Open Roma Kindergartens Project - International FederationOpen Roma Kindergartens Project External evaluation ... government, schools, pre-school institutions, Roma associations, and

Social Welfare Programme

Open Roma Kindergartens Project

External evaluation

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Danish Red Cross

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Report submitted by: Ms. Biljana Lajovic, psychologist and education specialist Ms. Mirjana Trkulja, psychologist and education specialist Ms. Lidija Miskeljin, pedagogue

Belgrade, March 2005.

Serbia and Montenegro Red Cross Society Open Roma Kindergartens Social Welfare Programme External Evaluation

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Executive Summary Since the beginning in September 2002, the Roma Open Kindergarten project has been implemented by Serbian Red Cross (SRC), and Montenegro Red Cross (MRC) to integrate Roma children into the school system. The project includes 30 kindergartens in Serbia and Montenegro; 16 of these are supported by Danish Red Cross (DRC). Another substantial donor is the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC) supporting 14 Roma kindergartens in 2004. The implementation is done by SRC and MRC local branches, supported by their HQs in cooperation with the IFRC Belgrade Delegation and partner Red Cross societies. Through programme activities the following valuable results are achieved:

• Significant number of Roma children from target municipalities are

included in those kindergartens (total 572 children), • During the time of the project implementation, number of children included

in the kindergartens have been enlarged (from 3 to 24 children per kindergarten),

• Great deal of parents (especially mothers) started to be interested in their children’s education (total 375 parents were included),

• Most children attended kindergarten enrolled the first grade of regular school ( in some kindergartens it is 40% children who are enrolled un the first grade up to 85% in others ),

• Most children continue attending school (decreased drop out), • Development of children satisfaction and motivation for this kind of

activities, • Language knowledge and skills are improved, • Hygienic habits (hands, ears and teeth cleaning etc) are developed, • Health and food habits (table manners, taking food in similar time in day

etc) are developed, • Social skills (polite addressing) started to be developed,

The interest of various stakeholders including parents for this project was significant and steadily in the increase. The Red Cross branches created partnerships at the local level and although the project was externally supported, a high degree of ownership has been created. The RC network is already established in many communities and connected with local government, schools, pre-school institutions, Roma associations, and NGOs. This cooperation on local level should be reinforced and backed up by introducing relevant state institutions (Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Work, Labor and Social Affairs, Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Ministry of Health, Ministry for Local Self Governance and Labor market) with this Project and its results. As the Project targets key elements of the State Strategy for Roma people (education, health) it would be important for Red Cross to be recognized as an implementing partner within National Roma Action plan. Experience and results might be of a great value and contribution.


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The Roma Kindergarten Project is highly cost effective having in mind that annual external support to each kindergarten is between 2000 EUR (SDC and IRC support) and 4000 EUR (DRC Support). There is a degree of localized self-sufficiency depending on how effective the Red Cross branches have been in making partnerships in the local community. However, donor engagement on a strategic level should be secured with certain future commitments. An unmanaged or sudden withdrawal of funds would seriously harm the programme’s effectiveness and coherence. Bearing in mind a fragile socio economic situation in the country, further external support will be needed in order to sustain this project.


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Background

Roma minority The actual size of the Roma population in Serbia and Montenegro is difficult to assess, considering their nomadic lifestyle, their tendency toward national mimicry, as well as the serious population displacement and demographic changes noted in the country in the last decade. Estimated number of Roma people in Serbia Montenegro is between 350 000 and 500 000, which is approximately 8% of the total population. Roma are one of the most marginalized group in Serbia and Montenegro, with little social power, living in social isolation in poorly serviced camps and settlements, with low aspiration levels. In these circumstances, they cannot attain even the basic civil and collective national rights.

Roma children constitute almost six per cent of the under-15 year age group in the country. However, their participation in pre-school and primary education is insignificant. According to the 1991 census, 78.7 per cent have not completed primary education (8 years), 17 per cent completed primary schooling, 4 per cent completed secondary schooling (4 years) and 0.2 per cent had tertiary-university education. Forty four per cent of Roma people are illiterate; women are the majority among the uneducated and illiterate, due to early marriage and focus on running the household in the primary and secondary family. Roma children are often unjustifiably sent to special schools (out of total number of pupils in special school, estimated number of Roma is 50-80%)

Children commonly do not acquire adequate basic education in the family. Due to poor preparedness for school, low comprehension of Serbian language, a significant number of children are classified as mentally disabled and in many cases wrongly sent to schools for children with special needs, where they obtain education in an inadequate environment. This, in turn, does not allow them the access to secondary and further education. However, some parents prefer to send their children to special schools.

