AURORA
It measures the risks and vulnerabilities of children in a household
- Available in:
- English
- Română
What is Aurora?
Aurora is a real-time evaluation and monitoring tool that helps community workers and authorities.
Aurora records data about people, households, communes, and cities (town halls) collected over time by community workers and field operators. On-site activity is monitored by county coordinators at General Directorate for Social Assistance and Child Protection (GDSACP), Directorate for Public Health (DPH), County Center for Resources and Educational Assistance (CCREA) institutions as well as specialists from central institutions and UNICEF.
How is Aurora working?
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A mobile app that is used in field work by local field professionals for case management. The application collects data about all members of the household, generates a diagnosis of vulnerabilities of children and women, and then suggests a basic service package.
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A web platform that aggregates data at local, county and national level. With this help, Community workers can justify the interventions, and the county and central authorities can generate the necessary reports for monitoring and evaluating the activity. Platform data is the basis for decision-making, project creation, and policies. |
🛡️Aurora ensures the confidentiality and protection of personal data.
Evolution of the Aurora project over the years
2011
The "First Priority: No Visible Child" project was launched to recommend:
"There should be a methodology for fully diagnosing vulnerabilities based on a grid of indicators to be applied uniformly to all children and all communities. methodology, correlation of vulnerabilities diagnosed with the individual intervention plan. The new methodologies, procedures, formats and indicators can be integrated into a smart online application that provides help and support to supervisors and social workers."
2013
The Risk and Vulnerability Identification Methodology was developed with the support of CERME and CPSS. The methodology records data about all members of the household and involves the collection of widely accepted indicators for relevance to the situation of children and their families and measures 17 vulnerabilities and 37 sub-vulnerabilities. The methodology was adopted at national level in the form of the Government Decision 691 and is implemented by all social workers in the country in the preparation of the case management case.
2014
The software tool, comprised of the mobile application and the web platform, was developed with the support of the ATTA Systems team. The system is implemented and tested in 32 rural localities of the most vulnerable communities in 8 counties, with the support of over 90 community workers and county coordinators. Within one year of the project, data were collected about:
- 2,275 CHILDREN
- 9,785 PEOPLE
- 1,644 HOUSEHOLDS
- 8,213 VULNERABLE PEOPLE
2015
The evaluation of the project "Social inclusion through the provision of integrated services at the community level" shows the first results of using Aurora to provide the minimum service package. The adjacent graph shows the dynamics of the households monitored during the project. The first data collection for a household is recorded as T0 and shows the situation at the initial time. After every 9 months, according to the methodology, data collection is recorded at T1, T2, ..., Tn and shows the dynamics of the household situation.
- 18,661 CHILDREN
- 133,147 PEOPLE
- 49,858 HOUSEHOLDS
- 124,888 VULNERABLE PEOPLE
2017
With the support of the ATTA Systems team, the Health and Social Services Map of Bacau County has been developed to support the Bacau County Council in planning support measures for children and families in situations of vulnerability, marginalization and exclusion. The social and medical service map is integrated with Aurora to enable field professionals to refer vulnerable people to the nearest and optimal specialist services. The interactive map of social and medical services can be accessed at the link below.
2018
Aurora is only used as a data collection tool for the last component of the project to deinstitutionalize children in institutions and ensure the transition of their care in the community. The system is used to review all households with children from 30 communes located in 29 counties in Romania with the help of 400 community workers.
- 8,865 CHILDREN
- 29,420 PEOPLE
- 6,066 HOUSEHOLDS
- 26,916 VULNERABLE PEOPLE
2019
The evaluation of the project "Social inclusion through the provision of integrated services at the community level" shows the first results of using Aurora to provide the minimum service package. The adjacent graph shows the dynamics of the households monitored during the project. The first data collection for a household is recorded as T0 and shows the situation at the initial time. After every 9 months, according to the methodology, data collection is recorded at T1, T2, ..., Tn and shows the dynamics of the household situation.
2020
Following the UNICEF modelling project, the Government of Romania enacted Law No. 231, mandating the use of the Minimum Package of Services (MPS) model nationwide, which supports the provision of services for vulnerable children and families, provided at a local level, with the aid of Aurora.
2021
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights and Adoption and UNICEF Romania, with the scope of handing over Aurora for national scale-up and future integration within the national management information system for children (SINA - National Integrated Systems for Adoption).
2022
The technical development on SINA continues, supported by the Competitiveness Operational Programme (POC) 2014/2020, under the framework of a National Strategy for the Digital Agenda and the Integrated Plan for simplifying administrative procedures. Concurrently, the UNICEF's programme and case management activities - relying on continuous use of Aurora - are still in effect in the counties of Bacau and Brasov in the modelling project for MPS and Integrated Community Centers (ICC).
2023
By enactment of Law No. 156 on prevention of separation of children from their families, the National Child Observatory is established and regulated embedding Aurora as SINA's prevention component, and the activities of identifying vulnerabilities, initiating case management for children, and providing the minim package of social services for children at risk were scaled-up at a national level.
The current situation
29,800
CHILDREN
172,352
PEOPLE
57,568
HOUSEHOLDS
160,017
VULNERABLE PEOPLE
*The displayed data reflects the real-time status, featuring the most recent household information as of December 31, 2023.
What type of data Aurora provides
VIDEOS
Find out more about Aurora
If you're interested in understanding how Aurora improves the lives of vulnerable children, reach out to us at: bucharest@unicef.org or vtomus@unicef.org.
A set of relevant documentation is available at all times in Aurora and can be tailored to match different humanitarian and country-specific contexts. This customizable repository includes legislative provisions and guidelines (primary and secondary legislation, methodologies and standards), documents on child development and violence against children, brochures about COVID-19 and practical guidance and methods for prevention and protection, the Aurora manual, with technical and methodological specifications.