FEAD 2018 Catalogue of case studies

Slovakia – Distributing food and material aid directly at the doorstep of FEAD end recipients Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family Images © Alexander Raths, Shutterstock.com, 2018 WHY? In Slovakia, parts of the population live in extremely deprived conditions and lack the material and social assistance that would help them improve their quality of life and get on a sustainable path out of poverty. Particularly vulnerable groups include families with dependent children, the elderly, disabled and unemployed people. Not only do these groups lack social and material assistance per se, but more critically they cannot take advantage of existing aid opportunities because their mobility is restricted , and they cannot always afford to travel. WHAT? Acknowledging this difficulty, the project has set up a system to distribute food and toiletry parcels directly to the villages of the end recipients . This spares the target group the efforts of having to go far away to get aid. The elimination of travel costs for vulnerable people has significantly improved their participation in the project compared to previous years. Proximity delivery of FEAD aid also helps to create stronger links with the target group, thus facilitating the provision of counselling and other social services. HOW? To provide support as close as possible to the target group, FEAD aid in Slovakia is directly delivered in 2 554 municipalities (out of the 2 933 Slovakian municipalities), which are spread across 79 districts. The project would not be able to cover the territory so extensively, without the effective collaboration of partner organisations and local organisations . The Ministry works closely together with the Red Cross, Caritas and the Charity of St. Alžbeta, which in turn can choose to work with affiliates namely local associations. Diverse approaches to supporting Europe’s most deprived: FEAD case studies 2018 52