On Friday 4 October, Iara de Witte, from Leger des Heils and Giulia Cortellesi from ICDI jointly facilitated the training for the TOY for Inclusion Local Action Teams for the Ede and Eschede ECEC Play Hubs.
Participants included representatives from the two municipalities, social workers, Roma activists and education practitioners. They have already been working together since June to assess the needs of the Roma families with young children in Ede and Enschede. Local resources, allies and a suitable space for each Play Hub have already been identified.
During the training the two Roma activists, Antonio and Kali, supported the participants to reflect on their own prejudices and stereotypes. Participants also drew their dream Play Hubs, identified barriers for the involvement of families with different backgrounds in the project and came up with possible solutions to overcome them. At the end of the day, the Local Action Team from each town drafted an action plan for the next three months.
The goal of TOY for Inclusion in the Netherlands is to promote inter-sectoral cooperation between early childhood, social, health services and Roma communities in order to build trust between families and services. The project also wants to contribute to improve the transition experience of Roma children to (pre)school and non-formal education activities in an inclusive and intercultural environment.
We are eager to follow the development of their work and to finally see the Play Hubs opening their doors to Roma and non-Roma families in January 2020!
TOY for Inclusion is co-funded by the European Commission and the Open Society Foundations.
