Emergency Response & Recovery

In Moldova, most Ukrainian refugee children are not enrolled in local schools and do not attend shared support spaces for those studying under the Ukrainian curriculum. As of January 22, 2024, there were 31,280 school-aged children under temporary protection living in Moldova, and 17,184 concentrated in Chișinău. Despite the efforts of authorities and international organizations to integrate refugee children into formal education, the enrollment rate remains low, with only 33.5% of children under temporary protection enrolled in school. They face barriers such as unfamiliarity with the curriculum, lack of necessary equipment for online education, socialization issues, and some report discriminatory behavior.
Although some Ukrainian children study in Russian-speaking schools, most refugee families prefer their children to continue their education in the Ukrainian national language. For children with disabilities, the situation is even more restrictive due to documentation and access issues. In large cities such as Chișinău, it is difficult to find available spaces in schools, making the development of EduTechLabs centers essential.
EduTechLabs will facilitate Ukrainian refugees' access to formal education. Formal education activities will take place Monday to Friday, from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, with dedicated teachers, and children will study according to the Ukrainian curriculum. For non-formal education, in line with the national policies of the Moldovan Ministry of Education and Research and the specific of EduTechLabs, People in Need will offer ICT courses (Robotics or STEM) from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
Refugee families need additional support, including access to school meals, transportation, and supplies, and infrastructure barriers in rural areas hinder access to quality education. Furthermore, there are gaps in information and transparency between authorities, refugees, and host communities, and parents are hesitant about integrating their children into the local educational system, concerned about the recognition of certificates by Ukraine.
To support social integration and cohesion among children, extracurricular and social-emotional learning activities, as well as Romanian language courses for parents, are necessary.

Through this project, funded by the Government of the Czech Republic and developed by People in Need Moldova, we aim to provide Moldovan and Ukrainian children with better conditions for their studies by improving the energy efficiency of three schools in the Republic of Moldova (in Chisinau, Balti and Ceadir-Lunga).
At the same time, one of our objectives in the project is to provide assistance to children from vulnerable refugee families from Ukraine and host communities, including the provision of lunches, winter clothing and financial support for education-related expenses.

Planned activities include:

• Assessment of energy consumption in 3 schools;
• Implementing energy efficiency measures in 3 schools;
• Launching the Digital Education Centre at the "Matei Basarab" Theoretical Lyceum in Chisinau;
• Distribution of winter clothes;
• Providing lunches for students;
• Providing financial assistance to cover educational expenses.

PIN seeks to address the basic needs of the most vulnerable refugees and host communities in the country through an integrated response that puts protection and safeguarding at the center while reinforcing integration and social cohesion.  

More specifically, this action will support refugee households living outside official RACs to cover their basic needs, as well as the winter needs of households hosting refugees affected by the energy crisis through multi-purpose cash assistance.  

Overall, the response will target a total of 1,600 hosting households, reaching an estimated 3,680 vulnerable individuals. 

PLACE is a project delivering cash for rent, legal assistance and counselling as well as protection services for Ukrainians in Moldova. PiN’s main focus in this consortium is on comprehensive protection activities, particularly the provision of psychosocial support (PSS) services through several channels to improve people’s psychosocial wellbeing after experiencing adverse events or traumatic incidents, namely prolonged displacement and armed conflict. PiN implements protection activities directly as well as through partnerships with local CSOs in northern and southern Moldova. 

The first of PiN’s activities is to establish a multi-layered referral mechanism in southern Moldova (based on the IFRC’s MHPSS pyramid) through an assigned professional focal point and with support from partner CSOs to ensure people in need of specialized mental health care are referred to the appropriate actors or treatment centers.  

Secondly, PiN conducts protection activities for refugees and host communities targeting women, children, elderly people, and people with special needs and mobility issues. The activities include the provision of PSS through in-person individual and group counselling as well as social cohesion activities (such as language courses, artisanal workshops, cultural exchanges, etc.). Aside from on-site therapy, PIN’s partner CSOs dispatch mobile units to deliver emergency psychological assistance to vulnerable groups in refugee accommodation centers (RACs) and in hosting households.  

As part of its child protection and social cohesion activities, PiN also manages two Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) to support the holistic wellbeing and the safe emotional development and learning between Ukrainian and Moldovan children.  

Lastly, PiN monitors a 24/7 hotline service to provide immediate crisis support and counselling through SMS texting and telephone calls. The hotline is managed by 4 psychologists that deliver PSS in Romanian, Ukrainian and/or Russian. The hotline’s office, based in Chisinau, is a complement to the rest of the protection activities and is available to all beneficiaries, but especially those that are on the move or residing in remote locations all over Moldova. Thus, PiN’s activities mainstream social cohesion by assisting both Ukrainian refugees and Moldovan hosting communities. 

