Summary

• Author: Applica, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
• Pages: 59-59

Sure Start Children’s Homes in Hungary

59

Summary

The Sure Start Children’s Homes in Hungary provide support and programmes for families

with children aged 0-3 who do not have access to good-quality services – because of either

having low incomes, living in disadvantaged or segregated regions/areas, or suffering

generally from socio-cultural problems. The core of the programme is strong c o-operation

between parents, professionals and service providers, designed to promote the physical,

mental and social development of young children and their parents. These Children’s

Homes can help disadvantaged chil dren (including Roma children) at a very early stage ,

while providing complex services that cater to the needs of individual families .

This case study is based on a review of available evaluations of the programme and on

interviews with relevant experts. The programme is a good example of how an initiative,

based on good practice in other countries but modified to suit local needs, and launched

with minimal resources, has been supported and developed by external funding (mostly

from the European Social Fund [ ESF] and the Norwegi an Fund) and has become

‘institutionalised’ (iйeй ‘survived’ after external funding ends) by receiving national state

funding and becoming pa rt of the system of social services. From this perspective it is an

ongoing success sto ry, as it leverages extra resources for the target groups, the scale of

the programme is still being extended, new evaluations are being pr epared, and certain

modifications to improve its professional quality are being carried out. It is also a model in

the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for disadvantaged children, because

it has enabl ed the ECEC concept to become widely known and to gain long-term political

support and commitment.

Nevertheless, despite the conti nuing expansion of the network, only a f raction of children

in need are at present able to access these services. State funding is significantly less than

the previous EU funding, which has resulted in a reduction in the number of external

professionals involved in the programme, depriving the model of a key component . The

Homes cannot afford to provide complex services of good quality, because two employees

(the legally prescrib ed number) are sometimes insufficient to meet the existing demand,

and there is not enough funding for purchasing new equipment and toys. In addition,

employees are only paid the minimum wage, which results in demotivation and pushes

employees to look for better employment oppo rtunities elsewhere (there is a shortage of

professionals in the field). Higher wages would attract more people to train and would

justify the time spent on training.

State financing also makes th e Homes part of an overly bureaucratic system, requiring

them to meet often completely irrational demands and regulations that make the provision

of such low-threshold services almost impossible.

Projects should build on previous experience – demonstrated effectiveness an d proven

principles. Even so, programmes should be modified continuously, as demands, contexts,

legal frameworks and macro-level conditions require flexibility and permanent adaptation.

Effective data collection and the use of common evaluation in dicators make these

necessary fine-tunings possible76. Ex-ante, interim and ex-post impact assessments should

be widely carried out, and these could be made a precondition of financi ng by the EU.

76 Evaluations indicate (for example) that funding is insufficient, and that the programme can only be efficient

with more intense attendance: regulations should therefore be modified to promote that.