Out of the small number of Roma children who begin compulsory education, the majority does not attend classes regularly. Their achievement is poor, due to insufficient support in school and at home. They lose motivation for schooling and many drop out before finishing primary school. The impact of the resulting absence of Roma children from school goes far beyond education itself. Exclusion from education means exclusion from developmental benefits in general over the long term. Without access to education, children are denied the opportunity to acquire the capacities, knowledge and self-confidence necessary for children (and later on for adults) to act on their own behalf in changing the circumstances which are at the source of their social exclusion. In order to overcome this obstacle it is necessary to develop education beyond schooling, and at the same time to increase the capacity of mainstream education for the inclusion of children with specific learning needs. This involves community-based education in less formal settings as an outreach and/or a supplement to mainstream


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education. This also implies early learning in pre-school institutions in alternative early childhood programmes, learning at home as well as support to adults, immediate family and particularly mothers.

The external evaluation For all involved parties to obtain an objective, professional feedback to their work, it was necessary to conduct the external evaluation of the project. The data and suggestions gathered by the evaluators can be used by the Red Cross, the beneficiaries and the stakeholders for developing future projects, and by the donors for assessing the use of funds. Furthermore, this evaluation report would potentially serve as a source of accurate data and objective information upon which future partners/donors could rely when deciding whether to participate in the project. The evaluation team consists of three professionals with long experience and thorough knowledge of the educational system in Serbia and Montenegro, as well as familiarity with educational foreign systems. Their multi- faceted work included direct work with children (ages 1 to 19) and parents. Most notably, they were actively involved in the development of educational strategy on the national level, having created and carried out the programme for the state reform of the primary and high school education in Serbia. The evaluation team developed a strategy for assessing the effectiveness of the Project. The representatives of International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies accepted the plan. Together with representatives of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the evaluation team produced a list of municipalities and centers designated for field visits: Podgorica/Konik I, II in Montenegro, Smederevo, Novi Pazar, Ruma, Paracin, Merosina, in Serbia.They were selected to represent all the variety of situations and context Project is being realized in, according the following criteria: v well- functioning kindergarten/branches, v kindergarten/branches that have experienced difficulties in implementing project, v small kindergartens/branches, v large kindergartens/branches, v kindergartens/branches with partnership with other stakeholders: Local municipality

and/or Roma organizations.

Main Sources of Information and Methodology Having task to assess the Roma kindergarten project set-up and implementation we used participatory, qualitative evaluation following given ToR. To gather information necessary for evaluation the following methods were used: v Interviews with relevant individuals from IFRC and SRC, v Analyses of key documents provided by the representatives of International

Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, delegation in Serbia and Montenegro,

v Semi-structured interviews with children, parents, teachers, assistants, and programme volunteers,

v Semi-structured interviews with representatives of the local community, v Analyses of teachers’ plans and reports,


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v Analyses of recordings/documents created by children and adults involved in the project including drawings, photos, CDs, etc,

v Personal impressions formed by visits to the centers where the programmes were carried out.

Of the great importance for evaluation was getting all necessary information from the relevant people from The Red Cross involved in the project. That was the prerequisite when preparing the field visits. The evaluation team also designed the interviews, (Appendix 1) anticipating the necessary modifications for different participants. The interviews focused on the key issues to be discussed and observed. Bearing in mind specific characteristics of this population/target group, such as vulnerability and sensibility, the traditional societal prejudices and neglect that this part of population has experienced, we were aware of the possibility of receiving specific information not anticipated by our plan. Furthermore, we expected the participants to convey their concerns and needs. By analyzing their opinions, we also hoped to come up with proposals for specific changes or alterations to the existing programme plan. For this reason, we favored the semi-structured, flexible interview format. What we observed enriched our understanding and helped us form a clear picture. In order to truly evaluate effectiveness of the project it was necessary to observe its applicability and functioning in practice. All our visits were accompanied by professionals from IFRC / Red Cross of Serbia and Red Cross of Montenegro, whose participation enabled us to gain better insight and clarify some issues and dilemmas. The evaluators visited these cities: Konik – block 1 and 2 (Montenegro), and Belgrade, Smederevo, Novi Pazar, Ruma, Paracin, Merosina, (Serbia), (see Appendix 2: List of visits, Appendix 3: List of persons interviewed).

