The Roma Education Fund (REF) has signed a financing agreement with Norway Grants. The agreement enables REF to implement Ready, Set, Go!, a new project targeting early childhood development outcomes for some 1,400 Roma children residing in six of Romania’s most disadvantaged counties with the highest absolute number and highest share of Roma population of preschool age.
The Roma Education Fund (REF) has signed a financing agreement with Norway Grants. The agreement enables REF to implement Ready, Set, Go!, a new project targeting early childhood development outcomes for some 1,400 Roma children residing in six of Romania’s most disadvantaged counties with the highest absolute number and highest share of Roma population of preschool age. The project is supported by a grant from Norway through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009-2014, in the framework of the RO 25 Poverty Alleviation Programme in Romania.
A part of its mission to close the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma, REF, among seven selected project promoters, will join the RO25 Poverty Alleviation Programme in Romania in order to implement its early childhood development project, Ready, Set, Go! Four REF partners will have a central role in the implementation: the Divers Association, Justice and Brotherhood, the Center for Education and Human Rights and the Ruhama Foundation. The project will be implemented between January 2015 and April 2017.
The partners attended an internal kick-off meeting, held January 19-20, 2015 in Bucharest, when they reviewed the project objectives and continued discussing project mapping, implementation and project activities, communication and dissemination.
Ready, Set, Go! aims to:
– Scale-up access to quality early childhood services for disadvantaged Roma children;
– Provide capacity building for participating Roma NGOs;
– Enhance community cohesion and integration in targeted localities;
– Influence the improvement of the policy framework through dissemination activities.
The Fund Operator (Deloitte Romania) organized the official launch of the RO25 Poverty Alleviation Programme in Romania on 21-22 January 2015. The programme aims to contribute to narrowing the gap between Romania’s most deprived citizens and the rest of Romanian society. The programme is entirely funded by Norway Grants, which provides support for environmental protection and climate change, research and scholarships, civil society, health and children, gender equality, justice and cultural heritage.
For further information on Ready, Set, Go!, please contact:
– Szilvia Pallaghy, REF Grant Program Officer, szpallaghy@romaeducationfund.org; or
– Marian Daragiu, Ready, Set, Go! Project Manager, mdaragiu@romaeducationfund.org.
For further information on the Roma Education Fund, please visit www.romaeducationfund.org
For further information on the RO25 Poverty Alleviation Programme and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism,
please visit www.eeagrants.org.
The following photographs present the launch of RO25 Poverty Alleviation Programme organized at the “Carol I” Central University Library by the Fund Operator, Deloitte Consultanță SRL.
Background
Ready, Set, Go! emerged from REF’s five educational models that shape its Grants Program, in particular its ongoing early childhood education and care initiative, A Good Start. A Good Start originally operated in two extremely disadvantaged municipalities in Romania (Telechiu and Craiova-Mofleni) in 2010-2012 and continued with a second phase between 2012-2014. This new funding from Norway Grants will allow tailored elements from A Good Start to reach some 1,400 disadvantaged Roma children aged zero to six and their parents in the six project counties (Bihor, Calarasi, Dambovita, Ialomita, Mures and Salaj), in Romania in the framework of Ready, Set, Go!
This material does not necessarily represent the official position of Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009-2014.
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Through the Norway Grants and EEA Grants, Norway contributes to reducing social and economic disparities and to strengthening bilateral relations with the benefi ciary countries in Europe. Norway cooperates closely with the EU through the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA). For the period 2009-14, Norway’s contribution is €1.7 billion. Grants are available for NGOs, research and academic institutions, and the public and private sectors in the 12 newest EU member states, Greece, Portugal and Spain. There is broad cooperation with Norwegian entities, and activities may be implemented until 2016. Key areas of support are environmental protection and climate change, research and scholarships, civil society, health and children, gender equality, justice and cultural heritage.
