We organised a working meeting with representatives of some 20 organisations that work with and for children and parents in the field of early childhood development on February 12 at Plus Tova event space. Together we discussed needs, opportunities and ways to deliver effective schemes to support children and families in the early years.

Maria Petkova from Tulip Foundation gave a brief history of the Sure Start programme in different countries and Bulgaria.  She also presented the arguments of the Foundation's team to choose this programme for piloting in Bulgaria. The program has been implemented in different countries for many years, there are numerous social impact evaluations, the programme is financially and resource efficient.

Maria Guineva and Adreana Dimova from Association "Future for the Children", Emilia Mikova from Foundation "Health and Social Development", Diana Yakimova from NGO Club Targovishte and Lyudmila Tsvetanova from Association "Centre Maria" Gorna Oryahovitsa told why and how they chose the program "Sure Start". They talked about the beginning, the difficulties and the successes, but mostly about the importance of support for parents and families during the first years of children for their physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.

Georgi Genchev presented a summary of an expert assessment of the social impact of the programme in four regions of the country. Maya Grozdanova gave an overview of opportunities and support programs for parents and children in Bulgaria.

The discussion that followed was interesting and most of the participants took part in it. We talked about the need and feasibility of the program in Bulgaria. The followed discussion was very interesting and involved most of the participants in the meeting. We talked about the need and the applicability of the programme in Bulgaria.