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

Foreword
Foreword
The negative effects of migration on families who have remained in the
country and especially on their most vulnerable members constitute an
extremely important issue for a country like the Republic of Moldova
where massive labour migration has deprived numbers of children and
the elderly of care and attention. This fact was bound to leave its mark on
the well-being of these people often affecting their emotional and psychosocial
condition, their physical and mental health and also their economic
welfare. Often, children and the elderly left behind are not referred to specifically
in social structures, provided for in education and sometimes they
only see their future abroad.
All together, these issues represent a real challenge for the Government of
the Republic of Moldova and particularly for the Ministry of Labour, Social
Protection and Family.
For this reason, the Government and its partners acknowledged the need
for taking joint measures to approach the needs of these people and to
protect their rights comprehensively through a multidisciplinary approach.
For this purpose on June the 2nd 2010, the Government adopted the National
Action Plan on the protection of children left without parental care
for 2010-2011. The respective Plan comprises a range of multidisciplinary
activities that complement each other and are aimed at ensuring the protection
and wellbeing of children left without parental care. Meanwhile the
authorities have established certain priority guidelines for social policies of
the Republic of Moldova regarding the protection of the elderly.
This study directly contributes to the implementation of these policies and
namely to the identification of specific and essential needs of children and
the elderly left behind by family members who migrated abroad for work
by submitting recommendations for the development of effective policies
based on empirical data.
In the effort to reduce the negative impact of migration on our country, we
first of all rely on a complex approach with exact interventions in problematic
domains, as well as on a durable partnership between the Government
and partners involved in the development of the country, civil society and
academic environment. This research is an example of such a partnership
representing an initiative of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection
and Family conducted with the effort and support of the State University
of Moldova and funded by the Czech Development Agency, International
Organization for Migration and the United Nations Fund for Population.
The comprehensive approach of the survey resulted in a thorough analysis
of the needs of children and the elderly left behind as a conse-
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