By the end of January, we received 51 project concepts in the frame of Power of the Family and Community Programme. They were all carefully discussed and assessed against the aims of the programme – opportunities for support and empowerment of parents, families and communities so that they have the knowledge, the skills and the capacity to protect their children from violence and neglect and to provide them with opportunities for full development from birth through:

• development of models and practices for empowerment of parents, families and communities;
• work with children and families for social inclusion and support outside social services;
• demonstration of working successful practices that might be implemented in other parts of the country;
• provoking changes in practices and policies in care for children through evidence from evaluated projects of supported local organisations;
• encourage and support for local civil organisations in their direct work with children to understand and include in their daily work the principles: Child rights based, Child participation, Non-discrimination, Best interests of the child, Respecting and building on strengths and Do no harm;
• contributing to equal opportunities for children from birth to preschool age and prevention of negative effects of poverty and lack of parenting skills on the welfare and educational development of children by providing support for families in underdeveloped communities.

The assessment of the presented concepts has been made on the ground of the following practical criteria:

• the aim matches / is close to the aim of the programme;
• there is link between the mission, the goals and expertise of the organisation and the aims and the activities of the project;
• the project is implemented by a local not for profit organisation with experience in the settlement;
• there is a clearly defined and described target group with well identified needs, deficits, difficulties and opportunities;
• systematic activities directly targeted at informing, involving and empowerment of families and communities aimed at good care for children so to prevent / reduce violence neglect and risks for separation chi8ldren from families are planned;
• concrete expected changes in lives of children and families that are in line with the aim of the programme are formulated;
• there is a well-grounded correlation between planned activities and expected results;
• the proposed activities foresee a good covering of the target groups; face real needs and opportunities of families and children and are directly aimed at empowerment and independency of parents / families in their parenting role;
• are planning a program for early childhood development for disadvantaged children by providing a variety of activities for parents and children (0 to 5 years) to support children's learning, health, social and emotional development skills.

Twenty-five organisations are formally invited to present a full project proposal in the frame of Power of the Family and Community Programme. The application deadline is 20 March 2020. The applications will be evaluated by a team if independent consultants. The applications approved for funding will be announced in April 2020.