At the beginning of October, the team of the Early Learning and Care program launched an ambitious initiative focused on early childhood education in vulnerable urban areas – “Our Voice in Our City: Learning Early So We Can Succeed.”
The two-year project will work in three large Roma neighborhoods in Bulgaria through partnerships with local organizations. The Participation Association will focus on the Maksuda neighborhood in Varna, the World Without Borders Association will work in the Lozenets neighborhood in Stara Zagora, and the Roma Academy for Culture and Education Association will cover the Nadezhda neighborhood in Sliven. A research partner and scientific adviser for the project is the Institute for Research in Education (IRE). Together, we are trying to build something that is still largely missing in Bulgaria: a sustainable local structure where parents from vulnerable urban neighborhoods do not only raise concerns, but also take part in shaping solutions and presenting them to institutions.
The project grew from the understanding that access to quality early education in urban Roma neighborhoods is rarely a matter of choice. Kindergartens are often missing inside the neighborhoods themselves, while those on the outskirts are already full. Educational services for the youngest children are almost non-existent. Parents often face a complicated enrolment process, conflicting information, and a lack of everyday, human support. In the most vulnerable areas, parents rarely have the opportunity to take part in conversations about their children’s needs—even though their voices are the most important ones, and often the ones that describe reality most clearly.
 1.jpg)
“Our Voice in Our City” aims to change that. In the first phase of the project, the three partner organizations have already formed parent groups that meet regularly. These meetings bring together mothers and fathers who share their everyday experiences of raising children in an environment where institutional support is limited. Parents talk about the shortage of kindergarten places, the long distances to the nearest nursery, the lack of support for children with developmental difficulties, and the different treatment they sometimes encounter. Their stories are the first “raw material” in the process that follows.
At the same time, the organizations are developing the methodology for a qualitative study, with support from the research team of the Institute for Research in Education. The most suitable tools are being selected—interviews, observations, diaries, working meetings, and stories from the field—as well as the groups of people who will take part in the study. Key questions are also being discussed: how parents experience the enrolment process; which systemic factors influence children’s early participation in education; and what supports—or prevents—a child’s development during the first years of life. The goal is to build a clear, evidence-based picture of life in these neighborhoods, as experienced by the families themselves.
The next stage will focus on a quantitative study, which will collect representative data to confirm the main challenges faced by parents of young children living in urban Roma neighborhoods. Parent groups will take an active role in collecting this data. In this way, they will become co-authors of the evidence used for advocacy and active drivers of change—not simply subjects of research.
When the results are analyzed, parents and NGOs will work together to develop concrete proposals for improvement. These may include changes in enrolment procedures, adapting working hours, providing transport, building new kindergartens, opening additional places, improving communication with kindergarten directors, and introducing measures to support children with specific needs.
These proposals will be presented to kindergartens, municipalities, and national institutions. The ambition of the project is not only to identify problems, but also to create solutions that are realistic, locally applicable, and supported by evidence. As part of the initiative, organizations will pilot small-scale solutions to the challenges they identify and will look for funding to support more ambitious changes. We believe that when people work together and speak on the basis of data, tested solutions, and real experiences, institutions listen more carefully and are more willing to work in partnership.
At its core, “Our Voice in Our City” is a project about changing roles. It encourages institutions to see parents as knowledgeable partners, not just service users. It helps parents see themselves as people who can influence decisions, negotiate, and propose solutions. It builds bridges where, for many years, there has been distance and mistrust. Most importantly, the project brings attention to access to quality early childhood education in vulnerable urban neighborhoods—an issue that has rarely been at the center of public discussion in our society.