Description
Preschool education is essential for social inclusion and poverty reduction. The project facilitates the access of poor children to early education and develops inter-sectorial partnership in order to include preschool education on the public agenda between May 2014 – August 2015.The funding from Romanian NGO Fund will help OvidiuRo Association to: (1) Continue and extend the project in three counties by doubling the number of children in the program, (2) Develop a parent education component targeting poor parents, in partnership with Learn & Vision, which could be further replicated in other communities, (3) Strengthen the partnership with the County School Inspectorates and County Councils to extend FCG methodology at county level, under the coordination of local authorities.
Summary of project results
The project addressed the low level of preschool enrolment and attendance of children from disadvantaged communities, which is especially visible for roma children. Early participation to education is expected to lead to a better integration in school and society and, on a longer term, with improvement of their economic and social status. The intervention targeted disadvantaged families with children, preschool teachers and local authorities. "Every Child in Preschool in Brașov, Dâmbovița and Dolj counties" project increased preschool access for impoverished children and developed county partnerships which put early education on the public agenda. Within the project, the number of communities that implemented FCG (Fiecare copil in gradinita - Every Child in Preschool) methodology increased from 24 to 43, this also implying access to basic services for a higher number of disadvantaged children - 1,265, compared to 500 before the project. A strong educational component was added for parents (over 1,000 parents compared to 400 before the project), and an impact study was carried out by independent experts. The study results showed that FCG has a significant impact not only over the daily kindergarten/preschool attendance rate of disadvantaged children, but also over their attendance in the first years of school as well. The key achievement of the project was to scale up the programme at national level by obtaining the commitment of funds from the state budget according to the Law 248/2015 for stimulating attendance in preschool for children coming from disadvantaged families. The law was initiated by a group of parliamentarians, based on a proposal made by the project promoter. The national programme with public funding was launched on February 12, 2016 and will ensure sustainability of the project.
Summary of bilateral results