Dear friend and colleague,

We are writing to you from the International Step-by-Step Association (ISSA) and the Romani Early Years Network (REYN) Advisory Group to share the latest initiative from the Network.

We are in the process of developing the REYN Manifesto DRAFT REYN Manifesto, one of the most important steps in the growth of REYN and a critical document in the development of the Network. Your comments and reflections about the text are of crucial importance for us.

The REYN Manifesto is the document that presents what we hope will become the basis for our common beliefs and values. It is also the document that demonstrates our commitments that will guide our collective work and our involvement in the Network’s activities. It has a potential to define REYN’s identity for its current Romani, Traveller and other members, and for potential members who share these values, beliefs and commitments with us.

At the first meeting of the REYN Advisory Group, on the 1^st – 2^nd of July in Budapest, we jointly drafted an initial version of the Manifesto with ISSA’s management team, for us to share with the membership of the Network and ask for member’s advice and comments.

We send this draft to you in the sincere hope that you will add your opinion, identify points that might be missing and engage in an active dialogue with each other and with the REYN Advisory Group, as a member of the Network. We want you to be an active participant in the process that defines REYN’s identity and image. It is important that at the end of this consultation process, the Manifesto represents the voices of all REYN members.

We welcome your comments on the text of Manifesto as well as suggestions for improvement; please, post your comments on the REYN Blog (http://reyn.blog.issa.nl). We will post the Manifesto on the REYN Facebook group, but it is important to have your feedback posted on the REYN Blog. We will respond to your comments or requests for further information on the Blog page (http://reyn.blog.issa.nl).

The process of consultation is open from now until Friday September 6, 2013.

Warmest regards from ISSA and the REYN Advisory Group!

Liana Ghent, ISSA, Executive Director

Mihaela Ionescu, ISSA, Program Director

Zorica Trikic, ISSA, Senior Program Manager and Interim REYN Coordinator

Samanta Baranja, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia, REYN Advisory Group Member

Marian Daragiu, Roma Civic Democratic Alliance, Romania, REYN Advisory Group Member

Adrian Marsh, Open Society Foundations, UK, REYN Advisory Group Member

Miroslav Sklenka, Wide Open School, Slovakia, REYN Advisory Group Member

Andor Ürmös, Directorate General for Regional Policy, European Commission, REYN Advisory Group Member