From the Soroptimist International website:
Every year, on Human Rights Day (December 10) the President of Soroptimist International selects a project that provides direct assistance to women in extreme need. Past projects have provided: aid for refugees in camps in Malaysia; protection and help for women AIDS sufferers in Uganda and the Ukraine; scholarships for girls in Mongolia and Rwanda; vocational training programmes and shelter for vulnerable women and children in Paraguay; education and nutrition for abandoned children in Vietnam; malaria protection for pregnant women and young children in Benin, West Africa; enhanced access to education for girls in impoverished areas of Pakistan and support for long term patients at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.
President's Appeal 2009
'Hopes and Dreams for Everyone'
Prevent human trafficking from Moldova by providing life-skill education and sustainable living conditions for vulnerable children.
For the 2009 Appeal, President Hanne Jensbo has chosen to adopt a highly successful anti-trafficking project run by the SI Union of Norway with SI clubs in Moldova for the last 4 years. Further funding is urgently needed for the project to continue.
The Need
Moldova is small republic with a population of only 3.5 million, bordered by Romania and the Ukraine. It remains one of the poorest countries in Europe despite recent slight progress in its economy. 2005 statistics showed that 29.5% of the population lived below the poverty line.
Largely owing to poverty, Moldova is a major source and, to a lesser extent, a transit country for women and girls trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; Moldovan women are trafficked to the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe; girls and young women are trafficked within the country from rural areas to Chisinau; children are also trafficked to neighbouring countries for forced labour and begging.
Young girls living in boarding schools are particularly exposed to the dangers of trafficking. Some are there because their parents are among the half million Moldavians who have gone abroad to find work. By the age of 16 they have left school, have no support and often, nowhere to live.
Project Aim
To work with 4 of the 68 boarding schools in Moldova to help:
Girls aged between 13 and 16 while they are in school
Girls aged between 16 and 18 after they have left school
Further – to support victims of trafficking who have managed to go back to their home country and need support to return to a normal life.
Project Activities
Life skill education programme, including career guidance, health care, dealing with violence at home, communication with public offices.
Higher education support programme: career counselling, housing allowances during education, mentoring and support from social assistants.
Project Partners
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the leading inter-governmental migration organization, working in Moldova since 2001.
The Child Rights Information Center (CRIC) Moldova. The mission of this well-established NGO is to contribute to the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Moldova.
For a printable brochure and more information, click here: http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/PresidentsAppeal09.pdf
