Welcome to ICDP

YEAR 2010

CHANGE AT THE OSLO HEAD-OFFICE

Photo above from left to right: Trine Gerlyn and Ylva Snekkvik are leaving their position as coordinators of ICDP, but they will continue as volunteers on the executive board. Catherine Bolseth on the far right will be taking over their tasks at the head-office working part time. Thank you Trine and Ylva and welcome Catherine!

BRAZILIAN COOPERATION

Eriton Araújo is the chairman of PADIN – Program of Assistance for the Development of Infants, in the municipality of Iguatu, state of Ceará, Brazil. His recent visit to Oslo marked the start of cooperation with ICDP International on the integration of the ICDP program in a new service for marginalized communities which is now starting to be provided by PADIN.

Eriton (on photo, on the far left) explains:

- In PADIN we have created a new program called “Godmothers of Child Development” (represented on the T-shirt on the photo) with the aim of assisting pregnant women and caregivers of children 0 to 6 years old. We placed a special focus on promoting good interaction between caregivers and children, in addition to covering some micro-areas related to health assistance. This program has become a new public policy by the local authorities in Iguatu and one of its main reference is the ICDP Method.

Since April 2010 we have been developing a pilot project with the idea to use the ICDP method by first training a group of health workers (the Godmothers of Child Development ) and then it is the godmaothers who will work with local communities at high risk, such as the community of Villa Mora for example. Each of the twelve godmothers will visit families three times a week, each visit lasting four hours. We will be monitoring developments very closely, seeking feedback from the families and adapting our way of working accordingly.

JUNE

ICDP REPORT 2009:

Click here to read "ICDP in the world"

AUSTRALIA

FIRST ICDP PROJECT IN REDHILL, BRISBANE

Anne Moore (photo on the left) has successfully implemented ICDP in a project which took place at the Moonyah Rehabilitation Centre for people with alcohol and drug addiction problems, over a period of 8 week. Anne applied ICDP to work with 13 men who have been separated from their children for 3 months. Some only see their children on weekend visits so they are struggling to maintain a close relationship with their children. Anne writes:

"It is so nice that young men are interested in the program and want to be able to connect with their children. Their Case manager was a bit wary when I first told him what the ICDP program was about, as he felt that their men may not really relate; but by getting them on board right from day one they were happy to attend. They were also used to sharing and talking honestly as they do that as part of their rehabilitation program. They were trying really hard to stay connected to their children.

One participant father had a 14 year old girl that he was really having trouble with, she was really angry and acting out and he did not seem to be able to connect with her. In the group there was also another father who had had the same problems with one of his girls, so he shared some stories about his child and gave some ideas about what he thought might help. The following week, we discovered that his advice worked as the father of the 14 year old girl came to the meeting really exited and told about how he had been able to talk to his daughter really openly and discovered why she was so upset. I found that to be one of the most powerful things about the program.

It was very moving at times when the participants were sharing about how they felt as children and of the impact their addiction has had on their own children. There were a few tears but lots of successes and when we had our party on the final day, participants' partners, wives and children also came along.

It is also really nice that TAFE are supporting me and allowing me the time to go and deliver the ICDP training, they are happy for me to do it and feel it promotes not only ICDP but also adds value to what TAFE deliver. It means that I can do ICDP work at no charge and really get it to the people who need it but can’t afford to pay for it."

The second block of training at Moonyah commences on 17th June and there will be for 13 - 15 participants. This will also be at no cost to participants.

MAY

THE ICDP SCANDINAVIAN NETWORK MEETING

This year ICDP Denmark hosted the Scandinavian Network Meeting which took place on 27-28th of May, gathering 250 people -- click here for leaflet in Danish. Link to the Danish webpage with information about the network meeting www.icdp.dk

The content of the program was focussed on "being present in the interaction with children". According to Anne Linder: "The theme of the conference "Moments of presence" reflects the primary task of ICDP Denmark, which is to strengthen and enhance the relationship between children and professionals. All good moments are precious for the formation of such relationships. In order to develop a successful relationship with children adults need to be empathic and they have to take responsibility for timing and controlling their own mental attention. But to achieve this they have to be able to create moments of presence. "

The PPR journal of educational psychology, will publish a special issue concerning the conference.

