On February 01, 2019 the fourth Steering Committee Meeting of the Twinning Project “Support to Ukrainian administration in developing a legal and administrative set up to introduce a system of early intervention and rehabilitation for children with disability or having a risk of disability” for the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine took place.
The goal of the Project is to strengthen the capacity of the Ukrainian administration at central and local level in developing and introducing a system of early intervention and rehabilitation for children with disabilities and children at risk of disability thus to enhance the new role of public administration in terms of social, medical services provision including quality, accessibility, financial sustainability and an integrated approach of engaging parents in such service.
The Project is implemented jointly with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Professional Training and Social Dialogue of French Republic and French International Technical Expertise Agency (Agence Française d’Expertise Technique Internationale – AFETI) in active cooperation between the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, Ministry of Health of Ukraine and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on developing an effective regulatory basis for providing early intervention services in accordance with the standards of the European Union.
The MS Project Leader Andrii Tretiak in his opening speech greeted all the participants of the event and underlined strategic importance of the project in the area of implementation and spreading of early intervention, which will help young children with disabilities, developmental disabilities.
Deputy Director of the Department of Organizational Work and Interaction with Government Authorities, Resident Twinning Adviser Counterpart Margarita Kropivnitskaya, in her turn, informed that according to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On the Determination of the National Coordinator” dated on January 16, 2019, No 12-r the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine was defined as the national coordinator for the introduction of early intervention services within the framework of the pilot project “Establishment of the System for Providing Early Intervention Services” for the child development, preservation of his / her health and life.
During the meeting the Resident Twinning Adviser Jean-Elie Malkin presented for the consideration of participants of the Steering Committee the 5th and 6th quarterly reports of the project, outlined the main activities realized during the reporting period within the framework of four components, in particular organization of the international conference “Early Intervention: Towards a New Paradigm through the Partnership of Professionals, Families and Society” (10–12 October 2018, Kharkiv), personal development training courses based on the Center for Advanced Training of Epleyees of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine on the following issues: “Assessment of the Model of Early Intervention Services Delivery in Pilot Regions and Recommendations for its Revision” (12-13 November, 2018, Kyiv), “Comparative Analysis of European Practices on Early Intervention: Conclusions for Ukraine” (26-27 November, 2018, Kyiv) and others. In addition, the list of recommendations and priority directions of further activity within the framework of the project implementation were defined in the conditions of the implementation of the deinstitutionalization reform and the introduction of early intervention services in Ukraine, aimed at creating a service that would meet the requirements of the present and the best European standards.
Representative of the Section for Regional and Local Development of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Myroslava Didukh underlined strong willingness of the European side to fully support the Twinning project implementation.
On behalf of the Center for Adaptation of the Civil Service to the Standards of the European Union Inna Bielobratova, Deputy Head of the Projects Management Unit took part in the meeting and presented the main comments of the Twinning Programme Administration Office to the quarterly reports.
For reference: according to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ukraine “On Approval of the Procedure for Initiation, Preparation and Implementation of the Twinning Projects” as of 11 October, 2016 No 700 (in edition of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as of 22 August, 2018, No 663) the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service coordinates the implementation of the institution building instrument of the European Union Twinning in Ukraine. Furthermore, in accordance with relevant legal acts the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service is the coordinator of institution building instrument TAIEX implementation in Ukraine. In order to provide effective coordination of Twinning and TAIEX the Twinning Program Administration Office in Ukraine was established, its functions are performed by the Center for Adaptation of the Civil Service to the Standards of the European Union.
Twinning Project “Support to Ukrainian administration in developing a legal and administrative set up to introduce a system of early intervention and rehabilitation for children with disability or having a risk of disability” includes its main goals:
- to review the current legislation on rehabilitation for children with disabilities and children at risk of disability and providing them with social services;
- to prepare a project for a new system of early intervention services for children with disabilities ant at risk of disability;
- to create a basic standard and calculation of the cost of early intervention service;
- to prepare a project for reporting, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of early intervention service of Ukraine.
