COLOMBIA NETWORK OF TRAINERS

The recently established network of ICDP trainers covers 4 provinces of the country, Quindío, Antioquia, Nariño and Boyaca. Trainers are qualified to set up new projects and to train and supervise the work of ICDP facilitators and promoters. 

 

The photo shows the team of professionals who recently attended a Trainer Level Seminar in Amanecer, near La Tebaida, Quindío, run by the ICDP international consultant for the Colombia. Although not all participants had the same amount of experience of working with ICDP, there was strong, long term commitment from all to continue developing ICDP in their respective provinces. The trainers in Quindío and Antioquia have long been established and they are now joined by new trainers from Nariño, where ICDP has been spreading for several years, through Health and Social services (ICBF) and from Boyaca, where since the implementation of the large project in 2005, ICDP continued to spread through the networks of health, education and social services (ICBF). In Boyaca, the support from the Governor has been very significant not only in promoting ICDP through the media but his wife has been running workshops all over the country in person. Having established a network of trainers, ICDP ends its direct involvement in training in these provinces but the trainers will keep in contact and inform about the future developments. With the help of UNICEF, ICDP hopes to organise yearly meetings of Trainers to exchange and share experiences.

 

ICDP IN ARGENTINA

Report from Mina Clavero

This is a report about our work during the period between June and September 2006.

1. Our ICDP team carried out field visits to preschools in Cura Brochero and San Lorenzo. The ICDP pack of materials, adapted to the local culture for this part of Argentina, was delivered to the committee from the preschools and the two psychologists.

2. We conducted new training in Córdoba in cooperation with the NGO called "La Minga" who are actively working with children of different ages in the poor suburbs of the town. We trained teachers as well as a group of mothers linked to "La Minga", with regular meetings over a period of 5 weeks. Particular emphasis was put on the topic of general concern which in these groups of caregivers was about ways to set limits in a positive way. We compared mother-child with mother-adolescent relationships examining different successful strategies used to set limits. This work opened up a space for interesting exchanges which created in the end fresh and more positive attitudes in most of the participants.

3. There were regular support meetings with the professionals spreading ICDP to families in La Paz. Their ICDP work is part of a breastfeeding and nutrition programme.

4. In early November we plan to organize  the First Meeting for organizations working for the benefit of children in Valle Traslasierra. Our objective is to present ICDP and to create a Forum for discussion about the new National Law on Protection of children and adolescents

 Some of our future plans include the following:

To visit promoters we trained during our second self training projects which took place in Las Calles, as they are now interested in continuing with ICDP and reaching out to more families with the programme .

Before the end of 2006, we hope to finish the production of the musical CD containing local traditional songs we had collected during this year, and to add it to our ICDP pack of materials to be used during 2007.

Our work and our uninterrupted commitment to spreading ICDP has now resulted in several requests for training for the whole community.

At the end of September we will hold a planning meeting with the ICDP trainer Camila Romero in Buenos Aires, in order to establish new goals, activities and methodology.

From the ICDP team of facilitators: Virna Casuccio, Maria del Carmen Vega and Mariela Skverer

 

NEWS FROM PARAGUAY

This year, 2006, we are able to reach out more into the countryside with two projects:

Project 1:

 “Development of Children in their Early Childhood, implementing ICDP” for low income urban and rural families at about 100 km from the capital, in the district of Eusebio Ayala (16.000 inhabitants, Cordillera Department). A small grant from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) made this work possible!

In November 2005 we trained 15 students (future preschool teachers) who in 2006 started to work with  3-5 years old children, as part of their obligatory 6 months practical training. From April 2006, after summer holidays, 13 teacher-students were able to start as supervised ICDP promoters with 4 groups of local families, mothers, very few fathers and grandmothers of children aged 2 to 5. We were surprised by the interest and commitment of rural families. We hope these students will become stable promoters in the future once they have finished their studies in 2008. 