Target groups During our visits, we observed two target groups: v Roma children. v Parents of Roma children


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Basic data on participants/beneficiaries

Table The kindergarten statistics

Municipality/ RC branch Donor Number of

children Hours per

week Number of

parents

1 Aleksinac 9 12 9

2 Bela Crkva SDC 19 20 15

3 Beocin SDC 16 9 15

4 Boljevac 18 15 12

5 Cukarica DRC 16 25 12

6 Gadzin Han 45 9 0

7 Irig DRC 10 12 9

8 Kragujevac DRC 24 15 10

9 Kula SDC 10 10 4

10 Mladenovac DRC 20 15 10

11 Merosina SDC 21 6 15

12 Novi Pazar SDC 26 12 14

13 Paracin DRC 42 20 27

14 Plandiste DRC 18 12 18

15 Pozega SDC 15 6 15

16 Ruma SDC 25 12 15

17 Sabac DRC 26 12 15

18 Smederevo DRC 53 25 53

19 Sombor DRC 37 20 15

20 Svrljig SDC 13 9 6

21 Tutin SDC 19 6 8

22 Valjevo DRC 20 12 8

23 Vrsac SDC 18 9 15

24 Zabalj SDC 17 6 15

25 Zajecar DRC 15 20 25

26 Zrenjanin SDC 20 20 15

27 Podgorica I i II DRC 86 10 / Total 572 6 to 25 375

Visited kindergarten are marked.


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Objectives of the evaluation The overall objective of the evaluation is to assess the Roma open kindergarten project. The overall objective of the project is to integrate Roma children into the Serbian and Montenegrin school system, and thereby the society at large, by stimulating their intellectual and social deve lopment. More specifically, the aims of the project are:

• Strengthening of self-confidence and trust in other children and adults • Stimulating the deve lopment of a healthy life style • Giving children the opportunity to work with school equipment (pencils, colour

pencils, books) • Raising their preparedness for school activities • Raising children's learning capacities and social skills • Motivating parents to support their children's education • Developing tolerance between members of different ethnic groups.

This task was realized by available documents analyzes, individual and group discussions with different partners and by field visits to the Roma kindergartens in: Belgrade (Cukarica), Konik, Novi Pazar, Paracin, Merosina, Smederevo and Ruma . Among else, attention was paid to the aspects given in the ToR- part: Objectives of evaluation/scope of the work. Data, analyses, results, conclusions and recommendations regarding that, are presented throughout different parts of this evaluation report.

Context of the Project Every day, a number of vulnerable children (mainly Roma) attend the kindergartens for 4-6 hours. Each class comprises of approximately 15-25 children. The primary target group is Roma children aged 4-6. Other vulnerable children than Roma are included where relevant. The children attend the kindergartens for 1-2 years before enrolling into the school system. The parents of the children are a secondary, however important, target group. It has been proven essential for children’s school attendance that their parents understand the importance of education and support their children in this). Parents, we have seen during our visits, strongly express their wish for education of their children. On the other hand, drop out from this kindergartens are so minimal (children quit attending only when they move from that town, city). We have been aware that every of those towns, places and kindergartens have their own specifics. These expectations have been confirmed by the existing documents and consultations with representatives from Red Cross organizations. Field visits, in particular, were helpful for identifying all the differences and varieties. The case studies both emphasized the multiple aspects of the project and, more importantly, reaffirmed the benefits of the programme for all those involved. Variety is shown in:

• Different number of children in kindergarten: from 12 children per group in Merosina to 33 children per group in Ruma,

• Different cultural background (domicile Roma in Paracin, Merosina, Smederevo and Ruma; refugees in Novi Pazar and Konik/Podgorica; repatriates from Austria and Germany in Svrljig),


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• Different age of kindergarten children: from 4 to 12 year old, • Different schedules (from 6 to 25 hours per week, and from 2 to 5 hours per

day), • Variety of spaces for kindergartens:

a) Classroom in elementary school (Merosina ), b) Premises of the Red Cross (Paracin and Novi Pazar), c) Part of the Roma camp (Smederevo and Konik), d) Municipality’s premises ( Cukarica), e) Premises of the Public Enterprise “ Komunalac” (Ruma ).

Methodology of Work and Activities In Roma kindergartens, the teachers use official state curricula. Of course, that official programme is adapted in accordance with different circumstances: group characteristic, number of children, capacities and human resources etc. They use:

• Group work (whole group and small groups) • Individual work.

In some situations, the teachers made effort to apply individualized approach.

Activities in kindergarten

• Practicing hygienic habits • Learning social rules • Painting and music workshops • Learning alphabet • Drawing • Teaching basic mathematic terms • Reading tales in order to improve vocabulary and spread spheres of interest • Various sport activities • Birthday celebrations • Organizing visits to local parks, museums, etc. • Educational workshops / ”Smile keepers”,” Exercises of the orientation - What

is on my left/ right side, what is straight, and what is behind me” • Music activities

Those activities are used for the development of:

a) Hygiene-related habits b) Social skills c) Language-related skills d) Basic mathematical terms e) Musical and painting skills f) Children’s grapho-motoric skills g) Physical skills

Some examples of these practices can be seen in the monthly plans of activities from Paracin and Ruma ( Appendix 4). Teachers, (professionals paid by Red Cross) and assistants (mostly volunteers) conduct the programmes.


