Haskovo, Bulgaria: The final event for the completion of the project “A Chance for Our Children” was held today in Haskovo. The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Mayor of Haskovo, Maria Valcheva, the Head of the Department of Health and Social Activities, Zlatka Karadzova, representatives and managers of social services in Haskovo, and guests.
The “Chance for Our Children” project is another proof of the sustainable social policy of the Municipality of Haskovo. The good news at the end of this project is that the Community Center for Child and Family Support services will continue to be delivered as a state-delegated activity. This means that no needy child and his family will be deprived of the quality help provided by the Center experts, and the team of specialists will remain and continue to work,” said Deputy Mayor of Haskovo Maria Valcheva.
The Community Center for Children and Families Support manager, Miroslava Macheva, thanked the entire “Chance for Our Children” team and shared that this was one of the most continuous but valuable projects.
“This is the era of social services in Haskovo. This seven-year-old project was preceded by another two-year-old, which our team executed successfully. So for nine years, we’ve been working to support children and families. So for us, today’s final is, in fact, a new beginning,” Miroslava Macheva said.
Project head Desislava Stoyanova announced that for 84 months, from June 30, 2016. so far, the Community Center for Children and Families Support in Haskovo has provided the services: “Early intervention of the disability”, “Individual pedagogical support for children with developmental difficulties and disabilities”, “Family counselling and support”, “Parenting and development” and “Health counselling”. The project’s target group are children with developmental difficulties and disabilities or at risk of them from 0 to 7 years old.
The Center has worked with over 2700 children and their parents for seven years. For “Early Intervention of Disabilities” and “Individual Pedagogical Support for Children with Developmental Challenges and Disabilities”, 592 children were consulted and served, who were included in therapeutic work with specialists such as speech therapists, rehabilitation specialists, special educators and psychologists.
Through the services “Family Counselling and Support”, “Parenting Skills Training and Development”, and “Health Counselling”, 2139 children and their parents have undergone individual and group specialist counselling, community and mobile work, personal psychologist work, health counselling, social rights implementation support, information campaigns, advocacy and support.
The activities are carried out by psychologists, midwives, gynaecologists, dentists, lawyers, paediatricians and social workers.
Integrated and innovative approaches in delivering early childhood development services, information and charity campaigns have been developed, and effective partnerships with institutions, the NGO sector, local government, volunteers and business sectors have been built.
Within the project, equipment for therapeutic work with children and rehabilitation was purchased, and specialist training was held. The total amount for the project activities is worth 1 576 038, 78 BGN.
Project BG05M9OP001-2.004-0049 -C07 “Chance for Our Children” is funded under OP “Human Resource Development” 2014-2020, co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund, Priority Axis 2 “Reducing Poverty and Promoting Social Inclusion, Procedure BG05M 9OP001-2:004 “Early Childhood Development Services”.