Zoltán Kovács, Minister of State for Social Inclusion at the Ministry of Human Resources paid a visit to Berettyóújfalu to attend the local opening event of the Children’s Chances programme which was awarded funding worth HUF 600 million from the New Széchényi Programme. The Minister of State also visited the Komád and Biharkeresztes Sure Start Children’s Centres.

The main purpose of the project covering 29 localities in the Berettyóújfalu Region is to effectively help and support disadvantaged children in the micro-region, to improve their prospects and to reduce their disadvantage in the entire territory of the region in a complex manner. The project concerns some 60 per cent of the micro-region’s population – approximately 32,000 people – directly or indirectly. At least 40 per cent of these individuals are disadvantaged.

In two localities, in Biharkeresztes and Komádi, Sure Start Children’s Centres were set up in buildings placed at the disposal of the project free of charge by the municipalities concerned where a variety of regular programmes and services are available to children and their parents.

As part of the two-year programme, summer camps are organised for elementary schools pupils, while secondary school students may attend summer skills development and preparatory sessions. During the school year, various leisure-time programmes are offered. A series of complex educational and training courses are being organised for the facilitation of the social and, in particular, labour market re-integration of jobseekers in the region who are at present unable to find employment on the labour market.

Preparations for the project „Give the children of Bihar a chance!” began in the spring of 2012. Thanks to the wide range of participating experts, the project is based on the specific needs and development requirements that emerge in the micro-region, and covers all localities. The programme of the Berettyóújfalu Region was launched in May 2013, for the implementation of which the local association set up the Bihar Children’s Chances Office. The project will involve the employment of some 400 people, thereby also creating jobs.

In Hungary, children are most at risk in the context of poverty which is regenerated generation after generation. The National Strategy „Let Children Have a Better Life!” treats the issue of creating opportunities for children in a complex manner and contemplates long-term plans.

(State Secretariat for Social Inclusion)