FICE Romania featured in the WWSF Global impact report
"WWSF celebrates FICE Romania for its remarkable annual nation-wide mobilization campaign to spread prevention measures of violence against children and youth and empowers, especially schools, to transform their country"
Summary of the organization : FICE Romania (International Federation of Educational Communities - Romania Section), based in Bucharest, is a professional non-profit organization, established in 1990 and its main mission is to protect and promote the rights of the child in Romania. It is a national section member of FICE International, a non-governmental organization affiliated with UNESCO, ECOSOC, European Union.
Summary of their report: The 19 Days campaign to prevent abuse and violence against children and young people 2019 was carried out under the high patronage of the Senate of Romania (Commission for European Affairs) and in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education, the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and Adoption, the National Anti-drug Agency, which created the framework of active involvement in the prevention of abuses and violence of any kind against children and young people for local communities, ministries, schools, kindergartens, centers for children and young people, children’s clubs, day centers etc.
Central institutions and bodies involved in carrying out the campaign: • Ministry of National Education - www.edu.ro • The Magazine Tribuna Învățământului - http://www.tribunainvatamantului.ro • National Authority for the Protection of Children Rights and Adoption • Association of Communes of Romania • Radio Romania • National Agency against Trafficking in Persons http://www.anitp.mai.gov.ro • National Anti-drug Agency • Association of the Directors of the General Directorates of Social Assistance Child Protection (AD-DGASPC) • International Anti-Drug Alliance (AIN)
In September 2019, FICE Romania transmitted throughout the country a call for association with the campaign & concluded partnerships with the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Labor and Social Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Anti-Drug Agency, the National Agency against Trafficking in Persons & the Ministry of Health.
At regional and local levels, FICE Romania invited their decentralized structures (school inspectorates, general directions for social assistance and child protection, public health departments, county police inspectorates, county drug evaluation and counseling centers, regional centers against human trafficking, etc.) as well as other institutions and NGOs.
Following the conclusion of the protocol, the Ministry of National Education sent the methodological guide for carrying out the 19 Days Campaign, with a registration form, the visual materials helping all the 41 county school inspectorates and the 6 school inspectorates of the sectors of the municipality of Bucharest, information and a request to participate in the campaign to all schools in the country. Both nationally and in the localities participating in the campaign, the purpose and objectives of the campaign were presented through the media (print media, central or local television stations, on social networks - facebook, twitter).
In carrying out the activities, both the information in the presentation kit transmitted by WWSF and its materials (posters, leaflets, etc.) were created throughout the campaign. All 19 Campaign themes were covered: sexual abuse, bullying, neglect and exploitation of children, physical abuse (corporal punishment), child prostitution and child pornography, trafficking in children, traditional harmful practices, street children, substance abuse and addiction, juvenile justice, special attention being paid to November 2, November 19 (International Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse) and November 20 (International Day of Children’s Rights).
Direct and indirect beneficiaries of the campaign: The direct beneficiaries are students from schools, children’s clubs, placement centers, as well as coordinating teachers.
Indirect beneficiaries are schools, parents and local communities, who will have children with greater capacity for social integration, more protected from the destructive phenomenon of abuse/violence of any kind.
The experience gained since 2012, when FICE Romania participated for the first time in the 19 days Campaign of prevention proposed by the WWSFoundation, helped us to improve our capacities to attract new institutions, schools and local communities to join the annual campaign.
Highlights of participation: More than 285,000 students from over 1000 schools from all the counties of Romania and Bucharest participated in the 2019 campaign (the list of schools participating is published on P. 28-33). Also, more than 35,000 teachers, psychologists, policemen, social workers, journalists, doctors and parents participated.
Local institutions involved in the campaign included (public social assistance services from over 1000 localities): County General Directorates of social assistance and child protection, County police inspectorates, County school inspectorates, County prevention centers and drug evaluation), regional (Regional Centers for Combating Trafficking in Persons) and Central (National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and Adoption, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Internal Affairs) in the field of child protection and order and security as well as other NGOs involved in the field of child protection (Association of Directors of DGASPC/AD-DGASPC, Association of Communes of Romania/ACoR).
In the participating schools, the children made drawings and posters that they displayed in the halls, on panels made especially for their messages to be seen, read and known by the other children, officials, parents etc. Highlights of organized events: • Over 100 workshops, round tables, debates, participation in programs of local, regional and national television stations • Over 8000 direct activities carried out with and by the children in the kindergartens and participating schools
• Over 700 activities carried out with parents or grandparents and family members of children (in cases where parents are going to work abroad) • Over 4000 meetings with specialists (policemen, doctors, psychologists, priests, etc.) • Over 100 compassion circles forum theater sessions and puppet theater (puppets) At the level of schools registered in the 19 Days Campaign, under the guidance of teachers, people carried out activities such as workshops, poster production, collages on topics related to preventing of abuse, designing letters, thematic essays for children to send to local authorities and politicians, making drawings that highlight children’s anti-violence messages, preparing media projects, films and videos with antiviolence messages, holding meetings with specialists - doctors, psychologists, sociologists, policemen, etc.).