so that a contact can be established to discuss the issue before theparent is gone;

l Teachers started to use interactive methods instead of traditional top-down pedagogy and phys-ically demonstrate it (eg. taking the desk out of the classroom, sitting in circles, etc.);

l There is now more work in teams, whereas teachers usually work in isolation;

l Teachers’ spectrum of interest has broadened and some now also participate in otherprojects (eg.Aids prevention, local newspaper, etc.)

l Class management has improved – group dynamics and positive discipline are in place;

l More extra-curricular activities have been developed, organised either by teachers forchildren, or by teenagers for younger children,with priority access to children left behind.

According to one school inspector, additional actions like those undertaken in the Youth in Actionproject of CRIC by which young people themselves identify problems and solutions that they canimplement in partnership with local authorities, are needed especially in remote and isolated areas.Such initiatives in relation to the migration issue would promote children’s perspectives on the issueand enhance their autonomy. It would also improve adults’ sense of responsibility for all the chil-dren living in their community. It would improve the self-representation and image of the com-munity. It would also make parents proud of their children to see them directly active and respon-sible. This is most needed in the current context of depression and self-depreciation, beyond theschool context which is already well covered by the project.

One teacher explained that the project hadprovided her with «a key to children’s souls»

Conclusions on training

The multi-level approach to training (ie. first managers, then teachers) has been essential in guar-anteeing the institutional back-up and legitimacy of the initiative. It also enabled the integrationand planning of the sessions in the regular work plan of teachers elaborated at District level. Thetraining of school managers was efficient since it resulted in 100% support to the continuation ofthe project in the selected Districts. The training of teachers received a very positive appraisal fromthe sample of teachers interviewed for the evaluation. The project team cannot guarantee that allof them were then fully able to implement interactive methods with children, nor that the selec-tion of form teachers by heads of DDEYS was optimal. But these weaknesses are inherent to theproject’s approach of trust, de-centralised and shared responsibilities with partners (DDEYS) andtargets (teachers), coupled with monitoring and on-going support (see next section).

Recommendations on training

In order to continue responding to training needs and potentially expand the project to other Dis-tricts, the current project team is too limited. This is why a “cascade” system (or training of train-ers) is now being developed by CRIC, but this should not lead to a loss of quality or a reducedpresence of the project team in the Districts involved. Possibilities of contributing to the nationalin-service training system were explored, but resources and mentalities are not ripe. Therefore, onerecommendation is to expand the project’s training team to one additional person, if financialresources can be found. This would also secure the sustainability of the training programme, as cur-rently only two persons have the know-how to run the training sessions. In addition, CRIC shouldbecome open to the idea of delivering training (eg. initial workshop on migration) on demand asa service provider to others (eg. Social Protection services, other NGOs, UN agencies). CRICshould consider better “marketing” its training expertise because local trainers in such a field arerare in Moldova, and training by foreign experts is costly and not sustainable.

3.5. Monitoring and coaching of field activities

Needs assessment

After their initial training, teachers provide CRIC with basic data on children in the class, wherethey will undertake the activities They then produce reports for a few months, in order to helpCRIC assess their additional training and support needs. This is done by using a simple form - isa light tool, which was designed not to overload them. The format and the periodicity of the reportswas discussed and revised early in the project to better suit teacher’s capacities.

One member of the project’s team (Daniela Platon) receives and compiles the data with the helpof volunteers. This data is composed of figures (eg. % of children without one or both parents),lists of issues of interest/concern mentioned by teachers, list of children needs that they feel thathave responded to through classroom activities and subjects that they would like to see addressedthrough the next training, through documentation or through CRIC’s visits (planned or ondemand).

For teachers, being provided with training and services based on their own perceptions andneeds was a totally new experience. One teacher reportedly told CRIC’s team “In 35 years, I hadnever been asked what I needed, how I felt…” This is transforming their attitudes towards their work



and their own way of teaching and addressing pupils. CRIC’s openness to suggestions and school specific requests has been most appreciated. For

example, one group of teachers requested that one training seminar focus on professional orienta-tion for teenagers since many of them leave school at the age of 15–16 without knowing where toorient themselves or how to find a job – an issue that teachers did not use to feel concerned aboutand had not received any official guidance on from the Ministry of Education and Youth. The train-ing and documentation package developed by CRIC on this theme included tests, lesson formats,models of CVs, listings of professions for games and individual reflection, role plays of job inter-views, exercises to learn to analyse job adds, collected and translated from numerous sources usu-ally not known to teachers and pupils in Moldova.

Indeed, in Moldova, there is no sustainable approach to training – training is usually a one offsession on one subject, rather than a continuous process adapted to needs and based on realitychecks. In addition, unlike teachers in other disciplines, form teachers do not receive any in-serv-ice training for the educational class. All the support they have is a national curriculum to follow– within which the project’s activities have been planned. In a meeting with the representative ofthe Institute for Educational Sciences, it was argued that in-service training for form teachers couldstart in 2009, but the Institute appear to be in search of extra resources for such an initiative andremains focused on traditional training methods and academic partners.

