Projects and activities
In Europe - CIS
Bice's Projects in Europe and CIS
Bice in CIS and Europe works in partnership with local organisations in order to promote the dignity and the rights of children.
The Regional Delegation for Europe and CIS implements pilot projects aiming to promote the integral growth of the most deprived children and the respect of their fundamental rights, recognised in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child which has been ratified by all countries in CIS and Europe.
Projects are always designed together with the local partners and upon their request following a needs assessment. This comes from Bice's conviction that people on the site know better the situation, how to address it based on the community's resources, and are themselves promoters of change.
The action of our Delegation is guided by two milestones:
- Children have rights, which are enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Child Rights based Approach considers children as a ‘subject of rights' instead of an ‘object of assistance'. They can be protagonists of their own life and can contribute to the change in society.
- Children, adults and communities have the capacity to draw upon inner resources and to react in creative ways to difficult situations. This is the Resilience which is promoted at every stage and in every way throughout our projects.
The right of children to participate in the decisions that concern them, their family and the community in which they live follows from all this. This is stated by Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The projects of the Regional Delegation generally follow three main guidelines:
1. Involving and empowering communities
The concern is to address needs expressed by the community itself, allowing it to lean on its own strength and resources. Communities moreover know themselves how to apply and adapt new ideas to their context. They can create themselves the conditions of change.
That is why it is of prior importance for the Delegation for Europe and CIS to empower communities and lead to their project appropriation. Hence the support to initiatives designed locally or together with the Delegation and implemented on the ground.
The training of local trainers and the participation of children, when possible, follow this idea.
2. Building capacities of caregivers and child professionals
All caregivers and child professionals need to meet and share their experiences. This contributes to enrich and improve the effectiveness towards children, which promotes in turn children's rights and resilience.
That is why Bice Regional Delegation for Europe and CIS supports exchanges of experiences on specific issues. We organise workshops, training sessions, study visits and conferences on European as well as CIS best practices.
Considering that professionals and caregivers from the region have a lot to learn from each other we foster, as much as possible, interregional meetings.
Considering that professionals and caregivers from the region have a lot to learn from each other we foster, as much as possible, interregional meetings.
3. Long-lasting effect of the projects
The long term aim of Bice Delegation for Europe and CIS and its partners is to promote changes in the child policy on the local, national and European level.
By spreading good practices and informing the civil and institutional society about them, we can hope that pilot experiences will gain in credibility and be taken over by other NGOs and authorities later.
That is why in all its actions, the Regional Delegation fosters the wide dissemination of the knowledge transmitted. This is done through:
- Training of local trainers in order to ensure the sustainability of the new knowledge transmitted
- Diffusion of publications which are often introduced in roundtables and press releases.
- Training of local trainers in order to ensure the sustainability of the new knowledge transmitted
- Diffusion of publications which are often introduced in roundtables and press releases.
On the institutional level, the Regional Delegation supports the action of lobbying of its partners on the ground and carries on lobbying at the international level in collaboration with Bice' Permanent Representation in Geneva.
