Daily BirthdaysSuzanne Vega Forum
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| by Melanie Vritschan Subject: Request for help to support socially excluded children, in particular street children through the European Foundation for Street Children Worldwide (EFSCW) Dear Suzanne Vega, The EFSCW is a Brussels based Foundation set up in 1994 which has created a network of non-governmental organisations in different European countries, both inside and outside the EU, and beyond, committed to the cause of improving the rights and situations of excluded children with a special emphasis on street children. In particular, EFSCW works to raise public awareness on the issue of such children and to influence legislation at EU-level in favour of the better protection of children’s rights. As a network, we facilitate and encourage the exchange of information and best practice between our member organisations (see our weblink: http://www.enscw.org/members.htm). We assist them in building up know-how and expertise especially on children and youth-related policies and assistance programmes of the EU. Furthermore, we support our member organisations that work with excluded children in the field and help them in looking for social sponsorship for their projects. To consolidate and strengthen this consulting, co-ordination and networking function even more, we organise annual seminars and conferences (please see our annual conference and seminar programme 2005 attached). Although EFSCW has non-European member organisations as well as European members, the current and mid-term focus of our activities lies in Europe, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries. As an artist and a celebrity you are not only well-known for your excellent work and your performances in the field of music, but also for your social commitment which you have displayed throughout your career. It is against this background that we would be very interested in a joint project with you for the benefit of the most disadvantaged children and young people, which represent the main target group of our work. Our interest in working with you focuses particularly on carrying out possible common PR projects to raise awareness for the issue of socially marginalised children and together improving the situation of young people at risk. Let me give you a few examples of concrete projects in favour of excluded children, which would benefit from your support: An important project run by the International Society for Mobile Youth Work (ISMO), which is a member of ours proposes the establishment of an “Institute for Mobile Youth Work” in St. Petersburg. Since 1998, the concept of a strong community-based approach of mobile youth work has been successfully implemented by ISMO in the Russian Federation. The concept is based on the presumption that effective support to youth at risk lies above all in strong involvement of the “community” (meaning the social environment of the young person such as family, neighbours, gangs, school etc.) The institute would provide personnel dealing with youth at risk such as social and youth workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, police, law enforcement administration and judges with qualified training ensuring better and more effective treatment and dealings with marginalised youth. A change in education principles and a qualified, knowledge-based youth approach is of crucial importance, in particular in former communist countries, where authoritarian-repressive systems are still in place. The creation of the planned Institute for Mobile Youth Work would be a major step inducing this positive development. Alternatively, your support could make a huge difference for Roma children in Greece, often on the edge of society, with little or no access to medical care. Our proposal to you would be to help us financing two “mobile medical health units” used by the “Greek Network of Immigrants”, which would monitor Roma children’s health in Athens and Salonica. The units would provide them with the usually inaccessible and / or unaffordable health treatments, which are indispensable for children that are particular vulnerable and tend to be more fragile in their young years. The project is supported by EFSCW ’s Greek member organisation. A possible financial contribution from your side would mean a great deal to us and it would be of immense support to our work. If our offer for a joint project meets your interest, we would be grateful for the opportunity to meet you or one of your team in the near future to discuss the proposal in more detail. Our Information and Fundraising Officer, Melanie Vritschan, will contact you shortly for this purpose. For further information on our work, please consult our website: http://www.enscw.org, where you can also find the statutes of our organisation. Alternatively, you can of course contact us directly at any time. We thank you very much in advance for your consideration and look forward to working with you in the future. Yours sincerely, Reinhold MÜLLER Director Comment on this... |