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Links with community/different partners The Red Cross HQ and the Red Cross branches in local communities were the initiators for the opening kindergarten for Roma children. Together with IFRC, they implemented this Project. They established connections with relevant institutions and donors in local communities. Different conditions and length of involvement in the Project cause different performances between kindergartens. The partners in this Project are: § The Red Cross § Local municipality and government § Roma associations § The Center for Social Work § Schools and kindergarten § Individual and company donors

The Red Cross employees and the local municipalities don’t only choose to work with one Roma association, but they choose to cooperate with every Roma association willing to participate in the Project, which is seen as a good way to create ownership of the Project as well as confidence of the parents to let their children participate in the kindergarten. The Project is being financed, beside from the Danish Red Cross, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation by partners from the local communities: local self governments, private companies, kindergartners, etc. Even the amount is not sufficient enough for all needs, it is a good sign that importance of this project has been understood locally. It shows that the local community based approach (applied in the Project) enable people to recognize benefits and find interest for different means of participation. By visiting kindergartens and talking with partners, we acquired a clear sense of the importance and the impact that a wide network of partners has on the Project. The inclusion of various interested parties fosters better understanding, provides support, and ultimately guarantees the success of the Roma kindergarten project. Once established, network should be nurtured, continuously developed and spread to provide results in the longer run. We have to mention great enthusiasm of the people working on the Project –teachers, assistants, Red Cross employees. Without continuous wide support of various institutions, all individual efforts might be lost.

Results When analyzing effects and results of the Project at this moment we should bear in mind the following key points: § Starting situation (starting conditions, number of included, economic situation in

the area, etc.) § The length of the Project § Local municipality § Motivation of all participants § Cultural characteristics


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Through programme activities the following valuable results are achieved:

• Significant number of Roma children from target municipalities are

included in those kindergartens (total 572 children), • During the time of the Project implementation, number of children

included in the kindergartens have been enlarged (from 3 to 24 children per kindergarten),

• Great deal of parents (especially mothers) started to be interested in their children’s education (total 375 parents were included),

• Most children attended kindergarten enrolled the first grade of regular school ( in some kindergartens it is 40% children who are enrolled un the first grade up to 85% in others ),

• Most children continue attending school (decreased drop out), • Development of children satisfaction and motivation for this kind of

activities, • Language knowledge and skills are improved, • Hygienic habits (hands, ears and teeth cleaning, etc) are developed, • Health and food habits (table manners, taking food in similar time in

day,etc) are developed, • Social skills (polite addressing) started to be developed, • Development of creativity (singing, dancing, drawing, painting).

Of the great importance is that Red Cross provides the children included in the Project with drawing books, pencils, color pencils, toys, blocks etc. and taught them to use it. For some of them that was the first time to get in touch with educational materials. It is obvious (we had meeting with some parents) that certain number of parents realized importance of education for their children. As they could not do anything for providing conditions for including their children in school system, contribution of Red Cross and local municipality had key role. This might be one of the first steps for rising up quality of their living.

If we compare Roma children included in the Project and Roma children from the same environment who are not in these kindergartens, we can observe glaring differences, especially as far as hygienic characteristics and social skills are concerned. Hence, the latter characteristics are the most pronounced contributions of Project to the development, education and the acceptance of Roma children in primary schools. Comparing groups within the Project, differences are also visible and can be summed as such: kindergartens that have participated longer included in the Project and that have stronger and widest network of partners achieved better results. As examples we can take: The pre-scholars in the kindergarten in Cukarica (Belgrade), for instance, are quite well prepared for school. For example: they have some knowledge and skills expected from the children ready to go to school to have (they are used to keep their attention on the certain task, they know basic relations-up/down; left/right, can follow teachers instruction and act on the proper way, adequately use pencil etc) . We could see that


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besides being well prepared to enter the first grade next fall, they also have necessary social skills, language-related skills, musical and painting skills, children’s grapho-motoric skills and physical skills. The scholarly progress of these children will be followed and recorded by the Project participants once they commence elementary school. In the last three years, children who graduated from this kindergarten have been observed once they made a transition to the first grade and this observation has yielded significant data. It is encouraging that not a single child has dropped out of school and they are all attending school on a regular base. This result exists only in situations where all partners are equally committed to children’s education and their involvement is long lasting.