To protect the rights of children and make sure that refugee kids and teenagers in Moldova can keep going to school, People in Need has started a project called "Delivering Education in Digital Areas for Learning" (DEDAL).
We began this project in Moldova in September 2023 by setting up Digital Learning Centers (DLCs) in 5 public schools in the northern and southern parts of Moldova (Balti, Calaraseuca village (Ocnita district), Anenii Noi, Comrat and Ceadar-Lunga (ATU Gagauzia). These DLCs are places where children can get a formal education and also have a child-friendly places for informal learning after schooling hours, emotional support, and activities that bring people together.
Inside the Digital Learning Centers, we have laptops, furniture, classroom stuff, and safety gear for Ukrainian refugee children to learn from the All Ukraine Online platform created by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education. This platform covers 18 different subjects for kids in grades 5 to 11, like Science, Math, Geography, and English.
To help children fit in better, we offer Romanian language classes and have skilled teachers who speak Moldovan and Ukrainian. They are here at the centers to assist the children. Even if Ukrainian children are here on temporary protection, they can still come to the Digital Learning Centers. PIN also help the families of these children get them enrolled in formal education provided by the Government of the Republic of Moldova.
For kids between the ages of 6 and 17, we provide non-formal education and activities that help them get along better with others. These activities are available both for Ukrainian and Moldovan children after the schooling hours. Here, they learn important skills like coping their emotions, solving problems, being strong, building their minds, and getting along with others. PIN partners with Bibliotheques Sans Frontieres to create those child-friendly spaces based within the DLCs. Children can use Microlibraries and Idea Cube boxes and other entertaining materials available at the child-friendly spaces.

This project aims to improve the economic resilience of the most vulnerable Moldovan and Ukrainian refugees by generating sufficient income and resources as a result of self-employment through entrepreneurship-oriented training, coaching and access to decent jobs. 

PIN wants to pilot and verify if by providing technical and vocational education and training (TVET) tailored to the needs of the labor market and if job seekers can demonstrate labor market-relevant skills, then the barriers preventing women and at-risk of exclusion population remove, then unemployment rates will decrease.

The project aims a total number of 90 beneficiaries aged 18 - 50 (70% Ukrainian, 30% Moldovan 10% persons with disability) from Balti, Edinet, and Soroca. 

The primary objectives:
1. Equip beneficiaries with functional and transferable work-oriented skills in a safe environment. 
2. Equip beneficiaries with practical and theoretical knowledge and skills to access the market through an inclusive education package, including TVET, and coaching. 
3. Beneficiaries' access to income-generating opportunities while ensuring the safety of their children.

PIN organized 3 social committees, made up of community members, public and private TVET service providers and private sector employers, which established participatory selection criteria. The selected beneficiaries participated in 4-day training courses, acquiring soft skills, employability skills, digitalization, information on labor rights, financial literacy and protection. 

90 beneficiaries were supported to enroll in vocational training programmers. PIN will fund 90% (up to EUR 500 per person) of the course fees and provide support to ensure the welfare of their children, during their participation in the project. 

The main objectives:
Upon completion of the desired vocational courses, 60 beneficiaries will be assisted in finding employment by being put in contact with private companies and pre-contracted employers.

PIN providing financial placement support of 30 beneficiaries with allowance (up to 390 euro/month/gross), for the first 3 months. 
30 Beneficiaries wishing to become entrepreneurs will receive a start-up grant (€1170 gross) to set up their business. 

A business expert will be hired to provide tailored and personalized business support to beneficiaries in both components to overcome business challenges.
In addition, selected beneficiaries will be supported with an allowance for their children to be enrolled in kindergarten while employed until the end of the project period.
 

BRICKSS is a pilot child protection and education in emergencies project funded by PiN. Its aim is to address the education needs of Ukrainian refugee children in Moldova. The main area of intervention focuses on the creation of a digital learning center and a child friendly space, ensuring continuity of education and access to psychosocial support for refugee and host community children.  

The digital learning centre (DLC) provides children with a location where they can access formal MoE online learning through the All Ukrainian Online School platform during school hours. The DLC is a lab equipped with furniture, safety materials, teaching and learning materials, as well as laptops pre-loaded with safety software for children’s protected access to the Internet. Trained facilitators (some of them former Ukrainian teachers) are present in the DLC to oversee the children’s studies and provide them with some extra in-person support to improve learning outcomes.  

