PROJECT TITLE:

Strengthening Social Service Provision for the most Vulnerable Groups in Kosovo, in Response to Covid-19

OVERALL OBJECTIVE:

To support the provision of accessible quality social services in Kosovo for girls, boys, women and men living in vulnerable situations, especially those at socio economic risk, victims of violence, domestic violence or trafficking, the elderly, children and adults with disabilities.

LOCATION:

Kosovo

SECTOR:

Social Services

DURATION:

36 months (15th of December 2020 – 15th of December 2023)

VALUE:

4,000,000.00 Euro

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY:

Save the Children Sweden

PARTNERS:

Save the Children International Kosovo/a

TARGET AREA:

Kosovo wide

BENEFICIARIES:

Persons and families in need: Girls, boys, women and men living in vulnerable situations, especially those at socio economic risk, victims of violence against women, domestic violence or trafficking, elders, children and adults living with disability; Policy and decision-makers; Social service providers; General public

PROJECT PURPOSES:

• Enhancing availability of and accessibility to social services; • Strengthening the capacities to enhance the adequacy, effectiveness, efficiency, affordability and quality of the social services; • Increase the awareness of the general public; that they have the right to social services and that they are to be accessible to all.

ACTIVITIES:

Activities under Outcome 0: A0.a.5 Conduct baseline study to gather baseline data, including gender-relevant data, for project needs; A0.a.8 – Prepare and disseminate to the relevant project stakeholders, recommendations, findings and lessons learnt from the project that might be useful for planning of similar actions or as input to evidence-based social protection policy planning; A0.a.9 – Prepare evaluation and expenditure verification reports, and share them with the relevant project stakeholders. A0.b.1 – Prepare Communication and visibility procedures for the project, to be followed by the project team, as well as by the sub-grant beneficiaries; A0.b.2 – Organise project kick-off virtual meeting and project closing conference; A0.b.3 – Prepare web-list for the project, within the existing webpage of Save the Children Kosovo, to share information of the project progress and activities; A0.b.4 – Use social media to access, inform and communicate with the project stakeholders, and share information on the progress and achievements of the project; A0.b.5 – Prepare promotional materials for the project, including banners, leaflets, information brochures and other relevant materials, as defined with the Visibility and Communication plan; A0.b.6 – Print and disseminate project-branded materials (notebooks, pens, folders) for workshops, capacity building activities and meetings. Activities under Outcome 1: A1.1.1 – Establish the Project Evaluation and Selection Committee with participation from MLSW, GCSFS, CSWs, and municipality officials, to ensure transparent and fair selection process of the sub-grant beneficiaries, in line with the program guidelines; A1.1.2 – Develop detailed sub-granting programme guidelines, with clear funding criteria and requirements, for financial support of NGOs that provide social services on Kosovo, while referring to the recommendations and experience from the implementation of the previous project, as well as considering the new emergency situation in the country, under Covid-19; A1.1.3 – Define comprehensive, indicator-based system, to monitor the progress and results from the provided support; A1.2.1 – Announce two (2) Calls for Applications in major media outlets in Kosovo, both printed and electronic; A1.2.2 – Organise 14 (7 regions x 2 rounds) information sessions in the seven regions in Kosovo, to inform potential applicants and beneficiaries (licensed NGOs and social enterprises for provision of social and family services) about the grant scheme and application criteria; A1.2.3 – Provide financial support to minimum 45 service providers - maximum 60.000 Euro per provider; A1.2.4 – Provide technical support and strengthen the human capital of the selected and awarded social service providers – Prepare and offer training in project cycle management, financial planning and reporting, risk planning and emergency response preparation, communication and visibility of project results, strategic planning and reporting; A1.2.5 – Support newly established and existing NGOs providing social services with professional thematic expertise to increase their professional and thematic capacities to deliver quality and accessible social services; A1.2.6 – Prepare comprehensive report on the lessons learnt and good practice which the public institutors to level-up the social protection can use that and family care services in Kosovo. Activities under Outcome 2: A2.1.1 – Facilitate the process to develop a protocol/programme for mutual assistance and cooperation between CSWs and NGOs (providers of social services) to jointly deliver social services, with focus on rural and remote areas; A2.1.2 - Facilitated discussion through a workshop to define mutual exchange program between public and non-public social workers, to foster greater learning and exchange of experiences and expertise; A2.1.3 – Support CSWs and NGOs to cooperate on outreach initiatives designed for persons and families in need; A2.1.4 – Support NGOs and CSWs to organise round table discussions with persons and families in need in order to get better understanding of the needs and identify innovative approaches to social service delivery; A2.1.5 – Support a joint research initiative between MLSW, CSWs and Kosovo Agency for Statistics with the aim of improving the capacity of these institutions to collect and analyse data and statistics, with a particular focus on women, children. 