About 200 children aged between one and a half and three years will be able to attend crèches that will be created within a social partnership project launched by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education. The parents will contribute money and service days for setting up the crèches.

Contacted by IPN, UNICEF programs coordinator Larisa Vartosu said that only 15% of the requests for early development services in Moldova are satisfied. The lack of such services in settlements prevents the mothers from doing a job.

The crèches will be created in the buildings of ten former kindergartens, which will be renovated by the second half of next year. The works already started. They are financed by the Social Investment Fund in cooperation with the local public administration and parents. A major condition is for the parents to pay at least 15% of the cost of the renovation works. The settlements were selected based on a number of demographic criteria and the openness shown by the local administration.

“The involvement of parents and community is an important element in the repair of these buildings. They contribute not only money, but also work days, etc. The social partnership is very important as it secures the durability of the service. The donors come and go, while the involvement of the community and parents ensure this durability,” said Larisa Vartosu.

She added that when the repair works are close to an end, they will start training the personnel who will work with the children, based on child-centered methods. Through the agency of this project, in several kindergartens there will be tested a new financing formula. Half of the cost of the services provided by the kindergartens will be paid by the state, while the other half by the parents. There will be also staged training courses for parents, who will be counseled in certain problems, based on the needs, especially of those who have children with disabilities.

“When the project is completed, we will do the cost-efficiency calculations. If the results are positive, we will extend this project,” said the UNICEF specialist. The project was launched on November 1 this year and will be finished next July. Each kindergarten will be equipped with furniture adjusted to the age of the children, toys and teaching aids donated by UNICEF. The cost of the project is about US$200,000.