In Paracin the employees of the Red Cross and the representatives of local government who are enthusiastic about this project, together with parents and the Roma associations, have achieved excellent results. Members of the local government are very persistant in standing for interest of Roma people in the municipality assembly. That is seen as the great contribution to the Red Cross branch and support on local level to the Project. The results are much more impressive because some the children come from extremely poor non-Roma families and these are the children more likely to perform poorly in school. The combination of Roma and non-Roma children also contributes to the existing process of integration and tolerance. This is the first, and perhaps crucial, step for overcoming isolation of Roma children. Premises for the Roma children kindergartens tried to be prepared for the purpose on the pretty appropriate way. There is lot of varieties, talking about hygienic and esthetic conditions, furniture, toys, education tools, depending on starting situation, financial capacities, motivation and knowledge of the involved people etc. We mention, like a samples some of the seen places: at the lowest level in that respect is Konik/Podgorica, then Merosina and finally Paracin as very adequate for defined purpose. During our field visits we could see that people included in the Project were trying to provide necessary conditions and when needed they, themselves painted walls, repaired furniture, made some educational tools etc.

Difficulties and potential risks This year is marked on the state level as beginning of Roma decade. It means that lot of structured and connected activities will take place in organized way in our country. In the State Strategy for Roma people, especially is emphasized importance of health, education, employing and having permanent place for living. Connected with accepted Strategy for decreasing poverty it seems that atmosphere for Roma projects would be simulative and positive. However, we have to be aware that there are circumstances that might have bad influence. On the first place, there is a hard economic situation in the country. It has multiple influences on the life of the population and of course on such on the Project. One aspect is that it would be difficult to set certain sum of money (or sufficient amount) in the budget for those activities (establishing kindergartens, equipping them, paying fees for teachers and assistants...) on general or municipality level.


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As lot of enterprises and firms are being closed (and surely it would continue to happen in the future) it would be difficult for Roma people, mostly uneducated, to find a job. That might cause their migration from one place to another. In that situation children might not be in the position to continue going to kindergarten especially organized to help development of Roma children. We might be faced with drop out of children at preschool age from various reasons. That opens the question of keeping their motivation for going to school. Parents (especially mothers) motivation for bringing children to kindergarten is another open issue. Good, strong and for them acceptable reasons for including children in such institutions should be found (some proposals are in the chapter: Recommendations). All people from the Red Cross, teachers, members of municipality government told us that key persons for including children in the Project are their mothers. One of the challenges is to find persons educated to work in very difficult conditions with preschool children or those who are not in the school even they are over 7 years old (we met about 12 years old children in the kindergarten because they are socially, emotionally and mentally not mature for going to school). We have to admit that there are some prejudice and discrimination against inclusion of Roma children in the regular kindergartens and schools. This claim is based on experience from some schools were non-Roma parents protested against including group of Roma children in the classes with their kids. As prejudices are one of the most difficult characteristic to change, the Project have to deal with resistance and try to find way to overcome it. The political situation has a big influence on the local level too. Possible risk is if there would have been changes in the local governments in the municipalities were people from the current municipality authorities have lot of understanding and support for the Project and the new ones doesn’t.


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Conclusions The Kindergarten project proved its value already during its initial phase by meeting the expected results. Even though it is too early to assess a long-term impact in terms of Roma children educational prospects, the first comparative data indicate significant changes in attitudes and skills of Roma population towards education and healthy life style in targeted communities. As long as the economic situation in Serbia and Montenegro will remain bleak as it is for the time being, the relevant institutions would need partners such as Red Cross to be able to tackle the specific needs of the Roma population. Therefore it is of an outstanding importance to catch the actual momentum and continue assisting this highly marginalized and vulnerable group through the Red Cross channels. Having in mind complexity and characteristics of the situation, the main ideas of the project: local community based approach, introducing Roma assistants, focusing on education as one of the preconditions for life improvement and main pillars of the national Roma strategy plan, make the Project very important and significant for supporting of the development of the society . The most significant aspect of The Red Cross is that it provides various kinds of support: § Funding – that covers costs of this (and other) projects. No one source of

funding can be sufficient to cover the expenses, but the participation of the Red Cross is also a form of advertisement, encouraging other potential donors to make a contribution.

§ Material help - food, clothes, books, etc. § Human resources – Red Cross employees and volunteers involved in this project

form a important group with a unique experience which may eventually help for developing this one, establishing new programs and devising new activities that can be used in the future.

§ Premises for Activities – the premises provided by Red Cross give participants a much-needed location for various activities.

It is important to have in mind that even external donors participation is only 10 -20% (source: IFRC representatives) it is significant (bearing in mind economic situation) as:

• support, • incentive for the others, • help to provide sustainability of the project.

