Attachments
Overview
In line with Strategy 2020 of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Moldova Red Cross Society`s Strategic Plan for the years 2010-2015, the priority directions that the National Society established for 2013 were the following.
-
Promotion of the humanitarian values and fundamental principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement;
-
Preparedness for, and response to, natural disasters;
-
Prevention of violence against children;
-
Home based care for solitary elderly with low income and for infancy disabled children from sociovulnerable families;
-
Training in First Aid.
It was recognised that the Moldova Red Cross would need to further improve the sustainability of its programmes, mainly through building closer partnership relations with state authorities of the Republic of Moldova as well as state-owned and private enterprises, and through promoting commercial First Aid training courses – all of those as potential means for the National Society to reduce its dependence on external donors.
The Republic of Moldova continues to strive in conditions of territorial dismemberment, grappling with high unemployment, poor investment climate and an unstable political environment. The global financial crisis has worsened the economic situation of the vulnerable people living in the country. According to the Red Cross branches, the number of people requesting Moldova Red Cross assistance is continuously increasing, although a recent study on poverty claims that in 2013 a decrease in poverty was recorded in the Republic of Moldova as compared to previous years. The minimum consumer’s basket constitutes approx.1,500 MDL. The average income of the population exceeds the average subsistence minimum only by 0.1 per cent, while for the retired people, the income covers only 73.3 per cent of the subsistence minimum.
According to the estimates of the World Bank, the Republic of Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe, the population of which faces serious economic and social difficulties, unemployment, challenges in the field of health care, and a high incidence of solitary beneficiaries, disabled children, people with sexually transmissible diseases both in urban and rural areas. Also, the situation remains alarming in terms of human trafficking and drug abuse.