Description
According to the 2011 National Census more than 612,000 Romanians (3.3% of the population) declared Roma ethnicity, making Roma the second largest ethnic minority in Romania, after Hungarians. The Romanian Roma is poor, vulnerable and socially excluded, severely limiting their opportunities to contribute to Romania’s economic growth. The early years of life lay the foundation for growth and determine the individual’s potential for lifelong development. Interventions during early childhood will be critical to improving marginalized children’s potential to succeed in school, maintain good health, and enjoy higher earnings and opportunities in the future. A 2012 WB study reveals that Roma children who attend preschool are much more likely to complete secondary school than Roma children from the same communities. The proposed project aims to improve the early childhood development outcomes of Roma children aged 0-6 with demand-side interventions in the family and the community, and supply-side interventions in preschools with a view to promote quality and inclusive preschool education. The Project target groups consists of Roma children of preschool age their parents, Roma community mediators, professionals, and para-professionals, kindergarten staff and facilitators of Roma grassroots NGOs involved in activities related to early childhood development in 14 urban and rural localities situated in 6 counties with highest share of Roma population of preschool age. The final selection of the localities will be made after the completion of in-depth community assessment survey based on an analysis of official data from the National Population and Household Census conducted in 2011, combined with preschool education statistics for the 2014 academic year. Two clusters have been identified: W (Mures, Bihor, Salaj) and S-E (Dambovita, Calarasi, Ialomita). The primary target group of the project are approximately 1400 Roma children and their parents.
Summary of project results
The RSG project aimed to improve the early childhood development (ECD) outcomes of Roma children aged 0-6 with demand-side interventions in the family and the community, and supply-side interventions in preschools with a view to promote quality and inclusive preschool education. The project addressed both supply- and demand-side obstacles to participation of Roma children in early childhood education and care programs. The project interventions focused simultaneously on increasing the participation of Roma children in early childhood education and care programs, improving the quality and inclusiveness of teaching and learning and strengthening the parenting skills of the Roma parents. The project expanded access to mainstream ECD services in localities with significant share of Roma population where the preschool infrastructure is lacking or inadequate in 6 Counties - Bihor, Calarasi, Dambovita, Ialomita, Mures, and Salaj.. The RSG project successfully achieved its results through creating access for Roma children in kindergarten facilities (i.e. 14 new kindergarten groups), involving children in institutional quality ECD services, and through improving parental skills and practices. From the perspective of the achieved results, the RSG project constituted itself as an integrated approach to enhancing the quality of Early Childhood Development (ECD) services in Romania - it started from renovating/rehabilitating 14 kindergarten places and additional rooms for Toy Libraries; it continued with establishing quality ECD services for children in 11 localities (kindergarten program for 14 kindergarten groups), being accompanied by innovative means of developing children’ learning outcomes (Toy Libraries and Community events); and it also correlated the development of the learning outcomes for children with the improvement of parenting skills and practices (involving caregivers in reading sessions - Your Story, and Educator-for-a-day sessions - Home School Community Liaisons).
Summary of bilateral results