The above contributions of The Red Cross, and their importance for the programme participants, have been strongly emphasized by all the people we have interviewed. The Project is targeting, on one hand one of the most vulnerable parts of any population – children and on the other hand, as explained before, marginalized group- Roma children. They are in the especially difficult situation because of some characteristics of their parents and families: mostly none educated, unemployed, without safe place for


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living, living below the edge of poverty, etc. Out of this is coming that Roma children has low chance for prosperity and better future if nothing changes. This Project helps them to integrate better in the school system as one of the first step for changing the situation they live in. In the kindergartens in the project the teachers, volunteers, and Red Cross people manage to gather the children in organized groups with programme activities. As that approach is like the regular pre school approach, it is one of the ways to adapt Roma children on the conditions they will face when they start to go to school. It is also very important that the programme is based on the National pre school curricula. Following this plan and programme for pre- school, those children in the project kindergartens would get necessary motivation, knowledge; skills that would enable them to be better prepared and integrated into the official educational system. We would like to emphasize one valuable, positive aspect of this project - it is the approach addressed to avoid Roma children isolation (introducing different activities to connect Roma children and other children of their age in the local community, working with non- Roma parents to overcome their prejudices etc). Very rare dropout, even enlarging number of included children, continuity in attending kindergarten, enrolment in the first grade of the school, obvious children satisfaction are signs that the Project fulfills its main goal. The kindergarten project is methodologically sound. Its approach is appropriate to the context, the needs and ava ilable resources. It is largely compatible with National Roma education action plan developed, global RC/RC policies in this field and appear to strongly reinforce Strategy 2010 Health and Care core area. The kindergarten project is in line with International Federation Health Policy and Social Welfare Policy. In the places where the local community realizes the significance of networking and is supportive to the Red Cross and the Project activities the results are better. A wise strategic action for ensuring realization of the Project was to include Roma associations in the Project. They are very important partners for motivating Roma parents to send children to kindergarten and then to school. Example of a good practice-making network in a local community is when the municipality supports the kindergarten with some amount of money, premises or staff from municipality budget. Besides financial contribution, it has very strong supportive effect. The gesture of state support might have positive influence on other donors and Roma children parents as well. It is recognized as official interest for their problems and willingness to solve them. That is helpful for development of different kinds of fights for the Roma children rights. Taking Roma associations as a partners, people from the Project encourage and support them to speak openly and stand up for their rights. Reporting within the Kindergarten project is functional, but lacks depth in terms of needs and impact analysis, quality review and precise statistics. There is a lot of varieties in premises used for the kindergarten. They are in different condition and unequally equipped. We might say that it’s beside else, depending on


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starting position, municipality economic potentials, local community contribution, donors, level of understanding of Roma children situation, motivation of the people etc. As there are many volunteers, assistances and Red Cross people engaged in the project, and as they are not always adequately educated for this kind of work IFRC produced a manual “Every child has the right to go to school”. This manual is of great importance, as it is based on previous experiences in work with Roma children in Serbia. It is precious as a teaching material for all who are working with Roma children (and other children coming from socio-economic and cultural deprivation) as it shows a lot of activities, recommendations, games etc . To enrich the work with children, IFRC also made an education tool kit with 300 games and activities. It focuses on different aspects of children development and creativity and can be used for different purposes: motivation, cooperative work, relaxing, energizing etc. It gives the teachers freedom to adjust their plan to the real context (children's’ characteristics, the materials they have, space etc).


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Recommendations As the estimated number of Roma people in Serbia Montenegro is between 350 000 and 500 000, which is approximately 8% of the total population. the state of Serbia and Montenegro was in the situation to develop a serious, wide systematic approach for enabling them to be included in the society in a better way than for the time being. The Government produces a Strategy for the Roma people. It means that a lot of activities have to be developed for realizing this Strategy. One of the pillars for developing such activities should be organizations like the Red Cross, who were pioneers in the field, having valuable experience, showing significant results. We recommend to introduce relevant state institut ions (Ministry of Education and Sport, Ministry for Social Affair, Ministry for Human and Minority Right, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government, Labor market) with this Project and its results. Through programme activities the valuable results, as listed in the chapter: Results are achieved.

