Impact and data
What we count, and what we can claim
Before the numbers, three things about how they were produced.
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These are municipal, not national, figures
Everything below was collected by local teams in specific municipalities, using tools ISSA and its members provided. It is not representative national data.
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Where evaluations describe impact, most describe perceived impact
Slovenia’s external evaluation is explicit that its findings are perceived impact assessed by focus groups, not causal impact from a controlled design. We do not claim Primokiz caused changes in enrolment rates or paediatrician density.
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Where sources disagree, we indicate it
Several figures shift depending on the cut-off date of the report. Those are flagged below rather than smoothed over.
Overall, 2019 to the present
- 4
- countries, with a two other in preparation
- 41
- municipalities entered the process
- 39
- completed it
- 30+
- local early childhood strategies developed
- 39
- situation analyses - 8 in Slovenia, 8 in Hungary, 21 in Romania, 2 in Slovakia
- 15,600+
- children and adults reached directly by services and training
What the process reliably produces
Across all four countries, four outcomes appeared everywhere the process was completed:
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A cross-sectoral coordination body that did not exist before
In Slovenia, this moved from “no” to “yes” in all eight municipalities. In Hungary, nine local action teams were established. In Romania, 21 local teams with more than 250 members. In Slovakia, the first in either municipality’s history.
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A data picture of the local early childhood system, built locally
In Slovakia, the baseline recorded that neither municipality had ever developed any data collection system related to early childhood. In Hungary: “in most Hungarian municipalities there is no such comprehensive, detailed research and survey.” In Romania, the habit stuck — some communities re-ran their surveys two years later.
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A strategy with political standing
Romania: 20 of 22 situation analyses approved by formal Local Council Decision; 16 strategies developed or revised. Slovenia: 7 strategies, most adopted unanimously; municipal action plans in 7 of 8. Hungary: 8 analyses adopted by council, 8 strategies drafted, 3 fully adopted in 2025 under election conditions. Slovakia: 2 strategies, the first ever.
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Money moving
In Romania, “in each of the communities where the project was implemented, the funding allocated to early childhood development increased.” In Slovenia, municipalities provided the financial resources in their own budgets for the measures they had chosen. In Hungary, municipalities took on and continued programmes started with project funds.
By country
| Measure | Romania | Slovenia | Hungary | Slovakia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Years | 2018–2022 | 2019–2023 | 2023–2024 | 2023–2024 |
| Duration | 4 years | 43 months | ~1 year | ~1 year |
| Municipalities entered | 22 | 8 | 9 | 2 |
| Completed | 21 | 8 | 8 | 2 |
| Situation analyses | 21 | 8 | 8 | 2 |
| Analyses adopted by council | 20 | 8 completed, 6 confirmed approved | 8 | Confirmed by mayoral mandate |
| Strategies developed | 16 | 7 | 3 completed | 2 |
| Strategies adopted by council | 16 | 7 | 3 | pending |
| Coordination body established | 21 Local Action Teams (LAT) | 8 LATs | 8 LATs | 2 LATs |
| New non-formal services | 18 PrimoHubs | Multiple | Every municipality | pending |
| External evaluation | Baseline + endline | Baseline + endline | Internal evaluation | Baseline only |
Reach and participation
Romania
- 12,340 children reached — 2,218 at ante-preschool level, 10,122 at preschool level
- 724 education professionals — teaching staff, directors and coordinators
- 155 cross-sector professionals in local teams — family doctors, paediatricians, nurses, health mediators, social workers, school counsellors, psychologists, priests, librarians
- 65 local authority representatives, including 3 mayors, 4 deputy mayors, 12 city hall secretaries and 8 local councillors
- 3,178 training participations across 44 sessions, 2019 to early 2023
- Against original targets of 1,500 children, 110 teaching staff, 65 professionals and 65 authority representatives — every target substantially exceeded except the last, which was met exactly
Slovenia
- Baseline: 55 participants across 8 focus groups, one per municipality
- Situation analysis surveys: Trbovlje ~400 residents (300 parents, 50 children, 10 professionals, 2 administrators); Slovenska Bistrica 312 valid responses; Postojna 111 parents; Razkrižje 11
- 59 participants at the national closing conference, including representatives from 9 non-participating municipalities
Hungary
- Situation analysis participation: 1,290 parent questionnaires and 388 professional questionnaires across the eight municipalities, plus 68 individual interviews with institution leaders and professionals, at least 10 further interviews with parents and families, and 53 group interviews reaching several hundred more people
- Budapest District XIII alone: 650 parent questionnaires, 310 professional questionnaires, 43 group interviews reaching around 370 people
- Programme reach: Kállósemjén 505 participants, Békéssámson 575 participants
- 64 Local Action Team meetings
- Impact rating by parents and professionals: 29% very successful, 56% quite successful
Slovakia
- Questionnaire respondents: Zborov 18, Koprivnica 20 — small samples, and the reports say so
Infrastructure and services created
Romania, during and after implementation:
- 18
- PrimoHubs — non-formal early childhood services
- 25
- playgrounds and parks for young children
- 5
- new crèches
- 8
- crèches rehabilitated or extended
- 7
- new kindergartens
- 16
- kindergartens rehabilitated or extended
- 5
- professional posts created or re-established (school mediator, medical assistant, dentist, two school counsellors)
- 2
- integrated early childhood service platforms
Slovenia: a speech therapist and a sports pedagogue employed; playgrounds renovated including a pump track; land purchased for a new kindergarten in one municipality; spatial plans amended in several; a mental health dispensary for children and adolescents established in Cerkno; municipal websites rebuilt to consolidate family information.
Hungary: community spaces created or renovated in Kállósemjén and Újpest; speech therapy sessions established in Tarpa; a development room equipped in Nagykörű; newborn screening equipment supplied to Nagykörű and Békéssámson; playgrounds extended and separated by age group in Győrszemere and Békéssámson; children’s corners at the doctor’s surgery, library and nurses’ service in Békéssámson.
Slovakia: measures scheduled from 2025 on.
What we have learned that doesn’t fit in a table
Coordination is not the hard part; sustaining it is. Willingness to cooperate was rarely the obstacle. Every country found that the barrier was the absence of a standing structure, a mandate, and someone whose job it is.
Information is the most common unmet need in every country. Not services — information about services. It came up in every single country, in villages and in city districts, in well-resourced systems and poorly resourced ones. It is also, by some distance, the cheapest thing to fix.
The people who most need services are the hardest to consult with. Postojna could not reach parents of children aged 0 to 1. Bled tried the Red Cross,o5 paediatricians and the medical centre and could not reach families outside the system. Trbovlje found vulnerable groups had the lowest awareness and the poorest attendance despite outreach. This is a live methodological problem, and we would rather name it than pretend it is solved.
Volunteers and redrawn job descriptions are not a staffing model. Romania’s PrimoHubs run substantially on goodwill. It worked, but it will not work forever.
Local capacity outlasts the project. This is the finding we would most like funders to take away. From Hungary: “Local action groups, local personal and professional capacity are a permanent asset that creates the possibility of maintenance and, if necessary, continuation.” From Romania: “local capacity built at the local level, capable of resuming the process when needed.”