Between 24 and 26th of November 2009, the Government of the Republic of Moldova, financially supported by UNICEF and technically assisted by EveryChild Moldova, hosted the Regional Conference “Child Care System Reform: Commitment, Partnership, Action”. The event became part of broader consultations launched by UNICEF in 2006 in the countries of South-East Europe and CIS on the progress of the reforms undertaken in the childcare system. The Conference also was part of the events organized on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of adoption of UN Convention on the Rights of Children.

The event united representatives of governments and civil society of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova, member-states of the EU European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Each country presented their situational analysis in the context of reform implementation and registered progress. Long-term strategic solutions were presented, priorities of the reform were set, government agendas and ownerships were defined.

We remind that Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and EveryChild Moldova were selected to support the Government of the Republic of Moldova to host the conference and perform an assessment of the reform that is being implemented in the country. The objectives of the assessment were to determine the progress and identify obstacles of the reform, through analysis of the existing policies at the level of understanding of local, raion and community-level constituents, to empower the Government of the Republic of Moldova to accelerate the childcare system reform, in collaboration with UNICEF country office and other international and local constituents.

The results of the assessment carried out by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and EveryChild Moldova were presented at the regional conference, including recommendations concerning the priorities and ownership assumed by the Government of the Republic of Moldova for the following years in the context of reform implementation and acceleration.