Since the project is now active in five Districts, follow-up of all the needs and requests expressedby teachers is heavy to manage. The project team has been responding by being selective about therequests it has the capacity to respond to, but is also very flexible - not only responding throughtraining, but also accepting to initiate new activities with parents, for example in Hirova. This iswhy CRIC is now developing the “cascade” system: training and coaching the most proactive andcommunicative teachers having benefited from the project to become themselves trainers for theircolleagues. In order for CRIC to remain involved, to be aware of all the project’s activities andensure quality, the support function (monitoring, needs-based planning of trainings, visits, docu-mentation) will remain with the core project team. The project team has decided that teachers whobecome trainers will not receive fees from the project, as in the past this has proved to be a nega-tive motivation for trainees in another CRIC project.

Activities undertaken in educational class

Between March 2007 and March 2008, activities in educational class have enabled data collectionabout a total of 4844 pupils from 169 classes of four different Districts. Activities in class wereundertaken for over 4000 pupils monthly on average. Depending on the districts between 30%and 47.7% of these children had migrating parents. The project’s initial objective was that at least3000 children left behind would receive support in order to overcome the difficulties of their sep-aration from parents. Thus, quantitatively, this objective was exceeded with over 4000 children hav-ing benefited from the project’s activities. Qualitatively, less children left behind than planned ben-efited since we can estimate that about 1600 of them took part in the activities. Yet, it can also beargued that more peers than planned benefited from the project, including some children whoseparents may be planning to leave. In addition, as several teachers have been mobilizing their col-leagues, several other classes may have benefited from activities, not monitored directly by the proj-ect (indirect implementation with direct beneficiaries).

The first activity undertaken by form teachers in class is to share the pocket book for childrenHome Alone, discuss the issue with children and collect basic data on children left behind. Beyond

simply noting who has parents abroad, this is the occasion to discuss children’s problems: house-hold chores, lack of free time, care of siblings, and for the teacher to learn more about the real sit-uation of these children beyond their own prejudice. The whole class also analyses case studies fromreal life to discuss what the main issues and the main solutions are. In the course of these educa-tional classes, the teachers use all the tools and methods tested out during their training: energiz-ers, self-analysis through expression, drawing, metaphors and expression of emotions. These makethe activities very attractive and unusual for children.

Activities in class involve a number of techniques: role plays, exercises in group, energizers. Organ-ising debates has been challenging with children under the age of 16, whereas exercises on the topicof “emotions” have been particularly successful. For example, in the “Tree of ghosts”, children expresstheir feelings and their expectations by explaining where they see themselves in the drawing of a treeon which many different ghosts-like characters as sitting. In the “Bridge of compliments”, childrenexpress their positive views on another child on a piece of paper going around the class, which is thenread aloud. “The first comments were very reserved and simple, but as the exercise developed they becamemore sophisticated and at the end they could not stop writing about each other. For some, it was the firsttime they heard so many positive things about themselves” one teacher remembered. One session aboutmoney management was also particularly appreciated.

One teacher explained that there used to be a gap between children left behind who seem toenjoy their newly-found autonomy and those who clearly suffer from it. The former tended to showno interest for the project activities at first, but were finally attracted by the innovative methodsand group dynamics. This may have helped some of them to recognise also some more complexemotions and needs in themselves.

Teachers also share their training material with colleagues and some make public presentationsduring teachers’ meetings on children left behind and on possible class activities, which means thatthe volume of activities and the number of children involved goes beyond the numbers known toCRIC.

One teacher suggested that the project activities/resources should also include some excursionswith the class because this could create more opportunities and space for children who are mostisolated to spend time with their peers and with the teachers. The other key aspect to reinforce iscommunication with parents that have migrated as teachers find that contacts with the temporarycare giver are not sufficient. Teachers try to know when parents are visiting to find opportunitiesto talk to them, but the project could provide a positive framework and methodology for improvedcontacts. Particularly difficult cases are girls left with their alcoholic father when the mother worksabroad. Teenage girls tend to feel ashamed and miss their mother in an acute way.

A focus group discussion with teenagers revealed how important the project is for children liv-ing with their parents to understand and support their peers who are left behind. Through the edu-cational class activities, they said they started perceiving the loneliness and their friends’ need forincreased communication. They also discovered the lack of adequate social protection and psy-chologists. They felt that the project had greatly improved the attitude of their teachers towardschildren left behind. They believe that the project should be expanded, including to other districtsand to younger age groups. Media work and publications were also perceived as useful, but moreshould be done on internet and on TV. To them, the key issue is to target parents since the deci-sion to leave the country lies with them. Yet, rather than blaming parents, the teenagers felt thatmuch more could be done by the government to ensure better living conditions which would pre-vent parents to leave. According to these young people, more radical advocacy is needed to addressthe government’s responsibility.



