A meeting between the District DI coordination mechanism of Vratsa and the Monitoring and Evaluation unit on the Regional strategy for development of social services took place on the 3rd October 2017 in Vratsa. The development of the project of the Agency for Social Assistance for “Increasing the capacity of employees in the field of child protection, social services and social assistance” and the good practices from the activities of the DDICM in Vratsa were the main topics discussed.
The forum was led by the Deputy Regional Governor Robertino Marinov. The regional coordinators presented the development of the project, stressing out the main goals and achievements so far for the region of Vratsa. The main topics worked on within the project were supporting the policies on DI in the region. By the end of October there will be an analytical report on residential social services, in the context of DI of elderly and people with disabilities as well as further development and implementation of the network of community services.
During the meeting, the members of both teams were presented with the good practices of the DDICM in Vratsa by the local coordinator for the region of HHC – Bulgaria Margarita Andreevska. She shared the story of a family with 9 children that struggled to keep their household together and with whom Mrs. Andreevska has worked so as to aid the family in overcoming the crisis and ensuring the proper development of the children. “The family is in a serious crisis and no way out, they are living in a slam room, but with our help the parents managed to rise above the problems and secure a safe and sustainable environment for the children. We began from the personal documents, went through access to social assistance and the follow up purchase of a living space by the father while he was working as a stock-breeder. We continued the support by assisting the children in starting school or kindergarten, which the parents found a little strange. There was a follow up construction work that all family members took part in. At this moment, the family is still in the HHC – Bulgaria programme but they are already mobilizing and activating their strengths and managing the family budget.“ This case clearly illustrated the good partnership between all DDICM members and the essence of HHC – Bulgaria’s work.
The Annual monitoring report for 2016 for the implementation of the Regional strategy for development of social services 2016-2020 was also discussed at the meeting.
