Assistance to Russian Orphans (ARO)

The complete project description and application form is available online at:
http://www.info.usaid.gov/ftp_data/pub/OP/RFA/11899009/
Below are excerpts from the Request for Applications No. 118-99-009:
For more information about orphans and children living in institutions in Russia, see the findings and recommendations of a UNICEF-sponsored fact-finding mission published by Mental Disability Rights International in February 1999. The report, "Children in Russia's Institutions: Human Rights and Opportunities for Reform," is available online at:
http://www.mdri.org/whatsnew/Russia/Russiaone.html
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Assistance to Russian Orphans (ARO)
Application Deadline: June 28, 1999
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications from qualified U.S. non- governmental organizations (NGOs) to implement the new Assistance to Russian Orphans (ARO) Activity. The purpose of the ARO activity is to promote community-based, family- centered services that will improve the current situation of Russian orphans. The selected implementing organization or consortium will work with Russian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to prevent abandonment and institutionalization of orphans and children with disabilities, develop community-based assistance, including the provision of life skills for older orphans, and promote networking. The organization will manage small and large grants programs, provide training and technical assistance, plan and coordinate exchanges, promote networking and sharing of lessons learned, and provide monitoring and evaluation of the overall ARO activity.
ARO is planned as a three-year activity, with implementation scheduled to begin in August 1999 and to end in August 2002. USAID/Russia would like to provide $6 million over a three-year period, subject to the availability of funds, performance, and local circumstances.
Background:
The available data, often cited, indicate that there are approximately 600,000 children registered as orphans in Russia. Ten percent (10%) are orphans with no parents and 90% are ï¿½social orphans,ï¿½ who have at least one living parent who has given up the child to the State for a variety of reasons. Between 1993 and 1997, the number of registered orphans increased by 30% and the number residing in institutions by 35%. Concurrently, the number of children in foster families increased by 46% (in Russia most foster families are relatives of the children). The number adopted, however, has remained fairly consistent, with an overall increase of only 2%.
Were comprehensive statistics available, the picture conveyed for the physically and mentally disabled would be far more bleak. The label of ï¿½imbetsilyï¿½ or ï¿½idioty,ï¿½ which signifies ï¿½uneducable,ï¿½ is almost always irrevocable. The most likely future is a lifetime in state institutions. Even the label of ï¿½debily,ï¿½ or lightly retarded, follows a person throughout his or her life on official documents, creating barriers to employment and housing after graduation from state institutions. One study found that, on graduation from a state institution for the lightly retarded at age 18, 30% of orphans became vagrants, 10% became involved in crime, and 10% committed suicide. Even for those orphans classified as ï¿½normal,ï¿½ life after institutionalization poses serious problems, as they may lack the necessary social, educational and vocational skills to function in society.
USAID plans to apply lessons learned in the U.S. and other countries that have undergone a transformation in attitudes and treatment of orphans and the disabled in its Assistance to Russian Orphans (ARO) program. The program will build on the general consensus that community-based, family-centered preventive approaches and alternatives will best serve the needs of children and that orphans can become productive and successful members of society.
The Proposed Activity:
The first step toward change will be demonstrations of alternative approaches to promote child welfare that work in Russia. The intended primary beneficiaries of ARO are young, abandoned children (approximately 0-4 years of age) or those at risk of abandonment; disabled children in families; or orphans in Ministry of Education facilities (approximately 14-18 years of age) who will need assistance to reintegrate successfully into their communities.
USAID has identified three specific objectives for the ARO program:
* Prevention of abandonment and institutionalization;
* Development of community-based assistance; and,
* Promotion of networking and sharing lessons learned.
Examples of possible activities which would contribute to these objectives include, but are not limited to, the following:
Prevention of abandonment and institutionalization:
* Counseling of pregnant women during pre-natal care or in maternity hospitals to prevent abandonment of newborns and to acquaint mothers with the options for the child;
* Training for maternity staff to alert them to the factors that place children at risk of abandonment;
* Involving social workers in family preservation, to provide counseling; to assist families in getting allowances for which they are eligible; to find or provide support to families in crisis; to plan with the parents for future of the child;
* Family reunification for families that have maintained contact with children in institutions;
* Family foster care through an unrelated family or a childrenï¿½s home and/or temporary foster care.
Development of community-based assistance:
* Support for community-based rehabilitation services to enable families to keep disabled or troubled children at home;
* Respite care for families with disabled children so that family members can work;
* Parent associations for advocacy and to begin organizing for needed services and allowances;
* Family-style group homes within communities;
* Public education campaigns to alter public attitudes toward orphans and the disabled;
* Life/job skills training for upcoming graduates from Ministry of Education institutions, including skills targeted to the local job market and health education.
Promotion of networking and sharing lessons learned:
* Study tours on the above topics (e.g., community-based social work preventing abandonment; parent associations; community-based rehabilitation of the disabled);
* Development of internet linkages between organizations and oblasts;
* Exchanges between universities, either through visiting faculty or through partnerships with, for instance, Developmental Disabilities Centers in the U.S.
* Funds to the ARO activity are expected to flow primarily through Russian NGOs.
Activities focused in the U.S. Regional Investment Initiative (RII) areas will receive priority for funding. These areas include Novgorod and Samara oblasts and the Russia Far East. The initiative includes the activities of USAID, the U.S. Information Services (USIS), the U.S. Department of Commerce, and other U.S. Government agencies. In RII oblasts, USAID currently supports microenterprise and business development activities, as well as NGO development.

Last updated: May 1999

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