Pilot training for parents

A focus group discussion with mothers who had been involved in one training by CRIC upon arequest from teachers (three sessions of 2-3 hours each) provided an initial feed-back on how theproject impacted them and could increasingly involve parents.

Out of seven mothers, only one had her husband still leaving in the village. One was a widow,three husbands were working elsewhere in the country, and two husbands were working abroad,in Odessa, Ukraine. Their husband’s absence had united them.

For them, the impact of the project’s activities were:

l The knowledge on child development and psychology and communication advice that theyreceived was directly applicable to their children on a daily basis;

l They became more patient and less authoritarian, listen better to their children, found moretime for them;

l Communication improved, especially with their boys;

l They became more tolerant to other’s opinions;

l They broke taboos between them and their children and even with their own parents;

l They felt addressed as equals and therefore more trustful (unlike most contacts they have withlocal authorities or teachers);

l They felt their needs were heard and taken into account;

l They enjoyed the activity.

Their advice was to develop such training activities with parents rather than to focus only on teach-ers. This training helps parents left alone with their children to cope and also may prepare thosewho plan to leave to better support their children. They would encourage some joint sessions tobe held with children. For children who have both parents away, it could be good to target caregivers, although “parents are irreplaceable”. Parents would not welcome such training to be facili-tated by teachers trained by CRIC because they feel that the parents-teacher relationship will alwaysremain biased and uneasy. Maybe a “cascade” system with “parents for parents” would be an option.

Individual follow-up and involvement of other sectors

A few school psychologists are involved in the project and provide individual counselling to schoolchildren. They also run some information sessions for teachers and parents (eg. on professional ori-entation, violence, communication, etc.). However, only high schools over a certain number ofpupils have a psychologist. Psychologists are poorly paid and some of them also teach. Most teach-ers expressed the need for more psychologists to be available in the district.

Some teachers involved in the project also propose individual follow-up to some children afterthe educational class if they have identified a need or an opportunity to offer extra help. This mayconsist in individual discussions, but it is not also unusual for a teacher to visit a child at home, toprepare his/her breakfast or help with homework, or even to host a child left home alone. If rele-vant, the teacher contacts the local Commission for Social Protection for special assistance diag-nostic and interventions, or health services. Usually the assistance offered by the social protectionservices consists of material assistance and, sometimes, of psychological counselling. Children left

behind are also prioritised for school meals. In several cases, some teachers recall that they havedirectly warned parents abroad when a child’s situation was seriously deteriorating, and this helpedto solve some situations. In one case the local authorities even paid for a mother to come back andtake care of her child who had dropped out from school and had become totally isolated. Yet, someteachers continue to feel totally and directly responsible for the children. They tend to confiscatethis responsibility and do not systematically refer children at risk to social protection services –which is a serious concern.

Hence, the project is valuable in that it recognises and supports teachers as a central resourcefor children left behind, but it does not ensure strong linkages with other services and profession-als. This is left to the appreciation of the District Department of Education and of each teacher, atlocal level. CRIC has neither the capacity nor the mandate to control that children most at risk arereferred to the child protection system – which is itself a system in transition not always in a posi-tion to fulfil its functions.

Indeed, the Ministry of Social Protection has recently received the national child protectionmandate, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Youth until 2007.The Ministry aims at improving the identification and monitoring of children at risk, their regis-tration and individual follow-up, as well as support and quality control of professional interven-tions in favour of these children in the communities. Guardianship authorities and newly appoint-ed social assistants are to become the prime actors in this field, in collaboration and increased coor-dination with other local professionals: police, teachers, doctors, etc. However, these new rolesrequire training and motivation that are challenging to develop, and people who previous held keypositions in social protection under the previous system are also sometimes blocking transfers ofcompetence. Finally, although de-institutionalisation of vulnerable children has become a politicalpriority in Moldova, it is still technically easier at the local level to send a child to an institutionthan to develop a comprehensive intervention plan to support the family or substitute care-giversto keep the child at home.

In 2008, 800 social assistants have been recruited, but salaries are very low (560 Lei/ 40 Euros)and can therefore only constitute partial revenues despite the need for full time mobilisation. Inaddition, public social assistance does not only cover children at risk but also on the elderly, peo-ple with disabilities and social benefits. Their initial training took place over two weeks in Chisin-au, but additional thematic training sessions are planned. Information and techniques such as thoseof CRIC’s project could be a very valuable component of such training, if an agreement can befound with the Ministry of Social Protection and its partner UNICEF.

