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Description
The project, within the relevant Roma community, focuses on the support of early care and parenting education, which is one of the most neglected areas for this vulnerable group. The development of children in marginalized Roma communities is negatively affected by their living conditions. The period of the first few years in a child''s life is crucial. The aim of this project is to continue activities oriented at working directly with babies from birth, toddlers, infants and preschoolers and their mothers directly in families at home through the active participation of mentors - mothers directly from the local community. The benefit of the project is the employment of two women/mothers from the community. The project will include methodological materials for parents - leaflets "in hand" on topics according to individual education as well as a complex guide focused on early child care in the home environment from birth to individual months from 1 to 3 years, designated for workers with MRC as well as parents. Activities in new localities (Ochtiná, Moldava nad Bodvou) include the presentation of experiences and advice to local governments and community centers regarding early care in the home environment. The project is a continuation of a successful project implemented through the 1st call of the ACF program.
Summary of project results
The first days and years of life are crucial for a child''s development especially for children raised in poverty and social exclusion. The aim of the project was therefore to introduce meaningful and effective methods and services at the local level, which would contribute to solving the unfavourable situation, especially in the field of early care. As part of the project, our community centre Domcek became the centre of support for early intervention. Activities in centre focused on early care: direct work with babies from birth and their mothers in centre, counselling and educational activities for mothers before childbirth, with new-borns, infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. We also work with children and mothers in their home environment with help of 3 mothers from the community who have been trained to became mentors for early childhood interventions. Another of the activities is to accompany minor and adolescent first-time mothers to hospitals and other places with help of the experienced mothers from the community in the form of volunteering. We provided methodological materials for early care to parents and created methodological material: Early care I. - Manual for early care mentors in families and mothers of babies up to 1 year. We established cooperation with representatives of organizations working in Roma communities in 3 localities: Snina, Pila and continued cooperation with Moldava nad Bodvou, where we organized an information and working meeting connected with a lecture and practical demonstrations of activities. The interest in the activities is great, mothers involved in project activities approach childcare responsibly, participate regularly in activities and are actively interested in related topics. A total of 262 people took part in the project.