A GOOD START - The EU ROMA PILOT
‘A Good Start’ project is funded by the European Union. ‘It supports more than 4,000 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). Although the project mainly targets Roma it also supports non-Roma children and families.
A Good Start’s partner non-governmental organizations works with national and local governments in the different locations to build sustainable partnerships able to increase and improve the range of services provided to young children over time.
It is managed and implemented through a cooperative partnership between the Roma Education Fund and three international partners, the International Step by Step Association, the Spanish Fundacion Secretariado Gitano, and the Slovak Governance Institute, and several partner NGOs active in social inclusion and education of Roma children in the target countries.
Starting in June 2010 and ending in June 2012, ‘A Good Start’ provides 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.
To date the project is successfully breaking down barriers to education and health with the result that more children are accessing mainstream or informal pre-school education and health services. Parents are more knowledgeable about education and early care and there are better relations between the kindergartens and Roma parents.