In some districts, additional initiatives are enabling to reinforce the local child protection setup. For example, Terre des Hommes (TDH) has been establishing child protection units composedof four people, which focus both on situations of recognized migration and on the prevention ofchild trafficking, in particular towards Russia. This project (FACT – Fight Against Child Traffick-ing11) gives priority to assistance at a local level, in villages with least security, where the childrenare at serious migratory risk. Its strategy is to back local committees for the protection of child rightsfor direct intervention and to organise summer activities for rural children. Priority targets are thosechildren identified as especially vulnerable, victims of negligence or parental neglect, at risk of alco-holism or having been taken away from school, with special social follow-up in the worst individ-ual cases, to give these children a chance of social reintegration. Initially, TDH intended to coverall the villages of three districts, but it is now concentrating its attention and qualitative approach


11. See: www.tdh-childprotection.org


on a more limited number of communities in closer collaboration with the municipal authorities. Again, although this project has a different approach and a different geographic coverage from

CRIC’s project, several useful inter-linkages could be developed. CRIC’s initial training could beprovided to TDH supported child protection units and, vice-versa teachers involved in CRIC’sproject could become involved in local coordination meetings to enhance inter-sector cooperation.TDH recognises that professional resistance to change, political struggles and project-based com-petition between NGOs are making field collaboration difficult. Its representative therefore seesimproved collaboration between CRIC, educational professionals and other players as an aspectthat Save the Children Sweden should strongly encourage and support.

This is supported by evaluation interviews, in which teachers recognised that there is a need forincreased cooperation with the local administration and other professionals. It was suggested thatthe initial training from the project (based on the Guide for professionals) should be given by CRICto newly appointed social assistants together with trained teachers who could then remain theirlocal contact. Much work should be done to ensure that parents legally appoint care givers in theirabsence with the local administration’s consent and inform teachers before they leave. “As migra-tion continues, the project must continue” one teacher concluded. Overall, the project was definedby one informant as an “engine of change, making society less passive” which should become moreinclusive of other players.

Conclusions on monitoring and coaching field activities

The feed-back from teachers, parents and children on field activities is very positive because theseactivities are new to them, and are also owned and nurtured by them. The flexibility of the pro-ject’s implementation and of the training/coaching team has allowed the project to remain quali-tative and needs-based through a bottom-up approach. The monitoring function has enabled real-ity checks to be made to ensure the validity of the activities and their alignment with support serv-ices (documentation, advice, visits, training of parents) and vice versa. Teachers experienced thevalue of data collection and analysis not only for the project but also for themselves to better under-stand their pupils and plan their activities. One important limitation, especially in comparison withother CRIC projects, is that feed-back and activity planning are only generated by teachers.Although teachers are encouraged and trained to enhance child participation, the project team hasno direct contacts with children to strengthen this essential aspect of the project. Another seriousweakness is the lack of openness and initiative from CRIC to develop linkages with other local play-ers and other NGOs active on the migration issue.

Recommendations on monitoring and coaching activities

It is recommended that school-based activities are maintained and that initiatives with parents areproposed to other communities, based on the positive pilot experience in Hirova. A system of train-ing of parents-trainers (i.e. similar to the “cascade” system developed for teachers) should be con-sidered. Hence, CRIC could develop work with parents on a broad scale, unravelling with themtheir relationship with school and with teachers in the context of migration. If possible, CRICshould undertake a small study on this important aspect to start with. This way, more informationcould be made available on what constrains exist in the school-parents relationship and what atti-tudes partners and teachers should develop to improve it.

It is also recommended to reinforce the monitoring aspect of the project by creating more qual-

ity indicators of children’s situation, more measurement of impact of the project activities and adirect feed-back mechanism with and for children themselves. CRIC should develop some activi-ties on the issue of migration directly with some children’s groups, notably in terms of advocacy.

It should also be ensured that heads of DDEYS, school managers and teachers have regular con-tacts and collaboration with other sectors (health, social protection, local administration) to addressmigration and teenagers’ issues, and not only in extreme individual cases, but across the board.Although we know that these contacts already take place in some communities, these are not doc-umented or supported by the project so far.


Snapshot of the project implementation review

AIMReduce the vulnerability of children left behind by migrating parents

OBJECTIVESRaise awareness Build capacity

TARGETS

General public Parent Children Professionals/Teachers

ACTIVITIES

Radio Programme Media campaign Publications Training Monitoring & Coaching

SECTORS

Public information Child protection / Prevention Child rights Education


B B B B B

Motivation and autonomy Flexibility of abandoning Quality & Novelty Quality & Novelty Long-term involvementof journalists in charge article contest Good timing Motivation of On-demand service Direct interaction with TV programme with Spontaneous requests heads of education Reality checksparents and children project partners for copies (eg. HIV, Snow ball effect: Ownership by beneficiariesAccess to isolated areas Response from media centre, child to child.) presentations by Ensuring needs-basedCost effectiveness on booklet announcements Full coverage of teachers in schools, services

project participants impact in otherdisciplines/classes

– – – – –Limited audience Sporadic contacts Informal distribution Resource intensive Data collection limited in Not best child media Lack of “news” Cost of printing and Difficult timing time and scope(unlike TV or internet) after initial steps Distribution Selection by head Little qualitative info andLess reactions from boys of the project Lack of channels of education dept analysisNo connection with Limited independence for feed-back from Training of No direct feed-back from the rest of the project and interest of readers, esp. parents trainers still to be childrenNo sustainability media in Moldova Qualitative vs. tested and monitored No data on interaction with

quantitative distribution other sectors (social, med.)

