EMBRACE project aims to address mental health issues among vulnerable children in deprived villages and small towns from Northeast Romania through a model of school-based interventions that will be piloted in 10 schools covering over 4500 children from primary to high-school level.

The implementation of the model will conduct to the development of a prevention toolkit for children addressing the key health determinants of mental health aimed for educating and supporting children, that will be disseminated at country level.

The project will provide systematic approach that will engage primarily children, train teachers and professional to strengthen the supportive networks, facilitate parental engagement and coordinate with local and national services and institutions. Schools will receive tailored assistance for preventing mental health issues and promoting the wellbeing of children for creating a supportive and nurturing learning environment. One of the pillars of the project will be child participation in the elaboration of the toolkit, decision making at school level, peer to peer education. Children will become also advocates at community level to promote and make awareness on child mental health. The EU strategy for children rights will be strengthen and promoted in
different contexts of the project .

The project aims to cultivate and leverage local expertise through a consortium of experienced partners –FundatiaServiciilorSociale Bethany,Fundatia deSprijin Comunitar, Asociatia “Buna Ziua Copii din Romania” – three grassroots organizations specialized in child protection, social and educational services, Federatia Organizatiilor pentru Copil – one federation specialized in advocacy and child rights and a Evolutionary Archetypes Consulting – the transnational partner with a great expertise in innovative communication, all supported by the local authorities, schools, specialists in social, educational field from the local, regional and national level.

Consortium Members

Fundatia Serviciilor Sociale Bethany

FSSB is a non-profit organization that supports vulnerable children and their families by providing social services and educational programs. The organization has 30 years of experience in Romania, with operations in two regions: West and Northeast, including Iasi County one of the regions where the project will be implemented. FSSB provides therapy programs for children with special needs, psychological and social counselling services for families, school guidance and scholarships for students from rural areas, educational centres for children at risk of school abandonment, capacity building programs for local CSOs and volunteering capacity building programs as means of community involvement. At national level, FSSB is part of coalitions and federations advocating for improved legislation benefiting children and their rights. FSSB is accredited and licensed

website: www.bethany.ro

Fundatia de Sprijin Comunitar

FSC is a non-profit Romanian organisation registered in 1997 in Bacau (one of the project areas), NE Romania. FSC’s vision is to create a world where human rights are respected, and people have access to adequate, high-quality services provided by professionals in their own community. By the government decision FSC holds the public utility status since 2005. With a team of 150 employees and 250 volunteers FSC serves over 5,000 people annually by providing medical, social, and educational services. The services cater to various demographics, including older people affected mobility issues, illness, loneliness, as well as children, and families affected by social depravation, poverty and neglect., FSC also coordinates a centre for volunteerism that engages over 250 young people each year and provides accredited training to adults on topics such as home care for older people, combined arts work and project management., All services provided by FSC are licensed and comply with existing legislation. FSC holds the , guaranteeing the quality of services and level of development. FSC has extensive experience in incorporating into its care and therapeutic activities, recognizing their positive impact on well-being.FSC specialists designed the standards for the occupation and the training curricula for the field of combined arts work, which have been integrated into the national classification of jobs as . Over the years, FSC has trained over 2,500 (professionals working in care services: carers, psychologists, teachers, social

website: fsc.ro

Asociatia Buna Ziua Copii din Romania

BZRO is a non- profit organization specializing in child rights protection. Their mission is to support children, young people and the families to lead a dignified, well-being lives. BZRO aims to create to the best conditions for children’s harmonious development by providing support, and counselling for parents to enhance to their parenting skills. They also involve community members in volunteer actions and work to improve and diversify methodologies in the field of social assistance for families and children. BZRO has 25 years of experience in providing social services for children in vulnerable situations, as well as supporting their families. These services include prevention services to prevent the separation of children from their families, school dropout prevention services, and therapeutic services for children with autism, as well as parents’ school. In recent years, BZRO is increasingly receiving more and more requests from families or teachers and medical staff for psychological evaluation and counselling of children and young people, and from the experience of working with children in our programs, it was noticed an increase in the number of children with disruptive behaviours, emotionally fragile, children who fail to control themselves and become verbally or even physically aggressive with other children, and others are isolated and fail to communicate effectively with the group. BZRO actives in Vaslui county, one of the project areas.

Federatia Organizatiilor Neguvernamentale Pent

FONPC is a Romanian legal entity by law, apolitical and without patrimonial purpose, established according to the Government Ordinance no. 26/2000. Set up in 1997, the purpose of the Federation is to strengthen, unite and represent in solidarity the member organizations working in the field of Welfare and Protection of the Child and the Family to ensure respect for the rights of the child as they are in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and European Conventions. FONPC is the unified voice of 65 Romanian NGOs, specialized in monitoring, developing and redefining public policies for ensuring the welfare of the child,
using and developing the experience and expertise of its staff and members. The Federation has implemented advocacy activities for improving the legislation related to children’s rights in Romania. For more than 25 years FONPC advocate for alternative care, access to education and high quality social, medical and legal services for the benefit of Romanian children. Over the years the Federation led or has been a partner to elaborate studies, research, analyzes and reports. In the area of Child Participation, involved children to provide feedback on tools for monitoring the implementation of Child Rights Convention, contributed to the child friendly version in Romanian of the EU Strategy on children’s rights, created Children and Youth Council (CCT), which contributed to the elaboration of the List of priorities for Romania for the Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Youth Report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). FONPC contributed to the advocacy campaign regarding the Child Guarantee by sending a letter to the Prime Minister of the Government of Romania and the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, creating a film, meeting with representatives of the European Commission, of the Eurochild European platform, with Romanian MEPs.

website: fonss.ro

Evolutionary Archetypes Consulting SL 

EA is an innovation research and science communication company. EA explores and assesses innovation strategies, resources, and technologies to empower future game changers. With innovation research, they study and analyse knowledge that can inspire innovators and entrepreneurs to innovate and succeed. With science communication, they take encouraging insights from scientific and technology research and share the knowledge in everyone’s words. Horizon Europe collaboration allows them to get involved directly in R&D projects supporting the researchers with technology and resources.

website: https://ea.consulting/