2.2.1 – Support NGOs and CSWs to identify key institutions to which persons and families in need are referred to and map the referral process; support NGOs and CSWs to establish professional relations with Employment Centres and Vocational and Educational Training (VET) centres to foster employment of persons in need; support NGOs and CSWs to strengthen their professional cooperation with schools and kindergartens to improve their access to education and reduce the dropout rate of girls and boys in a situation of vulnerability; A2.2.2 – Support NGOs and CSWs to enhance their cooperation with healthcare providers, in order to strengthen the access to medical services of the persons and families in need; A2.2.3 – Prepared guidance/protocol for establishing functional referral process and cooperation between the social service providers and the identified key public intuitions and agencies. Activities under Outcome 3: A3.1.1 – Organise and implement awareness-raising campaign to inform people of the availability of social services and to facilitate access to social services with clear, concise, and widely available information; A3.1.2 – Produce and disseminate three case stories (videos) to promote the services, inform the public about their availability, but also help destigmatize the use of social protection services by those in need and raise awareness on the importance and need of prevention, including prevention from COVID and other vulnerabilities, gender-based violence and violence against children; A3.1.3 – Develop child-friendly information brochures, materials, and other promotional and educational materials, and disseminate them to children and parents through schools, kindergartens, CSWs, NGOs, health facilities and other service providers; A3.1.4 – Develop a user, child and gender friendly platform (website with accessibility for persons with visual and hearing impairment) to centralise information and guide persons and families in need, and to facilitate their access to public services and benefits, including information on services provided by CSWs and NGOs; A3.1.5 – Develop mobile applications for iOS and Android to inform the public about available services from CSWs and NGOs and to provide users with detailed information about services, contact information, and referral process; A3.1.6 – Online International Conference on Social Services to exchange post-COVID19 experiences and discuss international recovery and rehabilitation approaches. A3.2.1 – Organise transparent process and define qualification criteria to select individual experts and organisational representatives that quality as SPG members; A3.2.2 – Organise workshop to define the purpose, objectives and role of the SPG; A3.2.3 – Organise rights-based advocacy training for the members of the SPG; A3.2.4 – Implement workshop to define advocacy strategy and roadmap for its implementation, to support the decentralisation process of the social service system on Kosovo. Activities under Outcome 4: A4.1.1 – Organise and implement training in management, including strategic management and human resource management, for middle-level managers in the relevant public institutions, including municipal officials; A4.1.2 – Organise training in evidence-based policy planning and regulatory impact assessment (RIA) methodology; A4.1.3 – Strengthen the capacities of the relevant public institution representatives in monitoring and evaluation; A4.1.4 – Raise the awareness of the public sector officials in the importance of having a GESI perspective when developing social protection policies and measures; A4.1.5 – Enhance the capacities of the public sector officials in gender-based budgeting, as important aspect to the development of relevant social protection policies and measures; A4.1.6 – Provide trainings to the General Council (Training of Trainers) to strengthen their capacities and enhance the quality of social workers through specialised and targeted trainings; A4.1.7 – Train 200 CSW staff on strategic planning and budgeting following the adoption of the new Funding Formula/Specific Grant; A4.1.8 - Provide trainings to the social workers in order to re-train the workforce to meet the necessary licensing/re-licensing requirements. A4.2.1 – Prepare a research paper on the state of social services (including prevention) and necessary reforms and policies for the next development period (2023 and beyond); A4.2.2 - Finalise new Law on Social and Family Services based on the 2019 Concept Document adopted by the Government and develop administrative instructions stemming from the new Law; A4.2.3 - Develop secondary legislation (5 Administrative Instructions) related to the implementation of the Law on Child Protection; A4.2.4 – Finalise the funding formula for specific grant for social service provision and support the adoption of the amended Law on Local Government Financing; A4.2.5 - Facilitate the process of updating, revising and re-validating the Standards of Social Service following the adoption of the new Law on Social Services; A4.2.6 – Organise strategic planning workshop with MLSW representatives to design and develop the next Sectoral Strategy (2021 and beyond) which will replace and supplement the existing Sectoral Strategy; A4.2.7 – Organise public consultations process with the SPG representatives and other relevant stakeholders to “verify” the relevance of the defined strategic priorities and objectives; A4.2.8 – Finalise the Sectoral Strategy, including indicators and roadmap for implementation; A4.2.9 – Develop seven (7) Municipal Action Plans (2022 – 2025) for the main regions of Kosovo that will be aligned with the new Law on Social Services and the Sectoral Strategy, and will steer the municipal action planning with regards to social service protection.

RESULTS:

Expected results: - More than 6000 people directly benefit from the financed social services; - At least 45 NGOs supported with sub-grants benefiting more than 6000 family members from vulnerable groups; - 150 social service providers benefit from five technical support modules provided to NGOs; - More than 200 public sector employees capacitated strengthen their capacities in social service provision;