þ þ þ þ þ

Broaden thematic focus Reflect on media IOM involvement in Inclusion of module Reflect on potential direct(eg. also address reunification event/messages dissemination abroad in in-service training involvement of childrenand return of parents) Reflect on MEY//TdH for Expansion of CRIC in reporting / evaluationCreate CD of past programmes using opportunities domestic distribution training team Develop quality indicators as pedagogical material for or personalities Fund-raising for Propose training as Develop cross-sector teachers Reflect on media re-printing a service (TdH) communications (local/

strategy based on New guide for care-givers district/national)children’s views (see NGO HelpAge) Develop measurement of on migration Russian version (see NGO impact

in Transmistria)



4. Recommendations on children leftbehind by migrating parents, beyond thescope of CRIC’s project

Considering its size and status, CRIC can obviously not respond to all the needs and opportuni-ties identified through the project review. In addition to the specific recommendations made forthe project, here are below a series of other issues that should be addressed by or with other actors:

1. COVERAGE: Ensure the geographic coverage of all affected areas through information and sup-port initiatives to all children, parents and educational professionals. Most current initiatives arefocused on rural communities and provincial towns, but some informants argue that the psycho-logical impact of migration can be worse in urban contexts because people’s solidarity is less devel-oped and children fall through the crack of community support and child protection more easily.So, urban population must also be covered.

2. AGE: Develop as a matter of urgency channels and modes of sensitization and support to allyoung children (0–10 years) whose parents have migrated12, even if they are in good substitute care,for example through pre-school and primary school systems. Children’s resilience to the parents’migration is related to their understanding and their interpretation of the benefits of their parents’migration and the quality of their communication with them. Young children and care giversrequire special assistance to achieve this.

3. GENDER: Develop a gender approach to the issue of migration. Mothers’ absence and theimpact of parents’ migration on adolescent girls have specificities that must be researched andaddressed, in addition to mainstream efforts.

4. SERVICES: Advocate for the development of anonymous assistance services to help parents toprepare and encourage them to announce their departure adequately, including through the for-mal appointment of a care-giver and planning of migration objectives and visits back home.

5. FOREIGN REPRESENTATION: Encourage the establishment of representation from hostcountries to provide accurate information and advice to potential migrants and thus avoid themto go through Romanian intermediaries – which is currently common practice. (eg. at the time ofthe report, there is no Italian embassy in Moldova).

6. FUNDING FOR LOCAL NGOs: Enhance donor involvement and civil society support inMoldova while the social protection system is in transition and the domestic economy is still veryfragile.

12. In Moldova, available data mainly covers school-aged children, but in Romania, it was found that half of the children with bothparents abroad are below the age of 10. Source: National analysis of the phenomenon of children left home by their parents who migrateabroad for employment, UNICEF Romania, 2008



5. Annexes

Annex 1:Map of Moldova.

Annex 2:Table of the number of school-age children with parents abroad

Source: Ministry of Education and Youth of the Republic of Molodova. Made available on the inter-net by Pro Didactica: www.prodidactica.md/viitor In bold: District wehere CRIC’s project is being implemented


Nr District 2006 2007

(“Rayon”) One parent Both parents Total number One parent Both parents Total number has left of these children has left have left of these children

