Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, and Ana Mendes Godinho, Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security of Portugal, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of Portugal and Ukraine on cooperation in the field of social policy.

The Memorandum provides for the exchange of knowledge and experience in the areas of social protection of vulnerable groups, provision of social assistance, early childhood intervention, and the reform of the social action system in general.

During the meeting, the parties discussed in detail the areas in which Ukraine and Portugal will cooperate more closely in the social sphere, in particular, social support for children and people with disabilities.

Ana Mendes Godinho said that Portugal was implementing the National Child Guarantee Plan consisting of three aspects. The first is a social transfer provided automatically to children at risk of poverty. The second is the work of special local teams who ensure that children have everything they need. These children and their parents have priority in accessing services, such as support for education, employment, etc. The third aspect is a special programme for children who have no parents or who are in difficult situations.

In addition, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security of Portugal spoke about a project for people with disabilities that aimed to identify disabilities at an early stage and connect them with the right specialist in time.

“We are currently working in almost all of these areas, so Portugal’s experience is really useful for us. First of all, we are interested in early intervention programmes. We want to build a system of high quality training of multidisciplinary teams working in these areas in Ukraine and extend it to all regions. The supervision of Portuguese experts is of great interest to us in this regard,” Oksana Zholnovych emphasised.

Ana Mendes Godinho noted that Portugal had a long history of experience, particularly in social support for children. She stressed that her country was ready to help in all the areas outlined. The parties agreed to coordinate further cooperation in the near future in order to implement joint initiatives.