29-30 September 2015 SOFIA, BULGARIA

ECD Policy Environment - formal provision - kindergartens ( facilities, + 20 village groups) - coverage 17%, 6% 0-3, 26% funding of ECEC - state funding for public kindergartens

ECD Policy Innovations - ECD centres – municipalities - private kindergartens – 16 - private agencies - private homecare

Situation of Roma % unemployment (vs. 30%) - 7% have full-time employment - 68% of employed have low-level qualifications - 88% below poverty line - 96% do not possess agricultural land incidence of family violence tolerance

Situation of Roma – education & EC - 60% literacy rate (vs 90) (RECI) - 3.5% children m. attending organized ECD (MICS) - 61 %Primary School Net Attendance Ratio (MICS) %Primary school completion rate (MICS) % Transition rate to secondary school (MICS) % Secondary School Net Attendance Ratio (MICS)

Positive innovative policies / practices - Programmes for enhanced employment of Roma women - Conditional Cash Transfers for secondary school Roma students - Mentoring and tutoring of Roma students - Inclusion of Roma children in public kindergartens in 18 municipalities, with NGOs (2677 children)

Situation in Municipality of Suto Orizari - 43 % of Roma live in Skopje, mostly in SO - poor access to poor quality services - approx. no. of children 0-6 is kindergarten, capacity for 120 children - isolated and uncoordinated externally funded activities

Project Self Empowerment of Roma children and families in Municipality of Suto Orizari To provide Roma children and families with community-based opportunities for early stimulation, encouragement and linguistic competence and confidence building of children aged 4-6 and for improvement of child rearing and support information, knowledge and skills of parents.

Objective 1 Raising awareness in the non-Romani community regarding issues concerning Roma families and their children’s access to quality, ECD provision and services in the community - Baseline Survey – basis for measuring progress, for design of programme of work & awareness raising - Social Justice trainings for Roma and non-Roma professionals awareness raising and skills building

Objective 2 – Empowering Roma parents to support their children’s early developmental and educational needs, through training and community-based learning programmes - Adaptation of materials for linguistic confidence and competence- - Home visits - Workshops for Roma parents - Parent-children bonding activities

Objective 3 Increasing access to quality, early childhood care and education provision for Roma children, in the home and community - Establishment of Parent and Child Support Centres - Promoting linguistic confidence and competence for Roma children in PCSC’s

Objective 4 - Capacity building for Roma ECD professionals and paraprofessionals through the establishment of a Macedonian Roma ECD practitioner’s network for training and professional development - training - coordination and networking

1 st year implementation focus - main emphasis on joint development and incorporation of a community-based child- and family-centered philosophy to early stimulation, parent empowerment and development of competences of all involved (professionals and para-professionals, parents and children), and design of training/learning materials, based on SbS Macedonia and ISSA best practices

2 nd year implementation focus - main emphasis on development of materials, improvement of skills of facilitators, dissemination of best practices, parent awareness of significance of formal education and their own involvement in their child’s development, improvement of school readiness of children, as well as fundraising for continuation/expansion

Mid-term achievements - 3 PCSC equipped with learning facilities and materials, toys, hygiene facilities, PC corner, small library children benefit from center based ECEC and improved parent skills families attend regularly parent/child bonding activities and educational workshops families regularly visited - over 20 ECD (para)professionals trained - 10 NGOs brought together

Challenges related to implementation - challenges related to the problems of access to ECEC for Roma - dependency culture - lack of structure in the family / community - superficial/short-lived commitment of parents - competing priorities – economic needs are prioritised to children - NGOs = temporary stop – lack of continuity of staff and of commitment to project

Challenges to sustainability of intervention focus and further develop the capacities commitment of implementing local partners to build, adopt, implement and carry on the desired philosophy to continue developing and upgrading creatively attitudes, skills, materials and activities during and beyond the project.

Scaling ideas - Macedonian Network to keep the momentum - availability of materials/resources (for parents/children and for professionals, esp. online) - continuing awareness raising - investing in best practices - using new media - keeping beneficiaries involved (USAID- funded FOSM implemented REP)