Results and impact

The “Inter-agency and advocacy cooperation for the protection of children victims of sexual abuse and violence” project carried out by Save the Children Organization in partnership with the General Child Welfare and Protection Directorate of district 6, aims at coherently implementing the Barnahus inter-agency and multidisciplinary model in Romania to protect the rights of the children victims of sexual abuse and violence.

We wish to raise awareness among at least 7,000 people concerning the rights of children, particularly the rights of children victims of sexual abuse and violence and on the Barnahus model. We also intend to make a Barnahus centre fully operational to support both professionals, as well as children who are victims and their parents from Bucharest and Ilfov County.

In a nutshell, the project’s target group consists of:

• 100 children, victims of sexual abuse and violence, who will benefit from support within the centre;
• 500 pupils, who will attend educational and training sessions on child rights, non-discrimination and protection against abuse;
• 180 professionals from public institutions and authorities, who will participate in our activities.

To date, we have encouraged over 300 children from 5 schools in Bucharest to become more familiar with their rights, to be able to better identify cases of discrimination or abuse. We showcased how to report an abuse or violence and described the institutions empowered to provide assistance in such cases. We discussed with over 130 experts during round table events organized in Bucharest, Iasi and Timisoara, about the importance and usefulness of an operational pilot centre based on the Barnahus model. A model of multidisciplinary services provided to children, victims of violence and sexual abuse.