UNICEF and UK cooperation in Moldova
Support the national system in Moldova to provide protection and essential social services to refugee children and families from Ukraine and vulnerable Moldovan families
UNICEF and FCDO UK (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the United Kingdom) partner in implementation of UNICEF humanitarian assistance strategy
UNICEF and FCDO UK support the national response and management of the refugee crisis in Moldova led by the Government and its national and international partners.
The main expected outcome of joint UNICEF and FCDO collaboration is to strengthen national system to provide essential supplies as well as protection and social services addressing the needs of refugee children and their caregivers from Ukraine and vulnerable Moldovan children and their families along the humanitarian-development nexus.
In 2022 UNICEF and FCDO partnered in implementation of UNICEF humanitarian assistance strategy in support to the national response and management of the refugee crisis in Moldova led by the Government and its national and international partners.
At least 40,000 Refugee and Moldovan children and adolescents, and their caregivers, have enhanced access to quality, inclusive social and child protection services as well as improved access to education and healthcare.
Given the protracted nature of the Ukrainian refugee crisis in Moldova and still existing humanitarian and protection needs of Ukrainian refugees, especially women and children, and vulnerable host communities, the overall scope and objective of continued FCDO and UNICEF partnership will remain within already defined overall outcome of this action – continued strengthening national system in Moldova to provide essential supplies, protection and social services addressing the needs of refugee children and their caregivers from Ukraine and vulnerable Moldovan children and their families. Specific accent of this project is to provide support to the operationalization and implementation of the Temporary Protection mechanism in Moldova and to sustain the policy reform process in key sectors of social (including) child protection, healthcare, and education.
Here are some results of the partnership with UK
More than 100 thousand of BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses were shipped to Moldova via the COVAX Facility, a partnership between CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF and WHO. The UK is one of the main financial contributors to the COVAX facility.
40,000 of the most vulnerable Moldovans received financial support in 2022-2023 to compensate for their six-month essential needs consecutively. The UN agencies, with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, provided emergency cash assistance to crisis-affected populations and integrated shock response into the national social protection system in the Republic of Moldova. This programme is the first of its kind at its scale in Moldova, enabling a holistic and inclusive approach that will allow communities to become more shock-resistant.
Around 400 teachers, support teachers, school managers and young specialists took part in a national forum organized by the Presidency of the Republic of Moldova along with the Ministry of Education and Research. The participants at the forum discussed current topics related to the work of teachers across the country. These included educational innovations, inclusion in schools, education through the arts, as well as best practices from Moldova and other countries. The National Teachers Forum aims to become an annual tradition, organized at the beginning of the school year.
More than 175 thousand children in the Republic of Moldova have benefited from better social assistance and child protection services in 2022-2023. This initiative prevented the separation of more than 14,000 families and 34,000 children from their parents and shielded them from other risk situations. Among these, more than 400 children were refugees from Ukraine. During 12 months, more than a thousand children, beneficiaries of the Professional Parental Assistance and Family type Children's House services, received 1,025 lei monthly. Additionally, 122 children with special needs benefited from 1,332 lei.
Since 2015, the GirlsGoIT programme has supported over 1,700 beneficiaries from 24 localities in Moldova, including refugees from Ukraine. Like Mihaela, who will continue her studies in IT after graduating high school, many other participants continue to develop in the STEM fields and to hopefully purse a career in IT. In 2022, to complement the GirlsGoIT programme, UNICEF and partners launched the STEAM on Wheels project to support more children in rural areas. This is the first educational laboratory on wheels in Moldova, a bus equipped with robotics sets and laptops.
