Moldova One Year Forward

The community of Iargara Moldova is celebrating the one year anniversary of the Children on the Edge Child and Community Centre. The Centre was officially opened on Friday 3 October 2008.

Based on a needs assessment Iargara was identified as the ideal community for the first centre of its kind in Moldova. The children in this rural community are extremely vulnerable for a variety of reasons.

Many have parents living temporarily abroad trying to earn a living. Others are from single parent families or very large families who are struggling to survive. Some families do not have enough money for food or bills.

Many children are looked after by elderly relatives who cannot adequately protect them. Others live in child headed households.

Living in poverty and without adequate care these children are at risk of abuse, violence, trafficking and exploitation.

The Centre in Iargara was designed to act as a safe place for children and young people to receive help with schoolwork, a daily nutritious meal, or simply act as a safe place to hang out and undertake recreational activities.

One year forward, two hundred children attend the centre regularly. Evidence of the Centre’s success is the reduction in the number of children dropping out of the local school.

The Centre provides children who have dropped out of school with the necessary support to help them return to education. Before the Centre opened an average of sixteen children dropped out of the school in Iargara each year. Since the Centre has opened, this number has been reduced to zero.

More information about our work in Moldova.