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Lifestart Macedonia

In 1995 UNICEF approached the Lifestart Council. At that time UNICEF were researching suitable Early Years Programmes for use within Macedonia. In 1996 UNICEF decided that the Lifestart Programme was the programme best suited to their requirements. Lifestart personnel visited Macedonia and accompanied UNICEF during negotiations with various Government Departments in order to gain support for Lifestart in Macedonia so as to make it available to the various ethnic groups within the country. After deliberations a Formal Contract was signed between UNICEF and Lifestart.

UNICEF Staff visited Lifestart Projects in Ireland and saw how the Programme is delivered in the home for the benefit of parents and children from birth to five years of age. They formally received a copy of the Growing Child materials which they adapted for delivery  to Albanian, Macedonian, Turkish and Roma families.

During one of  their visits to Macedonia, staff  of the Lifestart Foundation delivered a Training programme to Management, Co-ordinators and Family Visitors and provided them with Training Manuals and Materials for adaptation and use throughout Macedonia.

The Lifestart Programme has been established and delivered throughout Macedonia for the past nine years. There are fifty six family visitors and four co-ordinators involved in the organisation and delivery of the programme. The programme is being delivered in fourteen Regions (in 50 area based centres) covering 26 Municipalities, to parents of children from birth to five years of age. It is delivered to 5000 mothers and over 9165 children of  project age located throughout the country.

The programme is facilitated by the Family Visitors who, on a monthly basis, bring age-appropriate learning materials to the participating family and spend time discussing the material and the child's development with the parents, and facilitate community deliberation in weekly group meetings according to the age of  the child.

• Read a summary of the Lifestart Macedonia Evaluation Report (PDF, 20K)