Capacity-building: Unaccompanied Minors in Slovakia

The aim of this project is to provide technical assistance and support to the competent authorities and NGOs working with unaccompanied minors (UAMs), thus strengthening their professional expertise, and practical co-operation on care and protection of minors.The project's main activities included implementation of a study visit and thematic seminar/workshops. In recognition of the difficult issues surrounding the protection of and assistance to unaccompanied minors, IOM in cooperation with relevant government authorities, IOs and NGOs will provide technical assistance through an action oriented activities. The two main activities to be carried out by the project are: study visit to the Czech Republic and six thematic seminar/workshops in order to exchange information and lessons learned from countries with similar experiences aiming at capacity building at the institutional and professional level. Experts and practitioners from EU Member States and candidate countries will be invited to the Slovak Republic in order to present their models of best practices and lessons learned to persons responsible for UAMs (i.e., national authorities, social service providers, and NGOs). The results of the study visit and thematic seminar/workshops will be incorporated into the Final Report, which will be disseminated among the members of the Inter-sectorial Expert Group (IEG) on UAMs and interested parties. In addition, members of the IEG will also have the opportunity to incorporate the results of the actions within their working practices and future initiatives, thus aiming at an overall improvement of the system of care, assistance and protection of this vulnerable group, within the “best interest of the child”.