Enhancing the capacity of the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors (SSPUAM) to improve the quality of services provided to unaccompanied minors, including within the Accommodation Centres

About this project

<p style="text-align: justify">&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: justify">The project will improve the social care towards asylum seekers, the effective management of unaccompanied minors living in precarious conditions and the establishment of standard operating procedures of social care for unaccompanied minors and vulnerable groups. The project will enhance SSPUAM’s capacity to follow up their extended responsibility following new legislation in 2020 regarding the protection of unaccompanied minors and may be implemented in cooperation with Civil Society Organisations (e.g. NGOs) providing services to SSPUAM.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) will support the project by providing experiences and expertise. Furthermore, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will also support the project.</p> <p style="text-align: justify">The project will include the following main activities:</p> <ul> <li style="text-align: justify">Development of an evaluation and monitoring system of open centres for the protection of unaccompanied minors and other vulnerable groups, that will include, inter alia, an interactive electronic platform of evaluation, standard operating procedures, manuals and guides for the evaluation process, manuals and guides for the accommodation structures, questionnaires and proposals for the standardization of the shelters’ quality criteria and capacity building activities to both professionals of the accommodation centres and the personnel of SSPUAM.</li> <li style="text-align: justify">Continuation of the operation of the National Emergency Response Mechanism (NERM) for the protection of unaccompanied minors in distress which consists of a hotline available in several languages, information points and mobile units. The coordination of the NERM will be transferred from UNHCR to SSPUAM.</li> <li style="text-align: justify">Continuation of the Accompaniment Support Mechanism for unaccompanied minors living in precarious conditions, as well as for their interaction with public administration services.</li> </ul> <p style="text-align: justify">&nbsp;</p>

Bilateral cooperation results

It is a fact that General Secretariat of Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection (GSVPIP) together with UDI achieved shared results for better migration strategies and improved knowledge and mutual understanding in the field of unaccompanied migrant children. The Donor Partner Project was involved in the project by attending events in our project (e.g. closing event in Athens), contributed with presentations and input to spot controls, enhanced capacity building in our project (in the form of trainings and knowledge transfer) and worked with the employees of GSVPIP in finding common solutions to shared challenges in the field. After the project was completed, the cooperation with the UDI continues through the implementation of new bilateral actions that will enhance of operation of GSVIPIP (e.g. project Fortify) and other projects that will add to the preparedness level of GSVPIP for the next financial period of EEA Grants.

Project partners

• Norwegian Directorate of Immigration Donor project partner· Norway