Welcome to ICDP

ICDP PROJECTS

During 2006 ICDP continued to cooperate closely with UNICEF, its main partner and sponsor since 2001, and its programme continued to spread throughout the provinces of Boyacá and Nariño, with new project developments in the Huila and Chocó provinces, as well as in the towns of Medellín, Bogotá, La Tebaida, Manizales and Urabá.

In Huila the ICDP project committee included the local government, 3 ministries, UNICEF and Ecopetrol. Trained professionals from education, health and social services applied ICDP in the area of prevention reaching 15,000 families. In Boyacá, workshops were held in nine towns attended by 900 facilitators. There were several workshops for professionals from Nariño. In Chocó, a core group was formed who facilitated training of over 200 promoters who are gradually reaching 2000 families and children at high risk.

In Bogotá, 104 families that had recently abandoned the guerrilla movement received ICDP psychosocial intervention over a period of 8 months; 7 persons were selected and trained as ICDP promoters. This was a pilot project in cooperation with the Defence Ministry and Bogotá municipality, sponsored by the International Organization for Migrants (OIM). The project showed significant impact by creating motivation, hope and new space for empathic behaviour inside the families.

In Medellin, workshops for professionals from the government programme "Buen Comienzo" and the CINDE foundation were followed by projects with 350 vulnerable families in marginalized areas of the city. The university Luis Amigo included the ICDP programme inside their project of assistance to families displaced by the civil war, reaching 300 families and children. ICDP trainer Carolina Montoya supervised the project.

In La Tebaida intervention involved preschool teachers and 70 mothers living in poverty, some trained as promoters.

ICDP Colombia team: Nicoletta Armstrong, Carmen Lucia Andrade, Claudia Marcela Rojas, Ayda Brigitte Ramirez, Dora Lilia Aristizabal, Blanca Cecilia Garcia and Ricardo Jiménez.

During 2007 the ICDP programme “I am a person too”, continued to reach out to families and children at risk in several projects, which developed through cooperation with the local governments in the provinces of Boyacá, Nariño, Huila and Chocó. ICDP was also active in Medellín, Bogotá and La Tebaida.

In Boyacá ICDP was coordinated with the active involvement of the wife of the governor. Financial support was received through municipal councils. ICDP expanded to 20 remote areas, focusing on indigenous communities and those that suffered from violence due to armed conflicts. The main ICDP messages were also spread through radio programmes, including radio dramas. Trained were 2100 promoters and each promoter implemented ICDP with about 10 families. Technical committees were set up to sustain this work locally.

In Huila the project committee includes the government secretariat, representatives from education, health and ICBF (social services), UNICEF, Ecopetrol and ICDP. ICDP is officially inserted in institutional work plans. In April, at the ICDP accreditation ceremony, ICDP facilitators told of their experiences in different areas of the province and demonstrated the essence of ICDP through dance, music, poetry and role play. The 154 facilitators and 1,408 promoters are mainly teachers, nurses and social workers. The aim for 2008 is to strengthen the work of promoters and secure sustainability on the community levels by forming ICDP clubs run by local mothers.

In Bogotá the project with families of ex-guerrilla fighters developed in cooperation with the municipality and the International Organization for Migrants (OIM), was completed and an additional workshop was held for a group of psychologists involved in this work.

In Medellin the university Luis Amigo continued to apply ICDP with families displaced by armed conflict. In La Tebaida the ICDP model for teachers was successfully tested out in the school Luís Arango Cardona. As a result the school adopted the ICDP method.

Year 2008:

In 2008, in the Huila province ICDP trained 142 teachers, nurses and social workers; 1400 promoters started their process of training. An evaluation study has been initiated to establish the impact of the ICDP implementation in this province. In the pre-intervention study 200 questionnaires were randomly administered and 60 caregivers were filmed in interactions with their children. The post-intervention study will be carried out in 2009. -In the province of Chocó, in the capital Quibdó, ICDP held workshops for groups of new facilitators. The UNICEF regional office continued to coordinate the work of 70 ICDP trained agents whose work has been reaching hundreds of families at risk, many living in remote and guerrilla controlled areas. A new development is the cultural adaptation of the ICDP materials for working with the Embera indigenous community. -In the province of Nariño, a new group of 30 health professionals received training. - In the province of Boyacá ICDP has been present since 2005. The ICDP developments received support from the local government and three local ministries. The program spread to 123 towns and for this work Boyacá received the Colombian national award for human rights in 2008.

-In Medellín, the capital of Antioquia, ICDP trainers at the FUNLAM University have been active since 1997. During 2008 they started cooperating with ICDP facilitators from the FAN organization reaching 4000 children. -In Alto Naranjal, near Cordoba, in the province of Quindío, the ICDP sensitization meetings took place throughout 2008 with families from the Embera Chami indigenous community. The families started to discuss their own behaviour towards their children and also towards each other, and gradually managed to make positive changes, reducing violence in the community.

