The district councils and local social assistance bodies report financial problems in the process of developing social community services for persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. A report on the monitoring of the social inclusion policies, compiled by the Alliance of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities of the Republic of Moldova, shows that of 25 activities planned for 2019 through the national program for the deinstitutionalization of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, only six were carried out, three are under implementation, seven are overdue, while nine haven’t been put into practice.
In a news conference at IPN, Alina Prodan, project coordinator at the Alliance, said 2020 is the third year of implementation of the project “National Partnerships and Local Involvement for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities” that aims to combine the forces of civil society organizations for promoting and ensuring respect for the rights of persons with disabilities. “On January 1, 2020, the persons with disabilities in the Republic of Moldova, who were under the supervision of the National House of Social Insurance and received disability pensions and social benefits, totaled 177,000, which is 6.7% of the population. It should be noted that each 20th person in Moldova has a disability degree and this is worrisome,” stated Alina Prodan.
Doctor of Sociology Parascovia Munteanu said the seven activities that are overdue include the amendment of the regulations for the organization and functioning of placement centers, the services Community Home and Protected House, creation or contracting of social services for institutionalization prevention by the public authorities and drafting of a plan for the initial and continuous training of community service personnel.
A standby team wasn’t trained to implement the program with donors’ funds. The community services weren’t taken over by regional centers and the performance of personnel of residential institutions and community services wasn’t assessed on an annual basis, says the monitoring report.
In connection with the presented findings, specialists recommend that the action plan of the national program for the deinstitutionalization of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities should be updated and adjusted and the approval of the regulations of the social services Community Home and Protected House should be hastened, while the community social services should be developed according to the normative framework.
The monitoring was carried out in the framework of the project “National Partnerships and Local Involvement for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities” that is implemented with support from East Europe Foundation in concert with the Center “Partnership for Development” with funds provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Government of Sweden.