The meeting organizers created excellent conditions for knowledge sharing to take place in the best possible way among the participants from different Scandinavian countries, who were all given ample space to present their latest projects and materials. The song "You raise me up" by Secret Garden was played at the network meeting - click here to hear it. Some of the trainers will use it in the future to start their ICDP workshops.

TANZANIA

The ICDP work in Moshi and its surrounding areas, has been ongoing since July 2004, when the first psychosocial training seminar took place, as collaboration between the University of Bergen and a local organization called Kiwakkuki.

There are now 65 facilitators and 12 trainers in the Kilimanjaro region, and a new group of 28 facilitators have started their process of ICDP training - see photos above from the workshops. Recently local ICDP trainers Verynice Monyo and Lui Mfangavo organized network meetings which were conducted in four districts: Moshi municipal, Moshi rural west, Moshi rural east and Mwanga. The aim was to link the new group of facilitators who are just starting their training with the more experienced group. In all 4 districts the experienced facilitators shared about their achievements and challenges in using the ICDP programme, and in addition they talked about the positive impact of the programme in their personal lives. Their stories illustrate how as result of ICDP there are improvements in caregivers’ attitudes and behaviour towards their children and also positive changes in children’s behaviour. Click here to read some of these comments by caregivers and ICDP trained facilitators.

Photo above shows a group of caregivers participating in an ICDP meeting

The Tanzanian government is currently developing an Early Childhood Development policy, in cooperation with UNICEF, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Community Development, as well as some other local organizations - the plan is to implement this new ECD strategy in a pilot project in 6-8 districts of Tanzania. Interest has been expressed to include the ICDP programme in this pilot.

APRIL

EVALUATION OF ICDP

Three research studies that have been working on the evaluation of the effects of ICDP have sent us their preliminary results; they were carried out in Norway, in Mozambique and in Colombia. The research in Norway received funding from the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion, the Mozambique study was sponsored by NORAD and the study in Colombia by UNICEF. All studies show positive outcomes. The full documents will be available in the near future.

NORWAY

SEMINAR ORGANIZED BY NORAD

The Norad's Civil Society Department has organized a seminar which will take place in Oslo, on Tuesday 27th of April, from 12.00 to 15.00 pm. The title is: "Psychosocial Interventions for Children in Development Countries: The Case of International Child Development Programme (ICDP)". The background for the seminar is the recent evaluation of ICDP in Mozambique - click here to read a summary of results. The report from this evaluation will be presented at the seminar, followed by questions and discussions. Click here for the seminar agenda.

SEMINAR IN KRISTIANSAND

ICDP participated in a seminar held in Kristiansand on the 22nd and 23rd of April on the topic of ”Emergency Preparedness and Management” (EPM). At this even the content of the ICDP program was presented and some examples of ICDP application in Angola and Colombia were shared illustrating ICDP relevance in context of human stress and suffering caused by the detrimental effects of war and displacement. The second day of the event examined the teaching method which uses web-based learning for master degree students. This innovative method was developed at the University of Agder. In Norway the Agder University is cooperating on this with the University of Stavanger, and on international levels with the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka and the University Gadhaj Mada, Indonesia. Professor Svein Gunnar Gundersen from the International health department invited Professor Karsten Hundeide to adapt the ICDP program so that it can be inserted in the e-program for students at master degree level as one of the modules dealing with health and psychosocial support .

NEW GROUP OF TRAINERS IN NORWAY:

Photo of a new group of accredited ICDP Trainers in Norway

COLOMBIA

EVALUATION: Click here for to read about the evaluation study results. These results will be presented publicly at an event to be held in Neiva, the capital of the Huila department, Colombia. The Huila Governor, the secretaries of health and education (SED and SEM) and the regional director of ICBF will be informed of the outcomes of the research - the aim is to define how to incorporate the ICDP program in different sectors (education, health and social services) within the framework of the public policy for early childhood and youth.

