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REYN Draws Attention to Roma Children at the European Parliament 

Within the framework of Roma Week 2023, the International Step by Step Association (ISSA) through its REYN initiative, and together with the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), Eurochild, and the Minority Initiative, held a public event at the European Parliament in Brussels on April 27, 2023. The session, titled “Unlocking the Potential of Young Roma Children in Europe” was hosted by Dr. Milan Brglez, Member of the European Parliament (Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats). 

Moderated by Tomas de Jong, Junior Policy Manager for Health Equity (EPHA), the meeting highlighted the importance of early childhood development to help Roma children in Europe grow and thrive, despite the structural barriers they are repeatedly faced with. It also brought to light the issue of school segregation and the overrepresentation of Roma children in institutional care. The meeting concluded by galvanizing European and national policymakers to take action in the early years. 

Roma children in Europe not given the opportunity to thrive  

The meeting started with a keynote speech by MEP, Dr. Milan Brglez, Vice-Chair of the Intergroup on children’s rights and member of the Committee of Employment and Social Affairs. In his opening statement, he said, “As a father, pedagogue and politician, I can confirm that there is no greater satisfaction than helping children and young people to thrive, recognize and realize their potential in a world full of challenges.” 

The reality in which Roma children live often makes it very difficult, however, for them to develop and thrive. He argued that “unequal opportunities for Roma children to take full advantage of their potential are not only unjust and in violation of their fundamental rights, but also to the detriment of the Roma community and society as a whole as they perpetuate the intergenerational social hardship and exclusion.” 

“To break the vicious circle of inequality that Roma children and their families face, we must first understand and raise awareness about the conundrum of structural determinants and obstacles coupled with antigypsyism and intersectional discrimination that negatively affect the lives of Roma from the earliest years of childhood.” 

New data about the situation of young Roma children in Europe 

Following Dr. Brglez, Aljosa Rudas, Program Manager at ISSA and coordinator of the REYN Initiative, referred to the scientific evidence that states that the first six years of a child’s life are critical in determining their future outcomes, and introduced the recent European REYN Early Childhood Research Study. Conducted in 11 countries, the study brings together unprecedented Roma-related early childhood data, exploring six key areas that impact a child’s holistic development, including discrimination and antigypsyism. The report also contains recommendations for coordinated European and national action to support the inclusion of Roma children. 

Experiences of antigypsyism and poverty 

Next, Reneta Krivozova, Policy and Advocacy Officer on Child Poverty at Eurochild, presented a new project taking place in Bulgaria, which to improve the lives of people living in disadvantaged situations — especially Roma populations as 86% live in poverty. Currently, there is an overrepresentation of Roma children in care. The project gathers evidence on how to prevent family separation and support families before children enter into care.  

Expanding on the issue of the institutionalization of Roma children, Tanja Vasić, of the Minority Initiative, Austria, highlighted the large scale of the problem in Europe and that alternative care is hardly available for Roma children due to systemic racism and antigypsyism. Ms Vasić provided some suggestions on how to provide support to Roma National Strategies to ensure that alternative care is provided for Roma children. She stated that, “If we want to change something for those children, we have to change relations: we have to change how people treat Roma families.” 

Call to action/ongoing initiatives 

Agata D’Addato, Head of Program at Eurochild presented the First Years, First Priority campaign which works to bring early childhood development onto the EU policy and funding agenda. The campaign focuses especially on children from birth to three years of age and on those children who are facing the biggest disadvantage — such as Roma, migrants and refugees, children living in poverty or in institutions, and children with special needs or disabilities. 

Francesca Colombo is a Program Manager at ISSA and works on the First Years First Priority campaign. She highlighted that for the campaign to be successful — ensuring that all young children aged 0 to 6 have equal opportunities for safe, healthy and optimal development — it is crucial to have evidence and data about the situation of the most vulnerable young children and their families, including Roma children, in order to be able to combat the discrimination and exclusion they face and be able to support them effectively. 

“There is no quality in ECEC services if there is no inclusion” 

Geraldine Libreau, Policy Officer for Early Childhood Education and Care at the European Commission, opened her speech with these words. She outlined potential avenues for action from the European Commission to break the circle of discrimination. She also highlighted the important efforts of the European Working Group on Early Childhood Care and Education in having inclusion as a key pillar of an integrated and holistic approach for the early years. 

Voices from the field 

Participants also had the opportunity to share their insights, including encouraging and successful practices. Zsuzsa Laszlo, National Coordinator of REYN Hungary shared the importance of working with Roma ECD professionals. She noted that, “Quality education in early childhood is only possible if we pay attention to the professionals who work with Roma and refugee children.” 