Year 2009

There are 1986 trainers and 16, 457 facilitators who implement ICDP reaching children, youth and families through social services, education and health networks, and to a minor extent through local non-governmental organizations. The main focus in 2009 was in the following areas of the country:

HUILA: ICDP is present since 2006. In 2009, 147 trainers and 1417 facilitators (teachers, nurses and social workers) implemented ICDP in all 37 towns of the department, reaching 65,750 children. Some of the facilitators hold positions on local councils and are thus partaking in the decision making processes about social policy and program implementation at municipal level. The UNICEF sponsored evaluation of the ICDP project in Huila showed it to be cost effective and that ICDP had a positive impact on participants, both on parents and the professional caregivers. Parent-child interactions were observed, filmed and compared in control and experimental groups, pre and post intervention, showing in the post analysis of the experimental group an increase in sensitive behavior towards children (according to the 8 ICDP criteria for good interaction), whereas in the control groups behavior remained similar or decreased in quality. Pre and post questionnaires and interviews using 222 informants confirmed the positive changes and the high relevance of ICDP for the work of the local networks.

BOYACÁ: ICDP implementation by the Education Ministry, the Health Ministry and the Secretariat for Human Development is a permanent ongoing activity for 5 years now, promoting mental health and good relationships throughout the department of Boyacá, in well over 100 000 families so far. The number of families reached through the health sector is increasing every year and in parallel more personnel is getting trained so that there can be a follow up, as well as evaluation of the work accomplished. The focus in 2009 was on strengthening the positive image of the father with additional activities designed for that purpose.

NARIÑO: The ICDP program has been sustained in this department since its first implementation in 2002. In 2009 ICDP Colombia offered supervision and refresher workshops for psychologists from the health network.

CHOCÓ: ICDP has continued to spread throughout this department for 3 years now, gaining access to most remote areas affected by the guerrillas; ICDP is coordinated by the UNICEF's regional office. The new focus is on applying ICDP with the indigenous Indian population and therefore the ICDP program has been adapted to their philosophy, cosmic vision and cultural way of relating inside the family. The "8 ICDP guidelines booklet for parents" has been translated in 4 Indian languages: Katios, Embera, Waunaan and Tule.

MEDELLÍN: 1. The FAN organization has a team of 100 ICDP facilitators, who have been trained in the period between 2006 and 2009. In 2009 students at a government institution called SENA, received ICDP training and the ICDP practical tasks with children complemented their theoretical studies about child development. Training was also given to 30 teachers from the Carala Cristina organization working in a marginalized area of the city. Two more groups were formed in ICDP: 40 teachers from the Los Alamos institute working with special needs children and 40 community leaders who will implement ICDP with 800

2. Two ICDP trainers at FUNLAM University have been active since 1997. In 2009 they trained 127 youth leaders linked to the project called “Semilleros Infantiles” developed by the Medellín city Secretariat for Social Development.

Year 2010:

- New training project developed in cooperation with the Heath Ministry which took place in the department of Santander. ICDP was implemented in three different areas of the department of Santander, in the province de Velez, de Mares and de Garcia Rovira. The Health Ministry decided to adopt the ICDP methodology following the successful implementation of the ICDP program in the pilot projects, which took place during 2009. ICDP Colombia signed an agreement of cooperation with the Health Ministry and has already started the process of training of a core group of health agents who will later become ICDP trainers.

- FAN organization continued to implement ICDP in day centres, in the marginalized areas of Medellin

- A pilot project in Armenia, Quindio adapted ICDP for youth-to-youth delivery and it proved very successful

- ICDP material was translated into 4 indigenous Indian languages in the department of Choco.

- Five years ago, the Boyaca health authorities became concerned about the high incidents of violent behaviour, which led to the introduction of a new strategy for the province. The ICDP programme with its focus on improving interpersonal relationships was implemented widely as part of that new strategy. The monitoring indicators are now showing a reduction in violent behaviour for the period between 2007 and 2010.

- Professional evaluator Oscar Solano presented very positive outcomes of the ICDP evaluation study sponsored by UNICEF. The meeting was attended by representatives from UNICEF, ICDP, IICRD, the ministries of health and education (SED and SEM) and the regional director of ICBF. They discussed future expansion of ICDP in the Huila province and tried to define ways of incorporating ICDP within the framework of local public policy for early childhood and youth. Link to the website with the evaluation study: http://www.icdp.info/evaluation.html http://www.icdp.info/EvaluacionlHuila2010.pdf

- IICRD (the International Institute for Children's Rights and Development) approached ICDP to join forces and to work together on several new projects, focusing on child protection and realization of children’s rights. A joint model ICDP/ IICRD will be tested out in several pilot projects in Huila, Medellin, Bogota and Choco. The pilot in Medellin has been developing in cooperation with CINDE as a third partner. The other project sites are starting in 2011.

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