The Union of Special Educators and Rehabilitators of the Republic of North Macedonia, with the support of the UNICEF Office in Skopje, started implementing the project "Establishment of system services for early intervention for children with developmental delays and/or disabilities" which is expected to last from July 2022. until the end of 2023. The goal of the project is to establish a system of early intervention services (RI) for children from 0 to 6 years of age, which will be based on an intersectoral, transdisciplinary and family-oriented approach.

The need for the implementation of the project is based on the data from the analysis made by UNICEF on the services for RI for children in our country, which showed that the existing services are fragmented and unavailable throughout the country, without clear instructions and guidelines that parents could follow, that is, that referral protocols and roadmaps for action, as well as standards and procedures for providing RI services, are missing.

Within the framework of the project activities realized so far, several working sessions were held with the relevant ministries (Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and Science) in order to harmonize the draft concept for the system services for RI and to determine the roles , the competences and tasks of each ministry within the framework of the system. In order to present the concept of systemic RI, meetings were held with current or potential RI service providers in Skopje and Shtip, which were attended by a large number of experts from kindergartens, day care centers, health and educational institutions, as well as representatives of civil society organizations. and several more meetings are scheduled to be held in the future in Skopje and Kumanovo. In these three cities, the implementation of the RI system services will be piloted later.

After conducting an extensive analysis on the design and implementation of systemic services for early intervention, a draft report will be prepared with recommendations based on the evidence obtained from the analysis, and it will be presented at a workshop to relevant stakeholders.

An expert team (composed of several members with different expertise, all professionals with many years of practical experience) led by a leading expert was hired for the realization of the project activities. The team responsible for the implementation of the project activities, among other things, is also working on the development of a package of training modules intended for employed professionals in health and social care institutions who will continue to provide the RI service, under the monitoring and guidance of the expert team.