Ready, Set, Go!

After two years of establishing the groundwork for measurable impacts in early childhood education at 14 sites in 11 municipalities in six counties in Romania, Ready, Set, Go! has inspired hundreds of children to enroll in local kindergartens, many of them attending early childhood education and care for the first time.

After two years of establishing the groundwork for measurable impacts in early childhood education at 14 sites in 11 municipalities in six counties in Romania, Ready, Set, Go! has inspired hundreds of children to enroll in local kindergartens, many of them attending early childhood education and care for the first time.

Ready, Set, Go!, which builds on the experience of REF’s portfolio of early childhood education projects across Central and South Eastern Europe and the Balkans, scales up many of the good practices embedded in REF’s intervention model for children under age six.

Ready, Set, Go! brings together a package of interventions that aim to improve kindergarten enrollment and attendance of some of the most disadvantaged Roma children in Romania.

The project mobilizes local authorities contribution with a matching outreach effort to engage local Roma communities in early childhood education; had created Toy Libraries that have loaned out some 2,000 toys to children and their parents; established a regular Your Story literacy empowerment sessions for Roma mothers; held trainings for teachers and Roma school mediators on quality, inclusive education; and sponsored community events to broaden participants’ horizons and perspectives.

From November 2015 until June 2017, Ready, Set, Go! has provided quality early childhood education for 570 children, 530 parents, with five kindergarten spaces constructed & five more refurbished.

Ready, Set, Go! is implemented by the Roma Education Fund Romania and made possible with the support of Norway Grants RO25 Poverty Alleviation Programme, with additional support from Open Society Foundations and technical assistance from the World Bank.

Project partners included Ruhama Foundation, Divers Association, the Centre for Education and Human Rights and the Association of Brotherhood and Fraternity.

For more information, please visit http://www.romaeducationfund.ro or https://www.facebook.com/readysetgo.ro/