ORPHANS & CHILDREN
LIVING IN INSTITUTIONS AND GRANT PROGRAM
USAID has recently issued a request
for applications for a project to assist Russian orphans. The complete
project description and application form is available online at:
www.info.usaid.gov/ftp_data/pub/OP/RFA/11899009/
Below are excerpts from the
Request for Applications No. 118-99-009.
For more information about
orphans and children living in institutions in Russia, see the findings
and recommendations of a UNICEF-sponsored fact-finding mission published
by Mental Disability Rights International in February 1999. The report,
"Children in Russia's Institutions: Human Rights and Opportunities
for Reform," is available online at:
www.mdri.org/whatsnew/Russia/Russiaone.html
Assistance to Russian Orphans
(ARO)
Application Deadline: June
28, 1999
The United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) is seeking applications from qualified
U.S. non- governmental organizations (NGOs) to implement the new Assistance
to Russian Orphans (ARO) Activity. The purpose of the ARO activity is to
promote community-based, family- centered services that will improve the
current situation of Russian orphans. The selected implementing organization
or consortium will work with Russian non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
to prevent abandonment and institutionalization of orphans and children
with disabilities, develop community-based assistance, including the provision
of life skills for older orphans, and promote networking. The organization
will manage small and large grants programs, provide training and technical
assistance, plan and coordinate exchanges, promote networking and sharing
of lessons learned, and provide monitoring and evaluation of the overall
ARO activity.
ARO is planned as a three-year
activity, with implementation scheduled to begin in August 1999 and to
end in August 2002. USAID/Russia would like to provide $6 million over
a three-year period, subject to the availability of funds, performance,
and local circumstances.
Background:
The available data, often
cited, indicate that there are approximately 600,000 children registered
as orphans in Russia. Ten percent (10%) are orphans with no parents and
90% are asocial orphans, who have at least one living parent who has given
up the child to the State for a variety of reasons. Between 1993 and 1997,
the number of registered orphans increased by 30% and the number residing
in institutions by 35%. Concurrently, the number of children in foster
families increased by 46% (in Russia most foster families are relatives
of the children). The number adopted, however, has remained fairly consistent,
with an overall increase of only 2%.
Were comprehensive statistics
available, the picture conveyed for the physically and mentally disabled
would be far more bleak. The label of imbetsilyî or idioty,î which signifies
uneducable,î is almost always irrevocable. The most likely future is a
lifetime in state institutions. Even the label of ìdebily, or lightly
retarded, follows a person throughout his or her life on official documents,
creating barriers to employment and housing after graduation from state
institutions. One study found that, on graduation from a state institution
for the lightly retarded at age 18, 30% of orphans became vagrants, 10%
became involved in crime, and 10% committed suicide. Even for those orphans
classified as ìnormal, life after institutionalization poses serious problems,
as they may lack the necessary social, educational and vocational skills
to function in society.
USAID plans to apply lessons
learned in the U.S. and other countries that have undergone a transformation
in attitudes and treatment of orphans and the disabled in its Assistance
to Russian Orphans (ARO) program. The program will build on the general
consensus that community-based, family-centered preventive approaches and
alternatives will best serve the needs of children and that orphans can
become productive and successful members of society.
The Proposed Activity:
The first step toward change
will be demonstrations of alternative approaches to promote child welfare
that work in Russia. The intended primary beneficiaries of ARO are young,
abandoned children (approximately 0-4 years of age) or those at risk of
abandonment; disabled children in families; or orphans in Ministry of Education
facilities (approximately 14-18 years of age) who will need assistance
to reintegrate successfully into their communities.
USAID has identified three
specific objectives for the ARO program:
* Prevention of abandonment
and institutionalization; * Development of community-based assistance;
and, * Promotion of networking and sharing lessons learned.
Examples of possible activities
which would contribute to these objectives include, but are not limited
to, the following:
Prevention of abandonment
and institutionalization:
* Counseling of pregnant women
during pre-natal care or in maternity hospitals to prevent abandonment
of newborns and to acquaint mothers with the options for the child;
* Training for maternity staff
to alert them to the factors that place children at risk of abandonment;
* Involving social workers
in family preservation, to provide counseling; to assist families in getting
allowances for which they are eligible; to find or provide support to families
in crisis; to plan with the parents for future of the child;
* Family reunification for
families that have maintained contact with children in institutions;
* Family foster care through
an unrelated family or a children's home and/or temporary foster care.
Development of community-based
assistance:
* Support for community-based
rehabilitation services to enable families to keep disabled or troubled
children at home;
* Respite care for families
with disabled children so that family members can work;
* Parent associations for
advocacy and to begin organizing for needed services and allowances;
* Family-style group homes
within communities;
* Public education campaigns
to alter public attitudes toward orphans and the disabled;
* Life/job skills training
for upcoming graduates from Ministry of Education institutions, including
skills targeted to the local job market and health education.
Promotion of networking and
sharing lessons learned:
* Study tours on the above
topics (e.g., community-based social work preventing abandonment; parent
associations; community-based rehabilitation of the disabled);
* Development of internet
linkages between organizations and oblasts;
* Exchanges between universities,
either through visiting faculty or through partnerships with, for instance,
Developmental Disabilities Centers in the U.S.
* Funds to the ARO activity
are expected to flow primarily through Russian NGOs.
Activities focused in the
U.S. Regional Investment Initiative (RII) areas will receive priority for
funding. These areas include Novgorod and Samara oblasts and the Russia
Far East. The initiative includes the activities of USAID, the U.S. Information
Services (USIS), the U.S. Department of Commerce, and other U.S. Government
agencies. In RII oblasts, USAID currently supports microenterprise and
business development activities, as well as NGO development.
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all rights reserved; email: Children@PeterPalms.com
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Last Revised Feb 8, 2003
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