SOS Children‘s Villages Bosnia and Herzegovina

SOS Mobile Kindergartens

A LOVING HOME FOR EVERY CHILD

Investing in your future!

“This document is prepared under the project“Exchange and cooperation for better welfare of children”, No.:BG051PO001-7.0.07-0086-C0001, implemented with the financial support of the Human Resources DevelopmentOperational Programme co-financed by the European Social Fund of the European Union.”

SOS Mobile kindergarten started in Gorazde in 2004 and in Mostar in 2006

The idea was: •To prepare children from rural areas for the first grade of primary school•To reach our target group•To strenghten the relationships with local communities•To raise number of children attending preschool education in Bosnia

Statistic shows 10-12%

The begining and the idea

Our target group

Children at risk of losing parental care

Children from the alternative care

Children from the communities whose rights to education are violated

Negotiations

- Visit to primary schools and meeting with school management in order to present the project

- Official Permition from the Cantonal Ministry of education

- Signing Memorandum of Understanding with Municipality

Necessary resources and first activities

• Employment of teachers• Adequate space/classrooms• Didactic material• Car for transportation of teachers to locations• Pedagogue as coordinator of the project• „Spreading the word“ – adverts for the local

communities• Enrolement of children

Schools as important partners

Schools offer classrooms, cleaning, electricity, water, toilets, cooperation with school staff

Different requests from different schools:•Bosnian and Croat Curriculum•Differencies in size of premises

and available equipement•Adjustment to school schedule

Statistics

Gorazde- 162 children age 3 - 6 in school year 2013/14- 2 locations Mostar- 106 children age 3 – 6 in school year 2013/14- 3 locations

- We respect the individual needs of every child- We help children express their emotions- We teach children to speak and express their opinions- We infuance and follow their phisical, social and

emotional developpment- We teach them to make decisions and solve the

problems- We prepare children for the first grade of primary school- We make partnership with teachers in order to support children- We follow their results at school

How do we support children

Curriculum and Pedagogical documents

Annual plan for Mobile Kindergartens (September)

Focus on preparation for school No official pedagogical documentation (only

Main book – records of enrolled children) Purpously developed documentation:

Attendance book, Check lists - Individual development of children, Monthly reports – activities done in past month

Multidisciplinary team

Family strenghtening project professionals (social workers, psychologist)

Kindergarten pedagogue Mobile Kindergarten teacher

Role of MDT:- Support for parents and children - individual talks and

activities- Agreement on following steps and responsibilities in

order to help child‘s development - Education of parents

Results

The results of our work are collected throught Individual development of children (check lists) and follow up measures.

The results are:Good results of the assessment of readines for school (test results)Good results on Elementary school success indicators (at the end of first grade)Better understanding of benefits of preschool education among parents, teachers, school managementsNo drop out in the first yearNo cases of ommission of enrolements

Transferability

It is possible to transfer the project to other settings but it is necessary to have:

- Well – educated and experienced teachers- Transportation for teachers to location- Adequate premises for work- Volunteers can be engaged in process but only as

assistants (could be parents)- Follow up of local legislation (Local standards for size of

groups, square meters per child, etc.)- Good to connect to primary schools (cheaper, adequate

space, very often well equiped)

Reality and political situation

• Political situation within Mostar is difficult as national parties are blocking the elections. Town government is not functional as it lost their mandate.

• Since there is no new preschool law there is no obligation for local government to financially support Mobile Kindergartens.

• Preschool Law on Federal level exsits since 2009

• 8 out of 10 Cantons adopted the Law (Herzegovina-Neretva Canton is one of those who did not accepted yet for 7 years)

• Gorazde has financial support from Cantonal Ministry of Education (150 hours per school year)

Sustainability

• During the past years Mobile Kindergartens had different donors – but no sustainable partner in the project

• Most of the donors are covering expences for one school year – this does not give sustainability to the project

• SOS Children Villages is constantly looking for new donors

• We hope that Preschool Law will be adopted and responsibility taken by the government

The state still does not have the capacities or willingnes to recognize Mobile Kindergartens as good intervention of pre-school education for children, especially children from vulneralbe social groups

• “Mobile Kindergartens” are efficient project for preparation of children for elementary school education,

• Parents are prepared and more active partners to work with teachers and other school employees and as support in their children development,

• Schools accepted our project and are very positive regarding results of “Mobile Kindergarten”,

• Project needs continuous financial support,• Joined resource usage of all SOS Children’s Villages B&H programs

in Gorazde and Mostar is efficient way to approach more beneficiaries,

• More beneficiaries of SOS Family Strengthening Program are aware of support they can get and they approach personal easily,

• “Mobile Kindergarten” activities should be conducted by professional and well educated staff while volunteers can assist them

Lessons learned

We provide educationWe provide education

We strengthen families

We want more children to have the access to preeschol education

THANK YOU

for listening!