As the Project is targeting key points of the State Strategy for Roma people (education, health) it is important that the Red Cross get official support and is recognized as a useful partner in realizing the Strategy. Recognition by the Government of the Red Cross activities, especially the projects like this one, might have strong influence on local communities (local government, decision makers) and stimulate them to participate more actively. Within the Project, one of the steps to ensure sustainable results would be to strengthen links with other preschools and schools to ensure better acceptance of Roma children. That would be a possible way for integration or easier integration in regular education system. It will be very important to go in depth in the current municipalities in different ways. We suggest some possibilities:

• Organizing visits to “regular” kindergartens (cooperation in various activities and participation of children from both kindergartens);

• Organizing activities in local municipalities (preparing child to child gift/drawings, paintings; children products exhibitions . visiting significant places in the surroundings, etc);

• Designing programs for parents (especially for mothers ) to include children on earlier age in the kindergarten;

• Following children included in kindergartens and schools should be continued. It is important from few aspects:

a) to give them support if they lost motivation for going to school or if they have some problems they cannot solve by themselves,

b) to help them in choosing other levels of education c) to promote the idea of Roma people education.


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Red Cross, local community, Roma associations, Centre for social work, preschools institutions, and schools made cooperative relations while working on implementation of the Project. Once made, net of different partners has to be used further on, and if possible be enlarged. This trend should be further explored by involving an increased number of communities faced with similar challenges into future assistance. It can be useful to make analyze about condition of the premises, equipments, contribution and donation from different sides and regarding that, make plan for the best distribution of sources in defined period of time. Results of the Project might be improved with some activities like:

• introducing programmes of tolerance, anti discriminative behavior, non violent communications skills in work with Roma children and their parents,

• introducing different kind of programmes against prejudice and for tolerance, non violent communication for teachers and pupils in regular kindergartens and schools,

• promotions of the idea of including Roma children in regular state preschool and school system among teachers and parents of the children who are attending regular kindergartens and schools,

• introducing different activities for parents (Roma and non-Roma) which can include them more in whole process (health education, programmes of tolerance, anti discriminative behavior, non violent communications skills programmes against prejudice, etc),

• cooperation with local health centers in organizing medical care on regular base (3 times a year like in the state kindergartens) and following physical and medical status with measures for improvements.

• make core team consists of the representatives of the local community, local government, Roma associations, Red Cross branches to develop plan and program on standing for interest of Roma children,

• organize education courses for work in Roma kindergartens for volunteers, • make plan for including Roma children parents in the work in the

kindergartens, • organize education courses for parents of Roma children to include them on

some way in work with the children in kindergartens, • organize workshops with representatives of the stakeholders on periodical

base to exchange experiences, challenges, solutions, • develop activities on providing continuous financial income for keeping

Roma Kindergartens in function, • some kind of financial/economic report (as part of data needed for

assessing cost effectiveness) should be part of evaluation report, • make evaluation plan and implement it , • organize monitoring and reporting during realizing the Project (in defined

period of time) for continuous improving of the Project.


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We suggest that some aspects of the Project can be monitored through the elements given in the following table which can be used for process of evaluation and reporting:

Town/city Date

(September) Date

(January) Date

(June) Date

(August)

Activities for overcoming/ improvement

No. of children enrolled in the kindergarten.

No. of children in the kindergarten. pre-school age

No. of children enrolled in the first grade

No. of children finished the first grade

No. of children enrolled in the second grade

No. of children finished the second grade

Here can be added more rows if there are children in the 3. , 4., 5. etc. grade No. of children who speak Serbian language

No. of children with health problems (malnutrition,??


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No. of meetings with parents

No. of parents attending meetings and activities

No. and kind of activities for parents

Cooperation with state kindergarten (kind of activities)

Cooperation with state school (kind of activities)

Cooperation with local medical center (kind of activities)

Cooperation with potential donors (kind of activities)

Cooperation with local authorities (kind of activities)

Activities connected with the Project media promotion

No. of visits to cinema, parks, celebrations...

Specifics important for the group

• Table can be enlarged with different topics/issues important for the

stakeholders .

Results and experience from this project can be used to make some kind of guidelines for making projects for Roma children and for enlarging the manual previously mentioned (made by IFRC). The evaluators estimate the Project and its results as very important for both the Roma communities and other citizens in Serbia and Montenegro , and the general suggestion is to continue and enlarge this Project, try to ensure sustainability through including relevant state stakeholders, all possible donors and other NGOs .


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APPENDIXES

Appendix 1: List for evaluation

Appendix 2: List of visits

Appendix 3: People Consulted

Appendix 4: Samples of the plan, programme and activities and children products from the visited Roma kindergartens

Appendix 5: List of documents available to the evaluation team


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Appendix 1: List for evaluation Place Date of visit Number of those population in local community

Number of children in local community

Number of children in Project

Number of groups Number of children in the beginning of Project

Reasons od decreasing/increasing

Location Number of adults (parents, mothers, guardians...)

Volonteers in Project Assistents in Project Partners – who, how

Methodology of works and activities Numbers of working days and hours

Parents meeting Health and hygien Intelectual development Painting Social development Language and literacy Visits, picnics, sports activities....