1. Mun. Chisinau 1,991 2,732 4,723 5,680 2,661 8,341

2. Mun. Balti 1,831 402 2,233 1,734 419 2,153

3. Anenii Noi 1,773 592 2,365 1,977 619 2,596

4. Basarabeasca 806 296 1,102 895 258 1,153

5. Briceni 1,115 490 1,605 907 413 1,320

6. Cahul 2,436 1,047 3,483 2,188 931 3,119

7. Cantemir 1,211 641 1,852 1,230 640 1,870

8. Calarasi 1,905 682 2,587 1,900 692 2,592

9. Causeni 2,455 1,312 3,767 2,150 1,790 3,940

10. Cimislia 1,740 588 2,328 2,398 876 3,274

11. Criuleni 1,272 424 1,696 1,554 518 2,072

12. Donduseni 706 383 1,089 950 472 1,422

13. Drochia 2,395 1,105 3,500 2,772 1,311 4,083

14. Dubasari 488 60 548 315 612 927

15. Edinet 1,148 678 1,826 1,215 656 1,871

16. Falesti 3,965 2,070 6,035 3,253 1,272 4,525

17. Floresti 2,374 843 3,217 2,974 953 3,927

18. Glodeni 1,726 905 2,631 1,524 808 2,332

19. Hîncesti 3,445 1,197 4,642 3,586 1,233 4,819

20. Ialoveni 1,419 580 1,999 1,625 664 2,289

21. Leova 1,258 395 1,653 890 317 1,207

22. Nisporeni 2,080 665 2,745 2,458 968 3,426

23. Ocnita 1,253 580 1,833 958 581 1,539

24. Orhei 980 136 1,116 1,089 791 1,880

25. Rezina 1,196 573 1,769 1,386 525 1,911

26. Rîscani 1,993 878 2,871 1,866 864 2,730

27. Sîngerei 1,036 1,137 2,173 1,222 1,068 2,290

28. Soroca 2,381 1,572 3,953 2,082 1,038 3,120

29. Straseni 1,381 957 2,338 1,390 1,395 2,785

30. Soldanesti 819 417 1,236 860 347 1,207

31. Stefan Voda 2,149 541 2,690 2,327 612 2,939

32. Taraclia 847 318 1,165 919 279 1,198

33. Telenesti 2,200 700 2,900 1,670 730 2,400

34. Ungheni 3,350 1,884 5,234 3,373 1,309 4,682

35. UTA Gagauzia 5,472 1,718 7,190 5,819 1,789 7,608

TOTAL 64,596 29,498 94,094 69,136 30,411 99,547

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Annex 3:Rights based approaches in CRIC’s project

CRIC’S APPROACH (SELF ANALYSIS)

MEY mandate to work on migration is mandatory but contents optional

The project is needs-based but helps people fulfil their rights and obliga-tions (teachers, parents)

All children are entitled to the project’s activities where it is active.

All the children in the project’s classes are equally involved and publicationsare available to all, but the project coverage is limited.

All projects activities are based on consultations with beneficiaries and call

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Other Approaches Rights-based Approaches

Actions is voluntary or optional Action is mandatory

People have needs which should be People have legally established claims and

met, and these needs can be prioritised entitlements

Poor people deserve help as the object Poor people are entitled to help as the

of charity subject of rights

Some people may have to be left out All people have the same right to fulfil

(i.e. a target can be less than 100%) their potential and should be assisted to

do so (i.e. the target is 100%)

People affected by development work are People affected by development work are

passive beneficiaries; they can be active participants by right

invited to participate in order to improve

the effectiveness of programmes or

projects

Some needs may not be recognised in Rights are universal and inalienable, they

some cultures cannot be diluted or taken away

Power structures are too difficult to Power structures that block progress in

change and pragmatic ways need to be realising human rights must be effectively

found to work within them changed

Development is a technocratic process Development actors must emprower

and should be led by technical ‘experts’ rights holders to claim their rights and

who know best be involved in public decision-making

There is a ‘hierarchy’ of needs and Rights are indivisible and interdepen-

some needs are nearly always more dent though in any situation some

important than others practical prioritisation may be required


CRIC promotes the universal rights and needs of children left behind, butbenefits rural Moldovan children.

The project’s approach is pragmatic.Trying to change power structures wouldthreaten the project and should be the task of bigger players.

The project empowers children to claim their rights and influencefamily decisions, but not to be involved in public decision-making.

The project is more focused on economic social and cultural rights thanon civil and political ones, as the these are currently most violated in Moldova.


Annex 4:Timetable of the project’s training activities

The activity District Period N° No of participants involved of schools

Introductory workshop with school Calarasi 13–14 February 2007 13 15 school managersmanagers Cimislia 16–17 August 2007 10 11 school managers

Anenii Noi 23–24 October 2007 22 24 school managersTelenesti 17–18 December, 2007 15 16 school managersHîncesti 11 August, 2008 24 25 school managers

Training for local support groups Calarasi 2–5 March 2007 13 51 deputy directors for educa-(deputy directors for education, form tion, form teachers, teachers,psychologists) – “Activities to psychologistssupport children left behind” Cimislia 25–28 August 2007 10 44 deputy directors for educa-

tion, form teachers, psychologistsAnenii Noi 8–11 November, 22 41 deputy directors for educa

15–18 November, 2007 tion, form teachers, psychologistsTelenesti 14–17, 21–24 February, 2008 15 44 deputy directors for educa-

tion, form teachers, psychologistsHîncesti 18–21 August 2008 24 27 deputy directors for education,

form teachers, psychologists

Training on professional orientation Calarasi 8–11 august 2007 14 52& carrier planning

Assertive behavior and offering constructive critics Cimislia 30 January – 02 February, 10 41

6–9 February 2008Anenii Noi 22 40

Class management Calarasi 13–16 August 2008 5 25Cimislia 6Anenii Noi 4Telenesti 5

