Moldova : Children's High Level Group

Moldova has long been known as the 'poorest country in Europe', partly because of its size and remote location. Having battled with economic troubles over many years, Moldova has recently made some significant reforms to deal with poverty.

However there is much work still to be done with 60 per cent of the population living below the subsistence level, estimated at around 1,400 Moldovan lei (approx Ł60).

In 2004 the Moldovan government adopted the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EGPRSP) to address widespread poverty and many reforms have been actioned in the years since.

Statistics, however, show that there are still over 10,000 children in state care institutions; the majority of these children have been abandoned or given up by their parents, only a very small proportion are actually orphans.

CHLG work in Moldova

In December 2006, CHLG signed a formal agreement with Vasile Tarlev, Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, to extend its work into Moldova.

With support from CHLG in London, a Moldova-based team is working to help improve the lives of thousands of children and strengthen families.

Much of this work focuses on building up social work support and national fostering and adoption programmes so that children in big institutions, who are often raised in unacceptable conditions, can instead grow up within loving families in Moldova.

Following a successful pilot project, we have introduced our Community Action programme in Moldova and 10,000 children and volunteers have been involved so far.