24.03.2010  The Gorbachev Foundation and USAID Russia signed a partnership memorandum in support of improving child welfare system

On March 11, 2010, the International Foundation for Socio-economic and political research (The Gorbachev Foundation) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in support of the efforts by the Russian government and non-governmental organizations aimed at improving the national child welfare system and assisting troubled families.

According to the Russian Health and Social Development Ministry’s statistics, over 730,000 thousand Russian children are officially registered as without parental care, with over 150 thousand institutionalized including 25,000 thousand disabled children and approximately 14 thousand children under 4 years of age.

To address these challenges, the Government of Russia has prioritized reducing child abandonment and supporting the development of family-based care for children at risk. Through the Safe Childhood Project, USAID and the Gorbachev Foundation will help focus national and international attention on these critical issues. Significant progress has been made and reforms carried out in regions such as Tomsk Oblast and Perm can serve as national models.

The first initiative supported under the USAID-GF partnership launched today will be a Safe Childhood Project implemented by the National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. This project will create a high-level forum for representatives from government, scientific and professional communities to discuss challenges in child welfare and exchange best practices in welfare reform.

“One can judge of the level of a society’s development by its attitude towards the weak and helpless. By helping children who found themselves in heavy life circumstances, we lay the foundation for a more humane and fair world in the future,” stressed Mikhail Gorbachev.

“Improving child welfare is vital to the future progress of both our countries, together we can help reduce the number of vulnerable children and bring increased visibility to the significant progress and on-going challenges in this area,” said  U.S.Ambassador John Beyrle at the signing ceremony.

After the ceremony U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle, his wife Mrs. Jocelyn Greene, Mr. Keith Simmons, Director of USAID Russia, and Mrs. Marina Egorova, President of the National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, visited the exhibition Mikhail Gorbachev: Life and Reforms.