GLOBAL
CHILDREN’S INITIATIVE
Resources available across
Harvard University’s graduate schools
and affiliated hospitals, the
Center generates, translates, and applies knowledge in the service of improving
life outcomes for children in the United States and throughout the world.
Specifically, the Center is committed to:
• Building a unified science
of health, learning, and behavior to explain the early roots of lifelong impairments;
• Leading the design,
implementation, and evaluation of innovative program and practice models
that reduce preventable
disparities in well-being;
• Catalyzing the
implementation of effective, science-based public policies through
strategic relationships and knowledge transfer; and
• Preparing future and current
leaders to build and leverage knowledge that promotes the healthy development
of children and families and brings high returns to all of society Harvard
University Global, (2010).
Some of these issues have been due to their country
insights of where their Early Childhood programs are or need to be.
Three areas guided by these strategic objectives, the Global Children’s Initiative are;
·
Early childhood development;
·
Child mental health; and
·
Children in crisis and conflict situations
SOURCES
Other sources of Center acknowledges the important
contributions made to the development of the Global Children's Initiative by
the Mother Child Education
Foundation (AÇEV) of Turkey, which served as Founding Partner for the
initial planning of the Center's global agenda.
There are others around the world who are willing to help this global
team.
Zambian Early Childhood Development Project
To
address this knowledge gap, the Zambian Ministry of Education, the Examination
Council of Zambia, UNICEF, the University of Zambia, and the Center on the
Developing Child at Harvard University launched the Zambian Early Childhood
Development Project (ZECDP) in 2009, a collaborative effort to measure the
effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in
Zambia
Applying the Science of Early Childhood in
Brazil
As part
of its Global Children’s Initiative, the Center is launching Núcleo Ciência
Pela Infância, its first major programmatic effort outside the United States.
In collaboration with local experts, the project aims to use the science of
child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments
to benefit young children and their families in Brazil.
These
are all new insights for me, to see other counties putting children first and
putting programs in place for their development, and health.
References
Center on the Developing Child
at Harvard University. (2010). Global children's initiative. Retrieved
from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/
Very informative post. I have to admit that I'm really bummed my local resource hasn't responded yet. Even after I asked two additional times. I regret asking someone local and not broadening my responses. I thought about the outcome I could have received and what the Professor wanted from this assignment and I just go to our classmates blogs to get a better understanding. You showed how much you understood your international contacts, nice post.
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by the "clos de'enfants" project in the Gambia. It appears to be very strengths-based in its approach. With three generations of women, a future mother, a mother and a grandmother, forming a teaching team in their community early care and learning program were children are brought together to socialize and learn. It reminds me of cooperative preschools, but much more embedded in the context of the community culture. With five teams volunteering each week in the "clos" the parent education and connection of many adults for the purpose of building a strong community for children is a powerful opportunity. I was also fascinated that the male leader of the muslim community was the person to set up the teams of women; it seems quite progressive to have the women in the community roles.
ReplyDeleteI also looked at the information regarding the anti-malaria project in Zambia. I was hoping to find some positive results showing a drastic change for the children that received treatment from the program, but unfortunately there are so many situational factors that the children face in Zambia that just altering one component doesn't seem to be enough to make a profound difference.
ReplyDeleteWow! Such great information. It was really interesting to see how things are being done in different parts of the world.
ReplyDelete