TOY for Inclusion International Event

An international event held by TOY for Inclusion in the city of Gent, Belgium on 19 November 2019 shared achievements and lessons learned over the past two years in the seven European countries involved in the project. The event was organized by VBJK and Municipality of Ghent, in collaboration with ICDI and ISSA.

The TOY for Inclusion project (2017 – 2019) aims to improve the transition experience of vulnerable children to schools by offering an innovative response to discrimination. It is doing so by creating community based non formal ECEC Play Hubs.

 A Play Hub is:

• a space where children and their families of all ages are welcomed to play games with each other;

• where they can meet with other (grand)parents with different backgrounds and take part in creative and social activities;

• where (grand)parents can easily access  information about childrearing, health, early learning and development.

So far, nine ECEC Play Hubs for young children in seven EU countries (Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Slovenia and Slovakia) have been created. 

Thanks to the work of local communities and professionals, the TOY for Inclusion Play Hubs have become the gateway to kindergarten and school for many Romani children.

We are happy to announce that TOY for Inclusion has received extra funding from the European Commission that will allow the opening of more Play Hubs in 2019-2021: TOY to Share, Play to Care

TOY for Inclusion is coordinated by ICDI and funded by DG Justice – European Commission and Open Society Foundations (OSF)

TOY for Quality Programme Guidelines

The TOY for Quality Programme supports services to measure and improve the quality of intergenerational learning practice. TOY for Quality is informed by the TOY Goals and based on research conducted as part of TOY since 2012.

The TOY for Quality Programme also:

• provides organisations with a method to enhance planning in the field of Intergenerational Learning;

• raises awareness at the local and national level about Intergenerational Learning as an area of professional and social action.

The TOY for Quality Programme was developed and piloted by TOY-PLUS partners. In October and November 2018 all partners organized TOY events in their own countries to share good practice in IGL and explain how the TOY for Quality Programme works. Here is an endorsement from prof. Anna Soldevila - Doctor in Psychopedagogy and member of the research group on emotional education and educational gerontology. University of Lleida.:

"It is necessary to give more status and recognition to social projects, especially to IGL projects and the best way to do this is to systematize quality tools, such as the TOY for Quality tool".

Click here for the TOY for Quality Guidelines.

TOY for Inclusion: What Works Guide

The TOY for Inclusion What Works Guide documents the promising practices of the ECEC Play Hubs, which support the integration of Roma young children and their families at local level. The practices and recommendations, which are intended for practitioners and local authorities, are based on the evidence from the TOY for Inclusion project.

The Guide also provides local, national and EU policy makers with guidelines on how to use social and economic solidarity between cultures and generations to promote desegregation and inclusion in education and in communities.

The Guide is currently available in English and Dutch and it will soon be available in Croatian, Hungarian, Latvian, Slovakian and Slovenian.

 To download the Guide click here.

Bridging the Generations, Oregon, 12 June 2019

Bridging the Generations, Generations United's 20th Biennial Global Intergenerational Conference, which is co-hosted by Bridge Meadows takes place in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A from 12 to 14 June 2019.

More information about the conference- including registration, hotel, and travel arrangements- is available at https://guconference.org/

We are delighted to share the good news that TOY for Inclusion has been awarded a Lifelong Long Award. This award celebrates creative and inclusive lifelong learning practices to inspire new practices and policies. TOY for Inclusion won the award in the category ‘Learning Environments’.

On 3 December, Giulia Cortellesi (ICDI) and Federico Lanzo (ISSA) accepted the award on behalf of the TOY for Inclusion partnership.

For more information see here.