Follow-up with teachers involved Calarasi 28–30 March 2007 3 ???in the project (Hirova,

29 April 2007 Tibirica, 50Bahmut schools)13

Telenesti 14 May 2008 15 20

District level seminar (experience Calarasi 8 May 2007 42 50 deputy directors for educa-exchange between teachers from all tion and teachers involved in the the districts on activities) project

District level seminar (experience Calarasi 23 October 2007 42 50 deputy directors for educa-exchange between teachers from all the tion and teachers involved in the district on activities for professional projectorientation & carrier planning)

District level seminar (experience Anenii Noi 20 February 2008 35 35 deputy directors for educa-exchange between teachers from all the tion and 35 young people –district on child participation activities) representatives of the Local

Youth Councils

Activities with parents Hirova, 31 March, 29 April, 1 10–15 parents (mothers)Calarasi 23 May 2007

In italic: Activities within the second phase of the project (May 2008 – April 2009)Source: CRIC

Annex 5: SWOT analysis undertaken by CRIC project team


STRENGTHS

1. The study on the situation of children left behind

gave a very good understanding of the phenomenon

and the right approach to use.

2. Didactic and info materials for the first time devel-

oped for 3 categories of beneficiaries: teachers, par-

ents and children.

3. Well documented, experienced and multidisciplinary

project implementation team.4. The monitoring of the form teachers’ activities.

5. Project openness to teachers needs related to

training and monitoring / flexible training pro-

gramme, focused on the beneficiaries’ needs;

6. A long-term training programme, especially

focussed on transferring knowledge and skills at the

work place;

7. The involvement of several levels in the educa-tional system: form teachers, deputy directors for

education, school inspectors.

WEAKNESSES

1. Lack of a monitoring system for the indirect bene-ficiaries of the project (children, parents, other

teachers).

2. The project does not foresees the direct work with

other community services (social assistants, doc-

tors, police office), with parents and children.

3. The trainers team is small and this does not allow

to train more groups and implies that team members

fulfill different functions.

4. Lack of a system to evaluate the project results

and its impact for children;

5. Lack of a direct connection with the parentsworking abroad;

6. Lack of regular communication with national andinternational organizations dealing with this prob-

lem.

7. No means to evaluate the impact of radio showson the listeners – only information from radio pre-

senters’ reports and listeners’ reactions.

OPPORTUNITIES

1. Parents, children and the whole society started

understanding the problems related to parents

migration.Thus, the need for information and coun-

seling makes them access the materials developed by

CRIC and the trained teachers.

2. Strong need in training and didactic materials for

form teachers, due to limited in-service training.

3. Good partners:• Communication agency, which contributed a lot to

the materials conception and promotion.

• The radio presenters – professionals with good

capacities and motivated for social issues.

• Local partners.

• Authorities (Ministry of Education and Youth and

District Education).

• Parents started showing interest and motivation to

invest in their children’s education and develop-

ment.

4.The flexibility of the funding institutions to the

changes made by the implementation team during the

project in order to meet beneficiaries’ needs.

5. CRIC is acknowledged by public institutions and

NGOs as CRC promoter with experience and

human capacity in this area.

THREATS

1. The process of selecting the participants for the

training is not under the control of the implementa-

tion team. Sometime not all the teachers correspond

to the criteria discussed initially with the local coor-

dinators.

2. Teachers lack basic psycho-pedagogical approaches in

their initial and in-service training.

3. Difficulties to find the right timing for the teachers

training, as they are very busy in the school and not

very happy to be trained during the vacation.

4. The lack of different services at local level to

refer children makes difficult the teachers’ task.

5. Big discrepancy between the project’s approach –

focused on children’s needs and rights - and the for-mal educational system: report based, not

focused on the needs of children, schools, and com-

munities; overloading the class masters who lack

time, resources and motivation to work towards

achieving project objectives.

6. The form teachers have too many responsibilitieswithin the school and the work with children left

behind might be seen as an additional charge.

7. There are too few school psychologists while

many issues that children left behind face are in their

responsibilities.

8. New initiatives that appear and duplicate or have a

different approach to this problem create confusion

for the teachers already trained by us.

Helpful Harmful

Internalorigin

Externalorigin


How can we use each strength?

l When developing next projects, a very good needs assessment is needed. The needs of other poten-tial beneficiaries (such as primary school teachers, school psychologists, care-givers, etc.) needto be assessed and info materials should be developed for them.

l During teachers training, the results of the study are presented as an external opinion and are usedas tools to advocate for children left behind at local, regional and national level.

l The teachers who were already trained must be involved as trainers for other districts, which didnot yet benefit from CRIC’s support.

l Continue offering support and assistance to form teachers based on their very needs and in goodtime.

l Print and distribute the materials in more communities.

l The good collaboration with the communication agency “Urma ta” in developing and promo-tion of the informational materials, was a first such experience and a very useful one. Our ideais to collaborate in the future, in new projects and one of these projects is “Children monitortheir own rights”. Together we developed and promoted the Children’s Report and will facili-tate the other children’s materials.

l The project helped CRIC team to divide very well the responsibilities and we will use this expe-rience in the future projects.

l In the future projects we will give the beneficiaries the opportunity to have a more active role in theproject management.

l We should promote the integration of the project’s contents and principles (needs assessment,the link with community resources etc.) in the local and district plans of action.

