Launch of the PSEA Risk Assessment

A very warm welcome everyone and thanlk you for taking the time to join us this morning.

PSEA has been an important focus on the UN Country Team, with addtional efforts and investments since the arrival of refugees and the exapansion of our programmes. I personally I am truly committed to this work.

Due to the substantial increase in the number of humanitarian workers in the country a PSEA Network was created. This allowed substantial progress on PSEA prevention and response due to the collaboration of the humanitarian and developemant accross through the PSEA Network, complimenting the pre-existing PSEA Task Force.

The PSEA Action Plan 2023 requirements of $315,000 USD has been fully funded with a collective effort by 8 UN agencies (UNHCR, WHO, IOM, UN women, WFP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP) demonstrating a strong commitment to PSEA integration by the UN Country Team and Refugee Coordination forum leadership.

Thanks to these efforts, a number of initiatives took place in 2023:

• • a pool of local investigators was initiated. 15 CSO/UN representatives, mostly women, were trained through the CHS Investigator Qualification Training Scheme (Tier 1 and 2) and Tier 3 is planned for early 2024
  • UN Agencies assessed their implementing partners’ SEA risks and put in place capacity strengthening implementation plans.
  • Essential training to over 1,300 aid workers in 2023
  • 4,854 individuals were reached with PSEA awareness-raising activities

The inter-agency risk assessment which we are launching today was a central piece to our 2023 workplan, involving comprehensive primary data collection with over 500 respondents as well as a secondary data review to identify risks to be prioritized within the 2024 action plan.

As we move forward, coordination structures will need to be further localised and the proportion of National NGOs and WLOs increased. Membership in PSEA coordination structures continues to increase, with current membership of 80 organisations.

Despite these efforts, the number of SEA complaints received in Moldova remains at 0. This may indicate that the barriers to reporting remain high as a result of wither cultural or legislative barriers that hinder or discourage reporting. More work remains to be done in ensuring access to safe reporting channels, quality services, appropriate assistance in line with victims wishes, and ensuring that their voices are heard.

However, to continue our progress we need the commitment and visibility to bring the protection against sexual exploitation and abuse to the attention of leadership in our respective organisations, Government counterparts, aid workers and development partners.

I truly appreciate your presence today, whether you are representing an organization from the civil society or the UN working in Moldova and committed to PSEA, or a development partner. This will require a sustained collective effort.