The EU Child Guarantee, a pilot programme that has been implemented by UNICEF in cooperation with partners in Roma communities in the northern Croatian County of Medjimurje since July 2020, has covered 2,000 children and 2,500 parents, it was said during a closing conference for the project in the northern Croatian town of Cakovec on Tuesday.

The initiative was launched after data showed that every fifth child in the European Union lives at risk of poverty, in conditions that do not allow the child to realise its full potential.

As part of the pilot programme, five child and family support centres have been set up in Roma communities in Medjimurje County, the UNICEF Representative in Croatia, Regina M. Castillo, said.

We have play hubs with toy libraries where children can play in a structured way and where they are assisted by Roma and other teachers. We also have multisectoral mobile teams of different professionals and therapists who visit families and children in their homes, Castillo said.

Medjimurje County Prefect Matija Posavec said that the project also involved assistants, teachers and students.

“By opening resource centres and establishing a special institution, we will continue to develop our community,” he said.

Medjimurje County is the region with the largest Roma community in Croatia.

Posavec noted that Medjimurje County had warned the government for years about the exclusion of Roma children from the community, which was addressed by UNICEF through this programme. He recalled that ten years ago the County had ensured pre-school education for all Roma children, which produced good results.

The pilot programme is based on the recommendations of the European Commission recognising the importance of preventing the poverty and social exclusion of children, said Tatjana Katkic-Stanic, Coordinator of the EU Child Guarantee in Croatia.

Katkic-Stanic noted that this project was developed in cooperation with the community and was aimed at providing services to those that need them the most. She added that the sustainability of the project would be ensured by establishing a Community Service Centre, for which the relevant ministry and the County had signed an agreement.