specific needs of children and elderly left behind as a ... - IOM Moldova

CHAPTER II
civil society, namely with NGO’s that deal with issues concerning the elderly
and planning joint activities on established terms” (III_EE_9). Certain
measures in this direction have been taken, thus “some changes have been
made (at the moment these are at the stage of public debates), on improving
the coordination at the local level of those who directly deal with health care
issues. The central role of course is of the District Public Health Centres
but also with the participation of local public administration, educational
institutions, environmental organizations, police, social assistance
departments and public associations, etc., thus being an example of involving
the society in the decision making process” (III_EE_9). The complex
approach of issues confronted by the community involves the creation of
local multidisciplinary teams. If the issue refers to the elderly left behind as
a consequence of migration the initiative should come from social workers
but when it refers directly to a health condition, for example cleaning the
wells, the initiative should be taken by the family doctor working at the community
level” (III_EC_4).
Being aware of the importance of partnership and community involvement
in solving social issues faced by vulnerable groups, the Ministry of Labour,
Social Protection and Family has put into practice “a different mechanism
for the social community worker to address in order to find solutions, the
“Practical implementation guidebook”. This presents various techniques to
mobilize the community to be aware of issues existing in the community or
actions that should be undertaken to achieve the expected positive results”
(III_EE_8).
Collected data indicates the existence of local partnerships that help in
solving issues that the elderly are confronted with; still it does not refer
separately to the group of elderly left behind by children who migrated
abroad. Quite efficient in this regard is the collaboration of the local public
administration with NGO’s and the church. Volunteering is being developed.
The importance of these partnerships has been seen from efforts
taken by relevant ministries in identifying solutions.
• Effectiveness of policies
The existing circumstances make it quite complicated to monitor the effectiveness
of social policies related to the elderly left behind by children –
labour migrants. Policy effectiveness is as a rule established by comparing
the costs of promoting social policies and the obtained results of
activities conducted in this regard. This identifies to what degree policy
objectives were accomplished. It is practically impossible to assess the
efficiency if social policies from our country do not include any measures
or activities designed exclusively for the elderly whose children migrated
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