Roma children must have equal access to opportunities 

The meeting was closed by Mr Dragos Pîslaru MEP, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. In his concluding remarks he urged EU Member States to comply with their obligations and take action to meet the needs of Roma people, and Roma children in particular. He argued that “It is crucial to see and feel the types of challenges that Roma children are facing” and emphasized that, “We cannot stop until each and every child in a Roma community has equal opportunities to access the same services as children in other communities.” 

Ouderklap – Beyond A Play and Meeting Room for Roma Families with Young Children

“You are welcome, we want you there. As a parent, you can join whenever it suits you”. This is the message that community worker Aslihan Kaplan and parenting support worker Cara Van Dam use to welcome Roma parents when coming to Ouderklap for the first time.

Launched in the fall of 2021, Ouderklap is a ‘play and meeting group’ for Roma families with young children and families with young children without a Roma background in Kallo, a small district of Beveren in Flanders, Belgium.

After one year of work at the helm of this initiative, in this article, Aslihan and Cara share their experiences.

Located in a district with a great diversity of residents, Ouderklap welcomes Roma children aged 0 to 6 years and their mothers and fathers on Friday afternoons. In the community room, twice a month the play mats are brought out and the toys are ready for children, while the room smells of coffee and tea for the parents.

“I finally got to take a shower, not a dot on my head but loose hair. Finally, something else than being busy with the children because I have been doing nothing else than caring for others for 6 years. I also want to go back to work, and have my baby go to childcare, because I always worked before I met my partner.“

The meaning of encounters for parents

The center offers Roma parents a place they can have to themselves, where they can meet other mothers who have similar experiences about raising their children and sharing doubts and experiences with other parents, which has been revealed as a great source of support. It is also a place where they can play together and discover new experiences with their children. Some of the topics parents have shared their experiences on include:

  • How to introduce sleep routines since older children keep each other awake? 
  • My child is being bullied at school. What can I do? 
  • How do you stay calm yourself when children are angry or excited? What helps and what doesn’t? 
  • Partner help and involvement in parenting

Ouderklap also became a safe space for Roma mothers to allow their sub-identities in addition to being mothers. As one mother put it, “I finally got to take a shower, not a dot on my head but loose hair. Finally, something else than being busy with the children because I have been doing nothing else than caring for others for 6 years. I also want to go back to work, and have my baby go to childcare, because I always worked before I met my partner.”

It also became a place for them to unwind and have a medium to share frustrations and make concrete steps when they felt ready. Cara noticed that it is important to be aware if mothers just need to vent or want to find a solution to something. For example, mothers could say things like, “My kids go to sleep really late, they don’t listen when I send them to bed. But it’s also not healthy because you can see they don’t get enough sleep, and then they cannot get out of bed.” So as a facilitator, Cara can guide the conversation using questions like “What have you tried? And how is it now? Is that enough for you? Did you just want to be able to talk about it now or are you willing to do something about it too?” And if they’re ready, she would guide the discussions to come up with solutions together.

Is pancake baking family supportive?

During the implementation of the Ouderklap sessions, Aslihan and Cara noticed the need for the initiative to first grow into a safe place and later, from that trust, to also be a place where questions on all kinds of topics could be discussed. It was always up to the local residents to decide what they felt like doing. One might like to make pancakes together, another to go on an excursion, while some prefer to simply practice their Dutch language skills. This variety of interests then raises the question about the value of ‘Ouderklap’, is this really family supportive?

What is supportive for parents is very diverse, what energises one might not for another. According to Cara and Aslihan, family support is about initiatives that can be supportive at moments where people need to recharge to then take up their parenting role again.

Keeping thresholds low

While hesitation to participate and maintaining an equally safe environment for everyone remains a challenge, Cara and Alishan learned that making the participants co-responsible for the group process is key. This implied flexibility from them as facilitators during their nine-months exploration. They not only organized outdoor activities to increase visibility in the neighborhood, but also experimented with handing out soups at schools and knocking on doors. Having a familiar face, such as Aslihan, whom is the neighborhood community worker, also proved to lower the barrier to participate for both mothers and fathers.

Great ambitions

For Aslihan and Cara, their ambition is to empower Roma mothers. While both fathers and mothers are welcome, they noticed that engagement came mostly from mothers. They are determined to create a safe environment to strengthen these mothers to do or say what she has long desired for both herself and her children. Whether it be setting boundaries, allowing sub-identities to be present, or simply being able to come to the center, Ouderklap has succeeded in building a meaningful place, with and for local residents.


Authors: Cara Van Dam and Liesbeth Lambert
Photos: Courtesy of Ouderklap

Importance of Activities with Roma Parents in Slovakia

Striving to provide children in Slovak marginalized Roma communities with an optimal environment for their development, upbringing, and education, REYN Slovakia supports parents to improve and streamline their parenting skills, their parental competencies, and stimulates child’s development from birth.

To support parental competencies of Roma parents from Slovak marginalized Roma communities better, very specific programs are run by the Slovak government, but also by several NGOs, some of which are members of REYN Slovakia.

