Moldovan social assistants attend a training course called “Social Assistance supporting protection of child” this week. The training is organized by the Social Protection, Family and Child Ministry in cooperation with the UNICEF office in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. The courses are attended by those 500 social assistants employed in 2007, the first year of the social assistance network in Moldova. Now they are trained how to prevent cases of violence and negligence towards children. On Wednesday, June 4, those 500 assistants met with Social Protection Minister Galina Balmos and the UNICEF representative to Moldova, Ray Virgilio Torres. The assistants complained of small salaries and lack of offices outfitted with computers and phones. They say often the local administrations do not understand their role, setting them additional tasks what leads to conflicts. Galina Balmos says the Government thinks to increase their salaries at least to 1,100 lei. Now they get some 500 lei monthly, while several districts also pay them additional money. The Ministry plans to hire 140 specialists more. Both the minister and the UNICEF representative have encouraged the social assistants, thanking them for their daily work. “Your work is not a simple job, but a mission – to be the voice of the most vulnerable Moldovans,” Virgilio Torres said. The national social assistants network was created in 2007. They are employed by the Ministry to identify poor people and inform them of the services they can get. The Government wants every locality to have at least one social assistant, as 851 are already employed .