Protecting Armenia’s vulnerable children – really?
"One paid social worker in each community" is one of several steps in an action plan that World Vision has proposed to improve the child protection system in Armenia. Recommendations made during recent discussions with field authorities will build upon improvements in prevention and early detection activities in the country’s 3-tier child protection system.While the child protection system operating on the national, regional and community levels has contributed to the protection of vulnerable children in Armenia since its inception, the interrelation and cooperation between the three levels have often let the system – and vulnerable children- down.
The communication between the three levels of the child protection system in Armenia is not sufficient“The communication between the three levels of the child protection system in Armenia is not sufficient; World Vision is trying to bridge this gap and share expertise with the authorities to establish effective interaction. Also, we provide training on all levels of the system to ensure knowledge-based operations are in place”, said Anahit Grigoryan, the project manager for World Vision’s ‘Reducing violence against children in Armenia’ project.
“The main problem for Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees, which deliver community level child protection, is the low levels of detection. We cannot fully function due to the scarcity of resources and lack of relevant specialists. There are no social workers engaged in the Committees, which makes us alienated from vulnerable children in communities”, said Stella Avagyan, a member of Guardianship and Trusteeship Committee of Erebuni administrative district of the Armenian capital Yerevan.
There are no social workers engaged in the Committees, which makes us alienated from vulnerable children in communitiesAccording to the charter, members of Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees volunteer in communities. On the other hand, committee members also have full time jobs which do not allow them to have regular presence in communities. Accordingly, cases of violation of children’s rights in places are often disregarded.
Education is one of the areas where children’s rights are violated, particularly in rural Armenia. As schools in the country are financed according to the number of its registered students, some community schools disregard the educational needs of children with special needs in order to boost their numbers. As a result, children with special needs aren’t receiving the level of care and attention they need and are missing out on developing and future opportunities.
Earlier World Vision has trained and currently supports 22 community-based social workers in Alaverdi and Stepanavan cities of Lori region.
about 100 World Vision community mobilisers will participate in certificate training on social workers and later their services will be supported within Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees for two years“Social workers hired with the support of World Vision are very effective and help both prevent and detect cases of child’s rights violation. By doing so, they provide well-rounded information about vulnerable children in their communities. Social workers are integrated into Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees and back the child protection system in communities of Armenia’s northern region”, said Narek Sargsyan, the head of Lori region’s Family, women and children rights protection department.
“Within our project about 100 World Vision community mobilisers will participate in certificate training on social workers and later their services will be supported within Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees for two years. This is especially important for the future lobbying for inclusion of the "one paid social worker in each community" model into the state budget of Armenia to be undertaken at the subsequent stages of the project implementation. Also, World Vision will continuously cooperate with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia to find possible solutions to existing problems in the child protection system”, said Anush Davtyan, project manager for World Vision’s ‘Stakeholders Acting together for Strengthened Child Protection in Armenia’ project.
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The communication between the three levels of the child protection system in Armenia is not sufficient“The communication between the three levels of the child protection system in Armenia is not sufficient; World Vision is trying to bridge this gap and share expertise with the authorities to establish effective interaction. Also, we provide training on all levels of the system to ensure knowledge-based operations are in place”, said Anahit Grigoryan, the project manager for World Vision’s ‘Reducing violence against children in Armenia’ project.
“The main problem for Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees, which deliver community level child protection, is the low levels of detection. We cannot fully function due to the scarcity of resources and lack of relevant specialists. There are no social workers engaged in the Committees, which makes us alienated from vulnerable children in communities”, said Stella Avagyan, a member of Guardianship and Trusteeship Committee of Erebuni administrative district of the Armenian capital Yerevan.
There are no social workers engaged in the Committees, which makes us alienated from vulnerable children in communitiesAccording to the charter, members of Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees volunteer in communities. On the other hand, committee members also have full time jobs which do not allow them to have regular presence in communities. Accordingly, cases of violation of children’s rights in places are often disregarded.
Education is one of the areas where children’s rights are violated, particularly in rural Armenia. As schools in the country are financed according to the number of its registered students, some community schools disregard the educational needs of children with special needs in order to boost their numbers. As a result, children with special needs aren’t receiving the level of care and attention they need and are missing out on developing and future opportunities.
Earlier World Vision has trained and currently supports 22 community-based social workers in Alaverdi and Stepanavan cities of Lori region.
about 100 World Vision community mobilisers will participate in certificate training on social workers and later their services will be supported within Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees for two years“Social workers hired with the support of World Vision are very effective and help both prevent and detect cases of child’s rights violation. By doing so, they provide well-rounded information about vulnerable children in their communities. Social workers are integrated into Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees and back the child protection system in communities of Armenia’s northern region”, said Narek Sargsyan, the head of Lori region’s Family, women and children rights protection department.
“Within our project about 100 World Vision community mobilisers will participate in certificate training on social workers and later their services will be supported within Guardianship and Trusteeship Committees for two years. This is especially important for the future lobbying for inclusion of the "one paid social worker in each community" model into the state budget of Armenia to be undertaken at the subsequent stages of the project implementation. Also, World Vision will continuously cooperate with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia to find possible solutions to existing problems in the child protection system”, said Anush Davtyan, project manager for World Vision’s ‘Stakeholders Acting together for Strengthened Child Protection in Armenia’ project.
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