Members of REYN Slovakia have very specific expertise and run various programs. They communicate together regularly, exchange their experiences and good practices, give advice to one another, coordinate their activities, join forces to actively influence early childhood and parental policies and improve quality of lives of Roma children and their families.  

TOY for Inclusion and its magic

Wide Open School n.o. – Škola Dokorán,the founding member of the network REYN Slovakiaruns a project TOY for Inclusion.

“This project involves “hard-to-reach” young children from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds in high-quality inclusive non-formal community education and early childhood care initiatives, facilitates their smooth transition to primary education and improves their learning experience in the long term,“ says Miroslav Sklenka, the director of Wide Open School n.o. – Škola dokorán.

TOY for Inclusion project is well known in several communities in the eastern part of Slovakia thanks to Play Hubs, where the “magic” happens – when children and their parents enter the realm of toys, and books, and play, some of them for the first time in their life. One of the communities for a Play Hub is located in the local elementary school in Spišský Hrhov.

“Families who come to Play Hubs, informal centers run by local action teams, not only spend time with their children, but also meet new families from different backgrounds. The new relationships and ties they will establish in toy libraries are expanding into other spheres as well,” shares director of the school, Mr. Peter Strážik

AFLATOUN encourages holistic development

Another programme – AFLATOUN/AFLATOT – is run by the Open Society Foundation Bratislava and focuses on social and financial education. The program is implemented mainly in marginalized Roma communities. During the program, families learn basic strategies to support their children in their implementation of independent decisions, in perceiving their emotions, discovering nature and its resources, and learning how to save and spend responsibly, and how to share.

“Working with families is a very important since it promotes their involvement in the education and development of children in a more systematic and conscious way. The involvement of parents, especially in early childhood, encourages the holistic development of the child,” says the program manager Erika Szabóová.

Kindergarten Spišská Nová Ves started to implement the programme in 2015.

“The reactions we get from parents are very positive. They cooperate with us eagerly – not only by working on all homework connected with social and financial education with their children, but also by taking part in various community activities we organize,” says the kindergarten director Jana Zajacová.

AMALKY and NP PRIM

Organization OZ Detstvo deťom implements programme AMALKY. The core of the programme are mentors – peer activists who engage in early intervention in the Roma community, directly in families at risk of generational poverty. In the natural home environment, in the presence of mothers, they take care of children from the youngest to preschool age.

“Our activities are prepared in a way which respects the age of children and fosters their development. We bring various developing toys and activities to the families: puzzles, cubes, Montessori activities, children’s books, pencils, crayons, papers, worksheets, and coloring books,” says NGO director Eleonóra Liptáková.

Although not a REYN Slovakia member, a lot of activities in the same field REYN members work in are done by the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities. NP PRIM I and NP PRIM II are projects run on a national level. NP PRIM I focused primarily on families and children from marginalized Roma communities, who were not enrolled in kindergarten and did not attend any form of preschool, but did not exclude other parents and children. NP PRIM II strengthens cooperation with families by creating a new non-pedagogical position in the kindergarten – parental assistant. This assistant helps children and their families with the adaptation and socialization process in kindergartens. The parental assistant works directly with the families of the children in their natural, home environment, which proved successful in NP PRIM I.

These and other programmes and projects focused on the importance of activities with Roma parents in Slovakia to help parents create a better, healthier, successful present and future for their children and thus for the whole Roma community.

Read more about REYN Slovakia and follow their Facebook page. 

Blog: Impact of COVID-19 on Slovak children from marginalized Roma communities

There is absolutely no doubt the COVID pandemic has been incredibly hard on all of us. As usual, difficult times hit the most vulnerable the hardest…

Over the past 12 months, marginalized people in Slovakia have become even more marginalized due to the pandemic and all phenomena related to it. The outcomes of the pandemic are quite cruel. Many previous achievements and successful work in these communities in the field of early childhood care and education, education of children and young people or parents, health care, and other important fields and areas have come undone. The pandemic pointed to/out the differences and disadvantages that different groups of people in Slovakia face in general and in education in particular.

Almost every day since March 2020, I have watched news, articles, and reports about the impact of the COVID-19 on people’s lives. I heard about children lacking proper education and access to education, struggling with online education, or suffering from the huge workload and lack of social interactions during the pandemic. However, at first, the news mainly focused on the majority population. I assumed the situation would be much worse in Roma communities. Thousands of Roma children from marginalized communities have had very scarce or no access at all to education and care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with the situation being more stable, children have returned to schools. Majority of pupils went through an „adaptation period“ when attention was put on re-creating school and class community, and relationships. Teachers and other school professionals are only now assessing the impact that previous months have had on children, their education and wellbeing. However, there have already been news about lots of children (many from Roma communities) failing their classes.

