‘A Good Start: Scaling-Up Access to Quality Services for Young Roma Children’
The 'A Good Start' (or AGS) project will demonstratehow to expand proven small-scale pilot activities so as to reach large numbers of Roma children and to create efficient and sustainable services schemes adjusted to local needs.
"With support from the European Union".
The main objectives of the pilot are
• To scale-up access to quality ECEC services for disadvantaged Roma children; and
• To raise early childhood development outcomes for Roma children so as to enhance their school readiness and subsequent life opportunities.
These objectives will be reached through a wide range of activities tailored to the local situation and needs of local Roma communities. The project has been designed on the basis of baseline surveys carried out by the REF and its partners prior to this application in order to get an overall picture of the coverage and the quality of ECEC services and schooling in each target locality.
The Roma Education Fund and its partners also aim to use the experience accumulated during the project
accumulated in the project to influence the improvement of the policy framework through complex dissemination activities to promote the quality of services accessible for this vulnerable child group in the EU members and candidate countries.
The ‘A Good Start’ project is expected to support 5,000 children from ages zero to six to access early childhood education and care services in 16 locations across four countries (Hungary, Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia). In these different locations, national and local governments will work with non-governmental organisations to build sustainable partnerships able to increase the range of services provided to young children over time. The project will therefore provide an important start to long-term, effective support for Roma children across a range of their developmental needs. This is a key element to breaking the cycle of poverty. The ‘A Good Start’ project will be managed and implemented through a cooperative partnership between the main applicant (the Roma Education Fund), three international partners (the International Step by Step Association, the Spanish Fundacion Secretariado Gitano, and the Slovak Governance Institute), and several local Roma NGOs active in social inclusion and education of Roma children in the target countries.