EUR 10 ml budget allocation for program to stimulate participation in education of children whose parents work abroad

The Ministry of European Funds, through the Managing Authority for the Operational Program 'Human Capital' has launched for public consultation the guide "Pilot program for the stimulation of the participation in education of children whose parents work abroad". 

The main purpose of the call for projects is to stimulate the participation in education of the children whose parents are working abroad and prevent the dropout phenomenon. The call for project proposals concerns exclusively the North-East development region. 

According to an announcement by the Ministry of European Funds, the program is being prepared in the context where last year there were 92,027 children whose parents were working abroad and who were left in the care of relatives. According to the National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption (ANPDCA), 16,331 children had both parents out of the country, and 12,806 are single-parent children whose mother or father were working abroad. 

The call for projects has a 10 million euro budget allocation of which the EU contribution covers 85 percent or 8.5 million euros, while the national contribution accounts for 15 percent, or 1.5 million euros. The eligible value of a small project is of maximum 300,000 euros, that of a large project is of maximum 1 million euros. 

The ministry specifies that the following activities are eligible for financing: an integrated package of services for preschoolers and primary and secondary school students, aimed at stimulating the participation in education and preventing the early dropout phenomenon; parental education and social counseling services; support activities to stimulate participation in education and child counseling activities; the development of partnerships between schools, local authorities, local institutions, NGOs and the community. 

The call for project proposals concerns exclusively the North-East development region, which accounts for approximately one third of the country's total number of children whose parents are working abroad, making it the development region with the highest proportion of children in this situation. According to the latest ANPDCA data, there are 30,667 children in this situation in the North-East region, accounting for 33.32 percent of the nationwide number of children with parents abroad. The numbers provided by the Ministry of Education are even higher, stating that the North-East region has 53,612 children in this situation - or 33.71 percent of the nationwide total reported by education units. The period for the projects' implementation is of maximum 36 months.