ALLEVIATING POVERTY
Be the change that you wish to see in the world
(Mahatama Ghandi)
Project title: Ready Set Go! - improving early childhood development outcomes for Roma children
Project promoter: Roma Education Fund Romania
Project partners: Ruhama Foundation, DIVERS Association, Justice and Brotherhood, Center for Education and Human Rights, Roma Education Fund Hungary
Project budget: 2.807.345 EUR
Project duration: 32 months
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Short description of the project: Ready Set Go! is an innovative project, aiming at scaling-up access to quality early childhood education and care services for disadvantaged Roma children, within 14 kindergartens in Romania.
The innovative interventions of the project are:
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Toy Library - a program aimed at equipping the kindergartens with toys and books for the children and their families to borrow;
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Your Story – a program aimed at improving the attitude towards the educational processes and at combating illiteracy through sessions covering discussions and interactions among families of direct beneficiaries, based on the use of pedagogical materials;
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Home School Community Liaisons – a program aimed at building trust in the educational processes through empowering the children’s families to become Educators and present a lesson to the children in the kindergartens;
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Community Motivation Events - a program aimed at building trust in the community through organizing events with the children and the families of both the direct beneficiaries and the members of the entire community
Results and impact:
The kindergarten program started in 8 of the 11 project localities. The program includes in the kindergarten those children who otherwise would not have had access in the kindergartens in the communities. In each group, approximately 20 children will be included for each school year, to participate in the kindergarten program of the project. Operating in 11 localities in six counties (Ialomița, Dâmbovița, Călărași, Bihor, Sălaj, Mureș) in Romania, “Ready Set Go!” reaches over 1,000 children under age six and approximately 1,000 parents who are participating in this initiative that aims to improve access to quality early childhood services for disadvantaged Roma children living in some of Romania’s most disadvantaged communities.
Designed to encourage active participation and amplify learning through play, the Toy Libraries from the 11 project localities will support families who do not have financial resources to purchase toys and books for their children or to renew them. The program provide a space where children and parents can learn or play and, operating in each kindergarten space. The Toy Libraries offer toy lending services for families from communities, which can regularly borrow all types of games, books in order to take them home for playing with the children, and return them to be used by others children. The place where the Toy Libraries are arranged, equipped with new furniture, educational materials, toys, games.
To achieve a broader aim to develop inclusive education in the wider community as well as foster the relationship between Roma families and schools, “Ready Set Go!” regularly invites Roma parents to share their knowledge in the classroom, coaches Roma mothers on how best to read to their children with a view on adult literacy and promotes the parenting skills that instill education as a core value in young children.
During the sessions of “Your Story”, the mothers of the children included in the project from the localities learnt how to tell to their children the story “At the Kindergarten” – a preschool children book themed on education.
Through the project, 14 new kindergarten places will be created and supported, so that children can receive early childhood education services. An important aspect of the project is ensuring that the preschool facilities, the teaching staff and the school mediators will continue the work after the closure of the project.