About Us

Contribution to EveryChild

EveryChild is an international development charity working to stop children growing up vulnerable and alone. More than 24 million children grow up without parental care, their survival often threatened by greater risk of malnutrition, violence and exploitation; their future lost by missing out on school, and their childhood. Working with local partners EveryChild keeps children safe when they are alone and at risk. It protects children in danger of ending up on their own by keeping families together, and it gets children back to a safe and caring family, wherever it can. It works in Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union, South America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Tokio Marine Europe's involvement

The Tokio Marine Group is very conscious that it is a part of the various societies in which the Group operates and in which it is profitable. The Group and its employees play a very active role in a number of corporate social activities around the world. As a company based in Europe and because Japanese companies are actively seeking to participate in the economies of the new Eastern European countries, Tokio Marine Europe decided that this would be an appropriate place to concentrate its Corporate Social Responsibility ('CSR') activities.

As a result Tokio Marine Europe chose to support the charity EveryChild in its work to help vulnerable children. Last year we started supporting a project based in Moldova but for the two years prior to this the Company provided funds to help build and run a very successful Community Centre in Cimpia Turzii, Romania, which gave disadvantaged children and their families access to education and social support, thereby preventing children from being abandoned to institutions. Since 2007 Tokio Marine Europe has received updates on the progress of these projects and how the Company's contribution and the additional contributions made by staff from fundraising events were being used to improve the lives of children in Cimpia Turzii, Romania, and Cahul, Moldova.

For more information about EveryChild please visit www.everychild.org.uk

Project: Moldova

Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and today remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. High unemployment and soaring living costs have meant that 80% of the population lives below the national poverty line. Unemployment, adult migration, poor housing and limited social services have weakened the ability of parents to care for their children. Under this extreme pressure, family breakdown has become more common and resulted in greater numbers of children being placed in residential institutions or falling prey to trafficking. EveryChild is working closely with Government ministries, local authorities and the community in Moldova to reform social services, to develop alternatives to institutional care, and to support these vulnerable families.

Tokio Marine Europe Insurance Limited has donated £30,000 to help EveryChild with a project to provide support and counselling to those leaving care in Cahul, as they make the difficult transition from living in a residential institution to an independent life. They are helped to access vocational training, temporary accommodation and to visit potential workplaces. They are also able to attend clubs of interest, such as beekeeping, sports, singing and crafts to help develop their vocational skills as well as providing a safe and familiar support network.

The problem and solution – Overview:

Why these children need our help

In Cahul every year around 30 children graduate and leave institutional care because they have reached the age limit. Many of them come from disrupted families, are orphans or have completely lost contact with their biological families and therefore have nowhere else to go. Shockingly, regional research has shown that of the unsupported young people who leave institutions it was found that; 40% go on to commit crimes, 40% go on to abuse drugs and alcohol, 10% are found to commit suicide while only 10% of those who had left care actually became independent citizens contributing to society.

Project aims

EveryChild's project addresses the urgent need to support children graduating from institutional care and the deep rooted issues they have from growing up in care all their lives. The charity works with children while they are still living in the institution, helping them to acquire skills and education for employment. It works with mainstream schools so that vulnerable children leaving care before the end of school can integrate into them. It also helps to trace their biological families, where possible, and to begin the process of contact and reintegration.

After the children leave the institution, one of the most pressing needs that they have is to find somewhere to live. Most of them do not have a family or community that they can turn to and so a central part of the work EveryChild does is to offer them somewhere to stay. The project will establish social apartments to provide temporary accommodation (around 12 months) for children between 14 and 18 years old who graduate from the institution. The apartments are designed to be safe, secure and well supervised but they are also designed to give the children a degree of independence so that they can learn life skills. The charity will also run a series of classes and workshops to help the children develop life skills just before they leave the institution and also whilst living in the social apartments. These workshops include leadership training, team-building and communications skills, as well as practical skills such as cooking to boost their confidence and enable them to look after themselves once they leave the apartments. The project support workers will also help these children to access social support (e.g. state benefits) as well as to find employment.

EveryChild's impact in Moldova

So far the charity has seen 50% fewer children entering Moldova's institutions; it has helped to legalise the foster care programme, an initiative which will help 50,000 children; 450 social workers are now using EveryChild-recommended child intervention materials; it is reorganising another three institutions.

During 2009, the Cahul project placed 25 graduates into a job and they are now either living with extended family or independently; 68 children were placed back with their family and receive monitoring visits from the EveryChild team to ensure that they remain together and receive support at difficult times; 165 children went back to mainstream school. This has ensured that children have had access to a better and wider education and have the benefits of meeting new children and exploring life outside the institution.

The project has provided valuable change to children, the community and has influenced local and national authorities. EveryChild is extremely proud of the work that has taken place so far, however, it still needs funding to ensure that the social apartments are finished. Tokio Marine Europe was proud to continue this support into 2010.