Many Roma children could not participate in online education since they do not own a computer or/and have no access to the internet. Lack of IT skills necessary for this type of education (and no family member that could help them) and with no space in their homes where they could study made the access and active participation even harder. Community centers were closed, NGO programs focused mostly on delivering material help for communities. Educational and afterschool activities targeting regular work with parents and other important adults in children’s lives stopped completely.

According to the data from the Educational Policy Institute of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, 52 000 children did not take part in distance learning during the pandemic. This means 7,5% of all pupils did not utilize any available way of learning. 128 000 children did not have access to online education. This means 18,5% of all pupils were learning by using worksheets, via phone calls with teachers, or TV broadcast in the first wave of the pandemic.

The situation was slightly better in pre-school education. Kindergartens were open almost the whole school year. Still, many parents from Roma communities claimed they were scared to bring their children to the facilities where they could contract the disease from other children or teachers. This situation was probably the most difficult in case the child was older – right before entering primary school. Due to the fact that pre-school education for children aged 5 and older was not compulsory yet, directors of kindergartens were in a very difficult situation when trying to persuade parents to cooperate.

Both state and NGO programs focused on working with families (e.g., home visits) had to stop due to the pandemic and introduced measures. Now the situation is improving, and programs are finally reopening after being in limbo for several months.

Those times, when longer in-person meetings with people from marginalized communities were not possible, and many communities were “sealed in quarantine,” probably also had other implications. To name just a few of them, we have noticed: decreased interest in education, school, cooperation with teachers and other professionals; reduced levels of cooperation with majority population and decreased level of mutual trust; decreased motivation to work towards goals such as finishing school, finding a job, sustaining a job etc.

A couple of years ago, UNICEF started using a claim: “For every child, education. For every child, love.” All child rights must indeed be granted for all children without any exception and under all circumstances in order for children to develop their full and unique potential. These rights are granted by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and this document basically says that we cannot leave any child behind. In fact, we have left many of them behind. Children from the poorest and most marginalized Roma communities in Slovakia will need years to get back on track with their lives and education after all that has been or – better said – has not been done during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now that the restrictions have been somewhat lifted, REYN Slovakia is going to focus on in-person meetings with cooperating organisations and individuals to boost activities in marginalized Roma communities, build mutual trust, provide guidance and support necessary to get ready for possible new lockdowns and restictions. Our overall goal right now is to work as hard as possible to build resilient communities capable of using the resources around them.

Author: Erika Szabóová, REYN Slovakia coordinator, program manager, Open Society Foundation Bratislava

Read more about REYN Slovakia and follow their Facebook page. 

Online event: Evidence and Research for Roma Children— RECI Reports: Decade of Collaboration

Online event: Evidence and Research for Roma Children — RECI Reports: Decade of Collaboration

Date: December 8, 2020

Time: 14:00-16:00 GMT/15:00-17:00 CET

The program of the event and information about the speakers can be found here. Register to join the event here.

As a result of systemic racism and discrimination, Roma communities continue to suffer the highest rates of poverty and social exclusion in Europe. Deprived of their fundamental human rights, a majority live in communities where there is high unemployment, low quality housing, and limited access to basic utilities, health care, and social protection services. Infant mortality and childhood illnesses are higher in Roma communities, vaccination rates are lower, and only half as many Roma children participate in early education compared with majority populations. Too many Roma children and their families have been “left further behind” during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing poverty and social exclusion.

Between 2009 and 2020, the Open Society Early Childhood Program, the Roma Education Fund, and UNICEF joined forces to produce eight national Roma Early Childhood Inclusion (RECI) reports. The principal objective was to make information and data on young Roma children’s exclusion available to decision makers and key stakeholders in Europe with a view to strengthening advocacy for equitable early childhood policies and programs.

With the Roma Early Childhood Inclusion report series about to be completed, this event will provide an opportunity to reflect on the series’ achievements and challenges. How can the critical issues that Roma Early Childhood Inclusion addressed be solved? What are the key messages for future actions?

Speakers include:

  • Zuzana Havirova Balazova is director of the Roma Advocacy and Research Center in Slovakia.
  • Dan Pavel Doghi is the chief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights’ Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues.
  • Jana Hainsworth is the secretary general of Eurochild.
  • Anita Jones is a program manager for the Open Society Institute–Sofia Foundation.
  • Géraldine Libreau is a policy officer for Early Childhood Education and Care in the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport, and Culture of the European Commission.
  • Lucie Plešková is a program manager at Open Society Fund Prague.
  • Ábel Ravasz is president of the Mathias Bel Institute in Slovakia.
  • Ramiza Sakip is advisor for education in the municipality of Suto Orizari, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia.
  • Zorica Trikic is a senior program manager in the International Step by Step Association in Leiden, Netherlands.