Abstract
In 2015, Romania took an important step toward increasing disadvantaged children's participation in early education programmes through the passage of legislation creating a nationwide conditional cash transfer programme linked to preschool attendance. The programme was modeled on the incentive component of a 5-year pilot project “Every Child in Preschool” (“FCG”) initiated by Asociatia OvidiuRo (“OvR”), a small non-governmental organization. This paper explores how OvR used evidence from its pilot, global research, a quasi-experimental evaluation, collaboration with local authorities, and an intensive advocacy effort toward the legislative and executive branches of the national government to achieve the national scale-up of an early education initiative designed to create equal access in kindergarten among Roma and other impoverished, marginalized children.
Highlights
200 million children under the age of 5 living in low—and middle-income countries do not achieve their development potential as a result of poverty and deficient learning opportunities [1]
Eurostat reports that 37.9% of the Romanian population is at risk of poverty and social exclusion, the highest share being recorded between 0 and 18 years old [2]
In 2015, Romania took an important step toward improving access to early education for disadvantaged children through the passage, with the full support of all political parties1, of Law 248/2015
Summary
200 million children under the age of 5 living in low—and middle-income countries do not achieve their development potential as a result of poverty and deficient learning opportunities [1]. Eurostat reports that 37.9% of the Romanian population is at risk of poverty and social exclusion, the highest share being recorded between 0 and 18 years old [2] These inequalities often begin before birth and grow during a child’s early years [3]. In 2015, Romania took an important step toward improving access to early education for disadvantaged children through the passage, with the full support of all political parties, of Law 248/2015. This legislation introduced a nationwide conditional cash transfer programme to encourage preschool and kindergarten participation of children from poor families [5]. Using a combination of document analysis and unique interviews with stakeholders, this paper explores what led to the project’s transformation into a national initiative
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