TECHNICAL COOPERATION BETWEEN RELAF AND UNICEF ARGENTINA BEGINS IN CORRIENTES PROVINCE

We have begun the technical cooperation project in the province of Corrientes by conducting two days of workshops on September 14 and 15. These workshops were organised by RELAF, UNICEF Argentina, the Administrative Protection Body of Corrientes province, the Provincial Council on Childhood, Adolescence and Family, and COPNAF.

On September 14, workshops included the participation of a focus group consisting of Executive Branch Officials who are members of COPNAF, authorities from Corrientes’ Judiciary and Public Ministry, as well as representatives of the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE, National University of the Northeast). We’d like to highlight the participation of the Minister of the Superior Court, Dr. Alejandro Chain; Secretary for Human Development and Equality of the Government of the Province of Corrientes, Diogenes González; and the President of COPNAF, Lic. Patricia Nazer.

At the meeting on September 15, we continued with a focus group composed of technicians and operators from NGOs, government areas of health, mental health, and COPNAF.

The workshops were held with the idea of exchanging and showing the work each sector performs to prevent the separation of children from their families. Through the participation of key actors, the local reality of the loss of parental care at an early age was discussed, and the identification of resources, services, programs, tools and existing circuits in the province was addressed, in order to gather information for the subsequent construction of a protocol for and circuit of intervention.

That is why we have started the technical cooperation project in Argentina: to develop provincial experiences that can be a reference for the analysis and local application of the Model for the Prevention of family separation. The project will continue at least until June 2017 and will include activities in the provinces of Corrientes and Tucumán.