Long-term help to homeless children
Therapeutic communities in Poland
Grow Up Like Others - Project Description
Partners in the project
Grow Up Like Others - Project Description The main goal of the project Grow Up Like Others is to help homeless children and young people in Russia. More precisely, the goal is to establish at least one therapeutic community where they will be able to change their way of life and to start believing in themselves, the world of adulthood, and the future. The basis for the project is a belief that these children are not lost for good. Like all other human beings they have potential, and they deserve a normal childhood and a dignified life. The project started with a request from Russian organizations to the Polish humanitarian organization Monar, due to Monar’s long experience in helping the socially marginalized. Monar then designed the two year project Grow Up Like Others, which began in January 2006. The first year is being used to negotiate and establish binding agreements with Russian partners, to obtain the necessary permission from Russian authorities, to find a suitable and affordable residence, and to educate the Russian staff in the therapeutic team*). In January 2007, the first of later 25 clients will begin living in a therapeutic community which will be combined with counseling activities. It is part of the program to raise the profile of the idea of therapeutic communities in Russia and to secure the continuation of the community after 2007, since the financial support of the program stops in December 2007. Based on input from Russian organizations, Monar designs the project, raises the money and educates the staff in the therapeutic team. In the first stage of the project, Monar cooperated with the Russian NGO Active Child Aid, and in the fall of 2006 Monar is setting up a terapeutic community in Dmitrov in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Welfare of the Moscow Region and the Municipality of Dmitrov (town in the Moscow Region). Besides this the establishment of a terapeutic community in St. Petersburg is considered along with Committee on Social Welfare of the Assembly of Saint-Petersburg, Committee for Law, Order and Safety of the Council of Saint-Petersburg, Committee on Labour and Social Welfare of the Council of Saint-Petersburg, and Narvski Municipal Administration in Saint-Petersburg In the middle of October 2006 binding agreements were signed with the Ministry of Social Welfare of the Moscow Region and the Municipality of Dmitrov, and a residence has been identified in the outskirts of the town Dmitrov. The total costs of the two year project Grow Up Like Others are 287,000 EUR. Of this amount 70% (198,000 EUR) is donated by the EU**) . The rest of the costs are partly financed by the Russian partners, and partly provided by private fundraising by Monar. *) see therapeutic communities in Poland **) The European Commission, Tacis Institution Building Partnership Programme (IBPP) – Support to Civil Society and Local Initiatives (project number TACIS 04-166 and grant contract number 2005/113-840)
About this website Editors: Maria Charmast and Mogens Hoeyrup (Monar)
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