Building Capacity to Provide Quality, Family-oriented ECI Services in the Municipalities of Haskovo and Nova Zagora

“Building capacity to provide quality, family-oriented ECI services in the municipalities of Haskovo and Nova Zagora” is a new partnership initiative of UNICEF Bulgaria and Karin dom.

The collaboration will support activities carried out as part of UNICEF’s efforts to test a systems approach to early childhood intervention, including early detection of developmental difficulties in the health system, referral to community-based ECI services and provision of family-oriented services, early childhood intervention(ECI)  and transition support to inclusive pre-school education. The approach will be tested in two municipalities: Nova Zagora and Haskovo.

The overall goal of the current partnership is to strengthen local capacity in the municipalities of Nova Zagora and Haskovo to provide family-oriented services for early childhood intervention (ECI) for children with developmental difficulties and disabilities, with a specific focus on children 0 – 3 years of age.

Description of the cooperation:

The collaboration is mainly focused on increasing the quality of early childhood intervention provided to children with developmental difficulties and disabilities. Karin’s team is invited to get involved in:

1. Online training for early intervention teams from community centers across the country
2. Training and supervision of the existing social services in the selected municipalities (Center for Public Support in Nova Zagora and Community Center in Haskovo) to ensure family-oriented early childhood intervention;
3. Strengthening the capacity of nurseries and general education kindergartens to provide an inclusive learning environment for children with disabilities and developmental difficulties in the selected municipalities of Haskovo and Nova Zagora
4. Support the development of ECI service standard, service documentation and revision of existing ECI methodology.

Products:

• Brief report with the results of the needs assessment process.
• A training program for the ECI teams as well as for the face-to-face meetings at the local level.
• Revised methodology and other service documents developed in collaboration with local partners.

Key Expected Results:

1. At least 30 ECI practitioners from the selected services and kindergartens in the two municipalities have strengthened their capacity to provide family-oriented ECI services;
2. At least 50 preschool teachers, nurses, etc. have received guidance and methodical support to ensure an inclusive learning environment for children.
3. Selected services to receive ongoing support to improve the quality of their work and documentation.
4. Update and upgrade of the methodology and other documentation of the services with the support of Karin dom.