Crisis Monitoring at Community Level in the Republic of Moldova Trends: Survey 1&2

1. Supported by UNDP UNICEF UNIFEM Crisis Monitoring at Community Level in the Republic of MoldovaTrends: Survey 1&2 Olesea Cruc, IDIS ‘Viitorul’

2. Initiative of UNDP, UNICEF, UNIFEM Implemented by: IDIS ‘Viitorul’ CBS AXA

3. Survey methodology Data collection period Survey#: 8.11.2009 – 10.11.2010 Survey#2: 19.02 – 15.03.2010 Survey size: 1000 respondents, 10 communities 100 respondents per community Panel survey, with rotation of 20% of households Data collection methods: Administrative data: administrative fische filled in by LPA, education and health institutions; Household level: Individual interviews (face to face) with the household head.

4. Evolution of the household financial situation over the last 3 months – mainly negative, but registering an insignificant improvement

5. Prognosis of household’s financial situation for the next 3 months – winter effects are off

6. Causes for worsening of the financial situation – stable incomes,increasing expenses

7. Products for which expenses have been reduced

8. Food security – a reality for 14% of households

9. Generally, the socio-economic situation seems to be improving compared to the end of 2009. • The study data show that the crisis has passed the critical point and households begin to assess their financial capacity less negative than in December 2009; • The economic crisis is manifested at the community level through worsening of household financial status, caused by increase of price and cost of living. The dynamic of financial capacity of households in the last three months and expectations of this development on the following three months are mostly negative • Among the most vulnerable groups from this point of view are household with 3 and more children and those with a single parent; • The main risk sources for family budgets in the period December 2009 - March 2010 are: the increase of prices for goods and services, housing and heating costs associated with increased spending for health; • During the assessed period four out of ten households have reduced their consumption expenses.

10. HEALTH: Non-accession of health services upon need

11. Women constantly reported more cases of not affording themselves to visit the doctor

12. Causes for non-accession of health services upon need

13. Administrative data regarding health population show a better situation

14. Sadness, exhaustion and anxiety are specific for rural population

15. Health trends • The access of the population to health services remains very limited. Two thirds of households undergo the risk of not affording themselves the access to medical services upon need, mainly because of lack of finances; • The study data reveal an improvement of population health for the first quarter of the year. Compared with December 2010 there is a decrease of new cases of sickness in the general of the population, and among children as well. The number of malnourished children and of social diseases has also decreased; • The most vulnerable segments from the perspective of access to health services are the pensioners and households with persons with disabilities; • During the study period the coverage of medical insurance decreased with 10%;

16. School non-attendance – a common practice

17. Causes of school non-attendance(during last month)

18. Relationship between parents and children

19. Education • At the moment the study doesn’t indicate essential changes in the children education; • A widely spread practice is children missing classes. Apart from such reasons as health problems, child labor is another cause of school non-attendance; • Children are often subject to reprimands and punishments, but very rarely by physical violence.

20. Crisis response strategies at household level

21. Adapting the life style to the crisis

22. Perceived impact of the crisis at community level

23. Social benefits – more requests, less beneficiaries: administrative data

24. Crisis at the community level • Population perception of the crisis is manifested by: increased morbidity, increased poverty and intensification of migration processes. On the other hand, administrative data do not confirm intensification of migration processes, neither increased unemployment during the period December 2009 - March 2010; • The introduction of the new Law on social aid seems to "disconnect" from the social benefits system an important part of its former beneficiaries. In particular this refers to families with children (needs in-depth study); • Reducing the number of beneficiaries of social benefits involves increasing pressure on the LPA, in the form of financial aid requests increase.

25. THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION!