Africa-Press – Cape verde. The president of the Cape Verdean Institute for Children and Adolescents (ICCA) revealed that Cape Verde aims to strengthen partnerships with the remaining regions of Macaronesia, to think together about best practices to improve the situation of children and adolescents.
Zaida Freitas gave this information to the press as part of the “1st Meeting of Good Practices in the Protection of Children and Adolescents in the Atlantic”, promoted by the Ministry of Family, Inclusion and Social Development, through the Cape Verdean Institute for Children and Adolescents (ICCA ).
“The objective of this meeting is to strengthen partnerships in the Macaronesia region. So, today we have here representatives from the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries and obviously Cape Verde, as we want to reflect on the challenges of protecting children and adolescents in our region”, he said.
This is in order, he explained, to think together about the best practices, the best intervention models, the great challenges, which, according to him, are very similar due to the fact that these regions are island states and archipelagic countries.
According to the president of ICCA, over these two days they intend to find, with one voice, models to improve the situation of children and adolescents, and the purpose of the meeting is also the creation of a Macaronesian network, child protection and of adolescents, without forgetting their caregivers.
“As I said initially, as island states we have several challenges, such as situations of disparity, which often leads to inequality and difficulty in accessing equal basic services for all families, which has a direct impact on our children and adolescents” he said, reinforcing that what we really want is to think about the best intervention proposals.
Zaida Freitas pointed out as one of the country’s “big concerns” the situation of parental irresponsibility, adding in this sense that the country wants to create a National Parenting Program.
“We want to focus on improving the skills of technicians, particularly ICCA social technicians. This year we will be organizing a program to improve the preparation of case investigation processes and the preparation of social reports and also this program that we call it caring for those who care”, he clarified.
In turn, the director of the Family, Childhood and Youth Support Department of the Madeira Social Security Institute, Paula Mesquita, considered that this partnership could be enriching in all regions, as she justified the rights of child are transversal.
“We have extensive experience in terms of technical assistance to the courts, in the preparation of reports, assessments of children and families and this is the area in which we can contribute”, he assured, expressing full availability of cooperation, taking into account that he highlighted that Everyone’s experience will be enriching in this matter.
The Minister of Family, Inclusion and Social Development, Fernando Elísio Freire, for his part, assured that Cape Verde’s action has focused on defending children’s rights in an uncompromising way, as a top priority.
And this protection involves, as he highlighted, defending the rights of children in all their dimensions, contributing to the fact that children and adolescents are studying, or playing, in the family environment, advancing even though the Government has worked so that all legislation can reinforce this protection.
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