In the afternoons, children have access to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons and recreational activities, supported by trained staff in a child friendly space (CFS). The spaces are secure and suitable for learning and wellbeing activities for children from 6-14 years old in after school sessions that are structured around the IRC’s Safe and Healing Learning Spaces SEL curriculum. The key aim of the SEL curriculum is to strengthen 5 core SEL competencies: brain building, Emotion Regulation, Positive Social Skills, Conflict Resolution and Perseverance of children aged 6-12 years old. The curriculum provides 9 months' worth of lessons broken down into three, 2-hour lessons per week. 

The main aim of the programme is to support the community of CSOs engaged in refugee work in Romania, enabling them to strengthen their capacities, enhance efficiency, and build resilience on both individual and collective levels. The programme is implemented by Federația Fundatiile Comunitare din România, with financial support from People In Need. Local implementation takes place through the Community Foundations of București, Iași, Brașov, Timișoara, and Oradea. In each of these five local communities, a minimum of three CSOs supporting refugees actively participate in the programme, resulting in a total of 20 CSOs involved across all five communities.
To meet the specific needs of each CSO, the support offered is customized, flexible, and focused on the shared objective of building strong and resilient teams capable of supporting refugees and their integration into host communities in the long term.
Firstly, the 20 CSOs benefit from a personalized learning and development program designed to address their specific needs, identified through a comprehensive needs assessment process.
Secondly, through the programme, the CSOs receive grants to meet immediate organizational needs (€6,000) and project-specific needs (up to €12,000) over a duration of 6-9 months. The initial grant of €6,000 can be used for organizational development or to ensure the continuity of ongoing projects (core granting).  The second grant of €12,000 per organization is awarded for new or existing projects supporting Ukrainian refugees.
In addition to needs analysis and capacity-building initiatives, members of the CSOs participating in the programme have access to individual or team coaching sessions and individual psychotherapy.
As the final phase of the programme, the CSOs, in collaboration with the Community Foundations involved, establish a community of practice, support, and learning. This platform enables them to exchange best practices and collectively address common challenges faced by Ukrainian refugees during their integration process within local communities.
Furthermore, throughout the programme's implementation, the five community foundations enhance their local expertise in capacity-building programs, which will benefit other categories of CSOs in the future.

ACCESS VI was a cross-border project spearheaded by PiN UA, delivering multipurpose cash assistance, shelter, protection, food security, WASH and health services for populations of concern in eastern, north-eastern and southeastern Ukraine as well as in Moldova. PiN MDA provided MPCA to Moldovan households hosting Ukrainian refugees to help cover. In addition, PiN in partnership with 3 CSOs, provided psychosocial support and legal counselling and assistance for refugees, specifically through mobile services and community engagement.

Regarding its MPCA activities, PIN distributed one-off cash disbursements to over 1,000 targeted households hosting at least two displaced individuals from Ukraine for a minimum period of one week. The goal of the assistance was to help households meet the costs for food and utility payments, basic home equipment and other urgent needs through the Moldovan postal service.

At the same time, PiN through partner CSOs operated a PSS hotline in June 2022 supported by an online platform offering free PSS consultations to refugees. Consultations were provided by qualified psychologists, including requests for repeat consultations. CSO partners also operated mobile PSS units to provide legal and psychosocial consultations to beneficiaries in the northern and southern districts. Both CSOs had experience in mobile outreach and were able to cover hard to reach areas, including distant villages, formal and informal refugee accommodation centers.

This intervention ended activities in April 2023.
 

This project was designed to maintain the stability of the Republic of Moldova by mitigating the impact of the rise of gas prices on the most vulnerable households by providing access to financial resources and relief assistance materials (firewood and briquettes) during the winter months, as well as ensuring that economically disadvantaged households had improved access to social services.
This intervention ended in April 2023.

 

The overall objective of the project was to diminish the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the most vulnerable population of the Republic of Moldova. Within the scope of the project, it was planned to provide immediate support to meet the most acute needs of the affected population, specifically socially disadvantaged persons (people with disabilities, unemployed families with numerous children, etc.) and elderlies. Rapid research was conducted to identify the response modalities and approaches that are appropriate to local communities and authorities and relevant to the needs and the context.
Subsequently, the project assisted 1400 beneficiaries and their families with 1000 food and hygiene packages and awareness campaigns 300 of those living in residential institutions in Chisinau and Cocieri, and 100 are elderly. Throughout the project, the immediate food security/nutrition, hygiene, and psychophysical needs of the target groups were addressed.
The targeted population has improved access to information on COVID-19-related risks and prevention, and relevant actors have gained tools and practices to improve their response to COVID-19. 

The project aimed at enhancing the role of CSOs in promoting democratization in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova. Results include improved organizational capacity of CSOs, increased civic engagement and policy dialogue, and strengthened linkages and cooperation among CSOs and the private sector. This contributes to the accountability, effectiveness, and collaboration of CSOs as drivers of positive change.