THE LAUNCH OF ICDP IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SANTANDER: On the 19th of April in the town of Bucaramanga, the First lady of the department will officially launch an ICDP project, which will spread the ICDP program to 38 towns of the Santander province. On the same day the ICDP Colombia team will be giving the first of a series of training workshops to a core group of 114 persons, comprised of psychologists from the health sector and agents linked to Colombian social services ICBF (madres FAMI, madres comunitarias). The future task of the core group will be to implement ICDP with their own colleagues, and they in turn will apply ICDP as part of their daily work with families and children. In addition to being trained in ICDP this core group will also receive training in monitoring and evaluation.

ARMENIA: In the town of Armenia, in the community Barrio Genesis, an ICDP project for 14 young people and a group of families has been developing since March 2010. In this project, the 14 young people will attend a total of 7 ICDP workshops which take place on Sundays and in between the workshops they will be practicing ICDP with children and also assisting the ICDP sessions held with the families. The ICDP sessions with families are held in the chapel after the Sunday service.

Young people preparing to sing at the Sunday service. Padre Dario with ICDP trainers Anisah and Amata

ICDP was invited to do this work by Padre Dario, a Catholic priest who has built a chapel in the Barrio Genesis and has for the last 6 years been running the "Peace and Art project for sustainable human development" that focuses on art and culture, nutrition and health programs for the community. Barrio Genesis was known as the most dangerous part of Armenia characterized by unemployment, drug addiction, prostitution, sexual abuse, violence in families, delinquency and young people's involvement in armed conflict. Thanks to the extraordinary dedication of Padre Dario there has been a dramatic reduction of violent incidents in this community. There has been a real transformation in young people who started to develop their talents, form music bands and art groups, as well as actively participate in the cultural and social development of their community.

MEXICO

PUEBLA: Casa de la Niñez Poblana, a government institution for abandoned children has incorporated ICDP as one of their methodologies and all of its 72 members of staff received training in the ICDP program. The institution has high standards of care and counts with a set of modern and beautiful buildings providing protection for children of all age groups. It has modern equipment and provides quality services, which are based on a personalized approach with each child. The director is open to innovative programs and thanks to his dynamic and devoted team of psychologists this institution is an example of excellent caring practice. Photo below shows the latest ICDP initiative at Casa de la Niñez Poblana.

Julieta Hernández is holding ICDP sensitization meetings with members of the local police

PORTUGAL

On 16th of April 2010, the ICDP programme was presented at a workshop in Lisbon, as part of the "I Technical Seminar", organized by the government agency “Santa Casa da Misericórdia das Caldas da Rainha”. The seminar was attended by various experts, including kinder garden teachers, psychologists, sociologists, practitioners of social inclusion techniques among others. For over three hours participants were able to explore the relevance of integrated interventions and the importance of coordination of efforts. Working in isolation in different areas of intervention was emphasized as futile since a child is “one person”, a whole. The presentation of the ICDP program and of the ICDP work developed in Portugal took place in an informal atmosphere. There were significant exchanges of experiences and sharing of perspectives among all present. There was common understanding that the quality of the relationship between the caregivers and the children is the key for the success of psychosocial interventions. Actual changes in attitudes are likely to be successfully maintained only when developed "in a relationship" over time. The family structures and their dynamics have changed and parents need more support for the education of their children. We have to rely on the quality of relationships between the "technicians" and our children and above all we need to be aware that this aspect is not only true in scenarios of war or extreme poverty.

MARCH

PORTUGAL

News from Lisbon: "In November 2009 began the sensitization training of new team members, who were not covered by the previous training which took place in the Alfragide project “Roda Viva”. Important and special emphasis was placed on achieving standardization of the “interactive language” used by all technical members of the Centre. We must underline that this has been very positive for the relations between all members of the Technical Team.

