Hungary Regional Project: ten recommendations for the next three years

Project : Regional Office 24 Dec 2009 | protection systems

Villany, Hungary: The regional team of Tdh chose the beautiful landscape of the snowy vineyards of Villany to examine the results of the three-year strategic plan of the Regional Child Protection Project (RCPP) of Tdh in Central and South Eastern Europe (2007 – 2009). From 17 to 19th of December, Ms HÊilean Rosenstock-Armie, international consultant, presented the conclusions of her external evaluation to the members of the Regional Project. She indicated that 24 professionals were interviewed during the evaluation process, from which a third were from the key regional actors in child protection or specialists in the fight against trafficking in human beings or child trafficking: TDHIF, Save the Children, OSCE, ICMPD, Open Gate – La Strada, etc.

In a friendly atmosphere, the RCPP colleagues discussed each of the ten main recommendations. The first one concerns the role of the Regional Project in supporting local delegates in their advocacy. A clear list should be drawn up of what the RCPP can offer. “_Of course such a list could merely gather dust, if it is not validated by Lausanne and disseminated to the delegates”_ confirmed the consultant. She continues “for a truly regional dimension, quarterly meetings should move around various cities in the region to include the attendance of national staff. Communication/advocacy officers should be recruited as priority. Key documents should be bilingual.”

(…) “The evaluation finds that within Tdh there is debate about the quality of research and types of research Tdh should engage in. The RCPP should also debate the issue of research. The RCPP does not have the capacity to undertake in-depth research but has the opportunity to suggest research issues it identifies, while following trends and key issues in the region.” (…) “The web-site is appreciated by a wide audience. (…) The web-site/newsletter should be disseminated further and made known to policy makers and decision makers at national levels and in Brussels.”

According to these recommendations, the immediate decisions taken by the regional team are to draft the list of services to delegations and to visit 3 countries of intervention before February 2010. A monthly rhythm is adopted for the reporting system and for the coordination meetings. Further on, to complement the training needs, the members of the RCPP will subscribe to trainings and conference on child protection issues and each member will read and synthesize one of the major recent publications on child trafficking or child protection out of any sub-regional project framework over 2010.

The evaluation report will be of great help for the design of the new strategic plan 2010 – 2012. The workshop is foreseen early February with members of the HQ, the delegations and the regional team. [VT]