Integration Motivation of parents Other activities

Results In this faze of project Expected Long term Dificulties Ways of exceeding (strenght i suuport)


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Needs Expectations (which and from whom)

Sugesstions for continuos New activities Adaptation of old activities Increasing Making network Integration in system

Comments


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Appendix 2: List of visits

Place Date Member of evaluation team

Accompanied by

Belgrade (Cukarica) 17.3.2005. Biljana Lajovic, Mirjana Trkulja, Lidija Miskeljin

Vesna Lujic IFRC – SWP menager

Podgorica 18.3.2005. Biljana Lajovic Vesna Lujic IFRC – SWP menager

Novi Pazar 22.3.2005. Lidija Miskeljin Vesna Lujic IFRC – SWP menager

Paracin 23.3.2005. Biljana Lajovic Vesna Lujic, IFRC – SWP menager; Bojana Samardzic RC Srbia

Merosina 23.3.2005. Biljana Lajovic Vesna Lujic, IFRC – SWP menager; Bojana Samardzic RC Srbia

Smederevo 24.3.2005. Mirjana Trkulja Bojana Samardzic RC Srbia

Ruma 25.3.2005. Lidija Miskeljin Vesna Lujic, IFRC; Bojana Samardzic RC Srbia


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Appendix 3: People Consulted

Pol Emes IFRC Vesna Lujic IFRC – SWP menager Bojana Samardzic RC Serbia Lidia Vujicic SDC Belgrade (Cukarica) Zvezdan Petrovic secretary Red Cross branch Podgorica Momcilo Martinovic Montenegro Red Cross representative Dejan Bojanic Montenegro Red Cross representative Mensut Krpuljevic Konik Kamp manager

Vera Todorovic Member of the Konik Camp management team

Jelisavka Katnic Member of the Konik Camp management team

Dejan Savic Member of the Konik Camp management team

Bisina Hadzibegovic pre-school teacher Sabria Pajazitaj Roma assistant Scipa Kabasi Roma assistant Hadzi Kabasi parent Smederevo Tomislav Zivanovic secretary Red Cross branch Ivica Cvetkovic Pre-school institution principle Zivoslava Lazic Red Cross branch Milica Pupovac programme coordinator Biljana Cvetkovic pre-school teacher Novi Pazar Ljiljana Kostic secretary Red Cross branch Adem Sadikaj parent Istref Hajrizi parent Sanela Susevic pre-school teacher Kasim Zoranic Center for social care director Emir Fetahovic Luxembourgh Red Cross Ruma Branislav Jovanovic sekretary Red Cross branch Jovica Jovanovic Local municipality governament member Gordana Jovovic Pre-school institution principle Goca Ajdari Center for social care Vesna Crnomarkovic pre-school teacher Djordje Reparski local comunity reresentative Radovanka Popovic-Jankovic programme coordinator Pera Petrovic Roma Assosiation Angelina Sibincic Public enterprise “Komunalac” director Paracin Slobodan Djordjevic Red Cross branch secretary


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Bojan Veljkovic Municipality Council member Djura Simic Roma Association member Kristina Stancev pre-school teacher Merosina Dusica Todorovic Red Cross branch secretary Goran Aleksic School principle Jasmina Dragicevic Pre-school institution principle Stanisa Ibric parent Malina Veljkovic pre-school teacher Mirjana Stamenkovic pre-school teacher Olivera Mikic Red Cross branch


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Appendix 4a : Sample of the record keeping on beneficiaries


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Appendix 4b : Sample of the record keeping on children’s attendance in the kindergarten


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Appendix 4c : Sample of the kindergarten monthly educative plan


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Appendix 4d : Sample of the workshop monthly educative plan


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Appendix 4e : Sample of the kindergarten monthly educative report


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Appendix 4e : Sample of the children’s work


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Appendix 4e : Sample of the monthly report


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Appendix 4e : Sample of the reimbursement documentation


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Appendix 5: List of documents available to the evaluation team

1. Roma Donors

2. Programme profile of SWP in FRY

3. Social Vulnerability in FRY

4. Welfare Provision in FRY-Existing Services

5. SWP Programme Update, June-December 2004.

6. The YRC SWP an Evaluation & Recommendations, June 2001.

7. List of places included in SWP project

8. Executive summary

9. SDC document on SWP project

10. SDC: SWP logframe-Health and Care/Serbia and Montenegro

11. Danish Red Cross ToR

Documents

Open Roma Kindergartens Project - International FederationOpen Roma Kindergartens Project External evaluation ... government, schools, pre-school institutions, Roma associations, and