On February 25th, a roundtable discussion on the topic “Early Childhood Development and Early Intervention” was held in Bishkek, organized by the Public Association “Ruka v Ruke” in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection, and Migration, with the support of the Fair and Sustainable Development Solutions (FSDS) Public Foundation.

Participants included representatives of government structures in the fields of healthcare, education, and social development, international organizations, leaders of public organizations, and FSDS Foundation representatives.

The goal of the roundtable was to present the draft early intervention program in the Kyrgyz Republic and inform participants about the necessity of adopting it in order to ensure the realization of children's rights to full and harmonious development. Additionally, participants discussed planned activities in this area.

During the meeting, issues were raised about what early assistance is and how important it is to provide timely and appropriate support to children with disabilities. According to experts, the most important thing at the moment is the adoption of the early intervention program, strengthening the state's responsibility for creating an early assistance system in clear accordance with its principles, monitoring the development of the system based on unified indicators and quality criteria for early assistance, as well as training and retraining specialists in early assistance services.

As a result of the roundtable, it was decided to further develop the draft early intervention program in the Kyrgyz Republic, taking into account the recommendations received from the participants.