1 The first three years in every childs life are crucial as the brain functions develop maximally. But not all the children have the opportunity to develop.

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The first three years in every child’s life are crucial as the brain functions develop maximally. But not all the children have the opportunity to develop and grow up well.

Crèches are among the development opportunities offered for children 0-3, thus it is required that the Albanian children shall have the possibility to attend them with a focus on the most vulnerable families.

2These are some of the children attending the crèche number three in Kukes, where there are only two groups. The room spaces are small and humid. The crèche has no condition for children to attend , develop and grow up based on normal standards.

3Beni, only six months old, stays with children of different ages. For the educators this is not a concern although they don’t have training on how to deal with mixed groups. Most of the caregivers have a formal education as nurses, they lack completely qualification on child development.

4The children have no toys or didactic material tools to play and work with in order to develop their creative abilities. In the room there is only an old wooden stove that is used for heating as the cold in this city lasts for many months.

5Erinda just woke up. She is three years old and this is her food for this meal, a slice of bread and some cheese. Most parents do not leave their children over lunch as they cannot pay 110 lekë per day for their child.

6Ersi has not reached yet the age of three. She stands silent in a corner of the small room and holds in her hand some small pieces of toys. She follows us with sad eyes, without getting involved with the other children. She stays in her place until the parents come to pick her up.

7The children are put to sleep at 11 .00 am and they wake up at 14.30. This schedule is applied in all the crèches of Kukes. Even if the child does not want to sleep, the educators force him.

8This is the eating and living premise for one of the groups of children in the crèche number three. There are no toys, books or chairs. The space is small and the children movement is difficult and limited.

9The sink has only cold and not running water. The children cannot wash their hands every time they finish eating not only because there is no water, but also the sink is too high for them.

10Investments are needed to make every child smile. The programs for early childhood development are important as they support the development and provide the same opportunities for every child. Through them , the cycle of inequity for children and their families can be broken .

11Only two thousand children have the possibility to attend the 29 crèches spread in all the country. The demand is much higher as Albania has around 105 thousand children aged under 3 years old and around 140 thousand children who are older than this age.

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Every child has the right to a healthy nutrition, to grow up with love participate in leisure activities and develop. In order for this to be achieved, financial allocations are needed. Caregivers need to be trained, children need to access crèches and new early development programs, e.g. child minders need to be established, didactic tools, toys should be provided. All these reach a cost of USD 500.000 .

13For each USD1,000 allocated to the crèches in Albania : you can train 50 teachers, provide 50 children in the crèches with didactic materials and toys, offer child development counseling and activities for 50 parents.