How can we stop each weakness?

l Developing a monitoring system. When organizing the follow-up meetings with teachers to focusmore on collecting the information about their beneficiaries. Also to give them some tools tocollect this kind of information. Developing in a participatory way, together with the teachers,a system to evaluate the project’s impact on children and piloting this system in 1-2 pilot-dis-tricts. This should be included as an activity into the next project.

l Having two full time persons for monitoring and training support, or involving additional stafftemporarily when needed.

l Participating in the training of different services in the community, although, at the moment, thesocial services network is underdeveloped at local level

l In March 2008 we started a “pilot project” with parents from a village, at their request. The newproject foresees the development of a didactic material for teachers in order to work with par-ents. Also this will be the topic for one up-coming training session for teachers.

l Taking in consideration this point, and following the idea of saving resources, we agreed withthe District Departments of Education to shift the approach and train trainers from each dis-

trict. Thus, these teachers will act as resources for their colleagues and some of them will beinvolved in training teachers from other districts in the future.

l Assessing the possibilities of sending info materials to parents who are abroad or even of organ-izing trips to 1–2 cities in Italy in order to communicate with Moldovan parents established there.Such an initiative could be submitted to potential Italian partners, maybe a local communityin Italy, for instance Padova (where lots of Moldovans live) or even Save the Children Italy.

l Making a list of NGOs dealing with migration issues and scheduling regular meetings in orderto exchange information about implemented activities, pilot-districts, beneficiaries, etc.

l Encouraging teachers to adapt the materials received during the training to younger children

How can we exploit each opportunity?

l The didactic and informational materials developed within the project will be spread throughall the existing networks in order to reach as many beneficiaries.

l Other channels as radio and TV may be used to develop children’s and parents’ capacities to reactto migration consequences, such as the Forum Theatre of small videos developed by children,with discussions after that.

l A good relationship with local partners is a must for a good running of the project. As teachersneed long term training, working in the same areas for several years seems like a good decisionfor the project.

l Participation at the Ministry of Education meetings is an opportunity to make new partners atlocal level.

l Using the experience and results from the first project to advocate and negotiate with other donorsin order to get more flexible funds for teachers’ training.

l Initiating a large movement, maybe a Coalition of organizations and mass media dealing withconsequences of migration for children.

l Building the capacities of local actors, including of the teachers who were already trained, andenabling them to start pilot projects on parents’ training.

l Approaching the Ministry of Education and Youth with the proposal to include the compo-nent on the assistance to children left without parental care into the in-service training curricu-lum.

How can we defend against each threat?

l All the time we try to discuss in detail all the criteria for the teachers’ selection. Some of the cri-teria are mandatory, some not. For the next phases, discussing the list of form teachers with theschool inspector should be maintained and changing the selection procedures should be con-sidered (contest, interview, meeting with teachers…)

l We coordinate with the District Department for Education the period for the training and thetrainings are included in the Departments’ action plan.



l In the trainings and the didactic materials we pay more attention to basic psycho-pedagogicalapproaches in order to recover what is missing in teachers’ background

l We developed activities for the educational class within teachers’ current responsibility – notadding to their regular work

l We try to involve in a mandatory way the school psychologists from the schools where we workin.

l We involve teachers in not more then 3 trainings per year and we try to give them not so manytasks. The training of trainers approach will also lighten the task to train teachers, as they willdevelop the trainings at local level and will be easier to meet all the persons’ needs related toperiod and time.

l Teachers are provided with contacts of the services available for children and parents at regionaland national level.

l Quarterly reports on the project implementation, achieved results, impact on different categoriesof beneficiaries and feed-back from teachers, should be submitted to the Ministry of Educationand Youth.

l We should continue finding ways to best fit the project activities into the school curricula, so thatschool managers can see the direct link between what they do and the project.

A system should be established for a permanent communication, including exchange of materialsand methodologies, with other organizations and institutions dealing with migration.

Save the Children SwedenSE – 107 88 Stockholm, SwedenPhone + 46 8 698 90 [email protected], www.rb.se

Save the Children fights for children’ rights.We deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives worldwide.

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EMPOWERED TO COPE - Resource Centre · 12 empowered to cope – children left behind Save the Children Sweden has supported the local NGO “Child Rights Information Centre” (CRIC)