The first meeting of the working group for early development of children, a special body of the Children’s Rights Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, was held on 15/10/2018 in Belgrade. The Working Group was formed by the decision of the Children’s Rights Council on March 1, 2018, in order to achieve policy coordination at the national level.
The chairwoman of the special working group for early child development is Anamarija Viček, State Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. The complete working group has eight members, and, in addition to the representatives of the Council for the Rights of the Child from the relevant departments, one of the permanent members is Jasmina Miković from Praxis, the President of MODS Steering Committee. The representatives of MODS, Saša Stefanović, Director of MODS and Jasmina Miković took part at the first meeting of the working group.
The first meeting was dedicated to discussing the strategic priorities in the area of early development of children and the manner of implementation of the Call for Action – Joint Statement from the Ministers of the Government of the Republic of Serbia – support to children in their early childhood and their families. At the same time, opportunities have been considered to improve the coordination of the activities of various departments and other actors in the field of early development.
In the following period, the working group will work to initiate measures for the development of a comprehensive and coherent policy targeting early childhood, including the integration of child support policies at an early age into the National Action Plan for Children, as well as defining recommendations for the realization of important social indicators in the area of child support in early childhood.
Why was a special body of the Children’s Rights Council to deal with early development formed?
Early development is one of the priorities of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and is recognized in key national and international documents such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, the Objectives of Sustainable Development, the Employment and Social Policy Reform Program, the Action Plan for Chapter 23 and Common European Guidelines on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care. Considering the importance of this period in the developmental period of each individual, as well as the fact that every child has the right to the full realization of their potential, it is necessary to systematically provide support to the child and the family, which will be holistic and complete. In order to achieve this, mechanisms at the national and local levels should facilitate the coordination of programs and services. The existing legislative and strategic framework for supporting children in different sectors (health, education, social protection) needs to be consolidated, supplemented and its implementation has to be made sure through adequate funding.