The other surprise was to see mothers and fathers in their new affectionate parenting style, in surroundings where latent violence marks family and institutional atmosphere. A kind of awakening is taking place in one group of parents who until now have always  been living amidst natural resources without really perceiving them, believing that they were poor and powerless. Their material resources are small pieces of land in rural surroundings, a benign climate all year round, sufficient water reserves and markets within reach. Now they have asked us to support small enterprise projects:  to cultivate food plants for their own subsistence and as cash crops, and to undertake small livestock breeding for the market.

We are now in process of supervising last ICDP sessions in the four groups. All the sessions have to be realized under very modest conditions; most of them in the open air. We are lucky, enjoying good weather most of the time! Only one group can meet in a rural school classroom. Use of video is impossible in all cases. 

We also work to gain more interest and support for Early Childhood needs and community empowerment from the local and departmental authorities, as well as the public, lobbying wherever we get the chance to speak, including radio stations. All the authorities will be invited to our closing event in Eusebio Ayala, in November.

- Number of benefited families is 39  - Number of children 0 to 6 is 44  - Number of children 7 to 12 years of age is 26 - Children who attend the kindergarten activities run by students in the role of caregivers is 90 

Project 2: 

“Training of Mothers and Fathers for full care of children in Their Early childhood, in Villeta” for urban low income mothers and fathers. Villeta is a small riverside industrial town with 20.000 inhabitants, an hour's drive south from the capital. Funding was won through a contest for small pilot projects promoting Early Childhood global needs, offered to NGOs by the Interamerican Development Bank through the national Ministry of Education. It is a compound of three strategies: 1. Sensitizing authorities and the public in general, for special needs of children in Early Childhood; 2. Sensitizing parents, with ICDP, caregiver level; and a breastfeeding support group, conducted by La Leche League Paraguay; 3. Attention to participants’ young children (aged 2 to 6). Activities 2 and 3 take place in the school of  the Salesian nuns in the town centre of Villeta.

 

The project is aimed at empowering mothers and fathers to promote and/or establish a permanent day care facility for their small children, with the help of local authorities. We had our first success: a letter was written to the town mayor and to other authorities and signed recently by 30 parents, applying for support for their day care centre. We usually have 15-20 participants each week. Older children (ages 8-14) feel good because they can freely chose activities and talk openly to the two caregivers. Older children help the young ones, and all cooperate with tidying up in the end.

- Number of benefited families with ICDP is 40;  Number of children 0 to 6 years is 35; Number of children 7 to 12 years of age is 30

Staff involved: Elisabeth Gavilán (Facilitator), Lily González de Verón (Co-Facilitator), Silverio Gavilán (Project Coordinator and Co-Facilitator), Max Chiriani (Accountant).  

 

Comments by participants from Project 1 and 2:

“It makes me feel so good to share experiences with others.”  “I make time to come here because every time I learn something interesting and new.” “Others say they cannot come because of much work at home – but I do my housework at other moments to be able to enjoy myself here.” “This year I have cancelled all my other Saturday afternoon activities to be able to participate here, and I do not regret it.” “I like to come here because here they tell me that I am a good mother. Nobody ever told me that before.” “When I first heard about the course I thought I am too old already, being a grandmother; but I stayed and have learned many new things which I can make use of at least for the sake of my grandchildren.” 

Special challenges:

Above all it is the country’s bilingual situation. Rural and low income urban population speaks Guaraní (but not reading or writing); Spanish is a foreign language so people feel much more at ease when they can express themselves in Guaraní, but they have to overcome shyness as in the past the use of their language had been oppressed. This may be the reason why we only managed to find one cradle song in Guaraní and it was not very well known.

Another big challenge is the typical absence of Paraguayan fathers in child rearing contexts. We are still looking for the magic formula to attract them!

Partial or complete parental abandonment of children has been common by tradition. The poor rural families are usually large often leaving their offspring in the care of urban relatives or other persons. More recently because parents tend to emigrate looking for job opportunities in Argentina, Spain or the United States,  children are being left in the care by others even more frequently.