00:01В България, инновативный проект
00:04помогает родителям вернуться к работе,
00:06поддерживает хорошая качественная деталь
00:08и дает имущественные люди
00:10стабильный работ.
00:30Finding accessible, affordable and good quality childcare
00:33is a big barrier to mothers with young children
00:36who want to return to work.
00:38The search for solutions is underway
00:40and we're here in Sofia to see one example in action.
00:49It's time to drop off the children
00:51and head to the office for Kristina Ruzdhanova.
00:54This single mother searched for three months
00:56before she found the right person
00:58to care for her two-year-old son Dimitar
01:00while her daughter goes to school
01:02and she goes to work.
01:20Despite those challenges,
01:22Kristina was determined to take up a new job
01:25as an accountant at the Italian embassy in Sofia.
01:38While Kristina is at the office,
01:40her son receives one-to-one professional care
01:43from Galina Ilyeva
01:44who is happy to have this work opportunity.
01:59The project that offered Kristina a childcare solution
02:02is called Parents and Employment
02:04and it addresses a very specific need here in Bulgaria
02:07where only 22% of children under three
02:11are in early childhood education and care
02:13compared to an EU average of 40%.
02:15The project meets the shortfall in nursery places
02:19by offering parents up to eight hours a day
02:21of free childcare.
02:23It's financed from a €33.5 million five-year budget
02:27which includes €28 million from the European Social Fund Plus.
02:33One of the most innovative aspects of the project
02:35is it not only offers mothers who want to work
02:38a free childcare option
02:40but also offers job seekers a chance to be hired.
02:43There's a steady flow of candidates too,
02:46both unemployed people and parents looking for childcare.
02:50The Employment Office vets every case carefully
02:53and then the matching process begins.
03:22The process is proving successful
03:24over 3,400 eligible families have signed childcare contracts
03:29since the current project began in 2023
03:31and 3,500 child carers have been employed.
03:37Offering accessible, affordable and high-quality childcare
03:41is also a means to reduce inequality.
03:44Brussels-based childcare expert Christian Morabito
03:47says even the youngest children benefit.
03:50Evidence shows that gaps in skills appears early
03:56before the child entered to primary education.
03:59So providing these services, childcare service,
04:02especially to poor children is essential for them
04:04to reduce this gap, but also for parents
04:07through allowing them accessing the labour market,
04:10especially women, to reduce gap in income.
04:14Back in Sofia and Galina is playing with Dimitar,
04:17who spends most of his summer days outside in the park.
04:32Then, at the end of the day,
04:34mom Christina receives a warm welcome home from work.
04:43Expanding childhood education and care is considered
04:46an economic, social and gender equality priority in Europe.
04:49It's calculated that raising the employment rate of women
04:52could boost EU GDP by up to 1.7%.
04:56coercion person can improve their children.
04:58Motes悸 has worked by people that want their family
04:59to you in a bond at 80 per cent.