The easiness of communication, the sense of membership and the spirit of mutual support gained expression in day-to-day situations. These sessions have been taking place weekly over the past four months, which led to a more extended intervention and powered a real internal change of each member’s conceptions. This reinforces the idea that it is important to give time and “space” for those attending to the training sessions to expose their personal experiences and difficulties. The International Trainer Teresa Mendes and trainer Penélope Villar have conducted the training. We have now reached the final phase of training and this new team will achieve the ICDP Promoter level. "

DENMARK

GR Psykologerne Centre for Relations in Skive has, according to supervisor Annette Groot, during the past year educated more professionals than ever before: Our primary focus are professionals who work with children age 0-6 and teachers who work with children age 6-18. We educate professionals in ICDP on level I & II and we have had a few groups on level III. Our training at level I & II in Denmark each lasts 6 days whereas level III takes 8 days of training. One of our achievements has been to produce a DVD called "Golden moments' in kindergarten". It has two parts: the first part illustrates the way different kindergartens integrated ICDP in their daily work with children; it is about the teachers' awareness of all their children and their needs. The second part of the DVD goes deeper into the meaning of the 8 interaction themes of the ICDP program. We are considering translating this DVD into English depending on the interest it generates. At the moment it can be found on our homepage www.g-r.dk ICDP Denmark is on Facebook.

From an update by psychologist Anne Linder, founder of “Authenticus” www.authenticus.dk: - For two and a half years now we have run a project using ICDP to assist parents in the Vordingborg commune. It is called "Helping ordinary parents with normal children with common problems" . The project was evaluated by the University of Pedagogues DPU, and supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs. In the period from August to December 2009, another ICDP project took place, where the training involved a group of 44 pedagogues and leaders from a local organization that works for the benefit of children and young people with delayed mental development. The project was financed by the Næstved commune and it was evaluated by the DPU. The DPU evaluation report confirmed that it is possible to sensitize professional caregivers and thus improve the quality of their interactions with children. In the Lolland commune, ICDP training was given to 26 persons, including pedagogues and nurses. This work was financed by the commune itself, with a contribution from the Ministry for Social Affairs who will also evaluate the project. In the Randers commune a pilot project is starting to develop in a public library for children, where 24 staff members will receive ICDP training. This represents a new exciting challenge, but we have already received some positive feedback. The project will be researched by the university and if it proves successful it may lead to ICDP being incorporated as part of the general training for librarians. There are continuous requests for ICDP training from different educational institutions and therefore the current challenge is to form new groups of ICDP qualified trainers who can spread ICDP according to demand. Anne Linder's book "Professional Relationships" will be published in the spring of 2010. The book illustrates how the ideas behind ICDP can be used to increase professionals' focus on relational issues, such as teacher-pupil relationship.

FEBRUARY

ICDP INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL BOARD MEETING

The ICDP International annual board meeting took place in Oslo, on the 8th and 9th of February. This year the chairman Karsten Hundeide invited two members of the previous board, as well as representatives from Norway, Sweden and Denmark to join the meeting, with the purpose of increasing our effectiveness as a board and also as part of a more general effort to join forces on the international scene.

The meeting analyzed the nature of ICDP developments in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, the African and the Latin American countries, which pointed towards some common positive traits but also revealed challenges and areas that need to be improved. All present agreed that there is evidence for an overall positive reception of the ICDP program, that its application generally produces positive changes in adult-child relationships and that there is a demand for scaling up action around the world. The chairman invited the board to consider and discuss ways of improving effectiveness in certain areas of our activities, such as fundraising, more consistent application of ICDP policies and procedures for cooperation, better communication and action that would draw on our human resources in a more coherent manner. The meeting concluded that there has been a steady growth of ICDP activities internationally. In order to be able to respond to the growing demand for our program it was felt necessary to increase the number of ICDP International Trainers capable of establishing ICDP in new countries. It was decided to hold in 2010 at least one International training seminar for new persons interested to be trained in ICDP and one training seminar that would upgrade existing trainers to the level of International trainers. The professional committee will continue to meet in Oslo, but it was extended to include two new members with international experience. The executive team will be strengthened by inviting a new person to join in. The members of the international board agreed to hold more regular meetings in the future, either via skype or in person, and dates were set for such meetings. The ICDP International board felt invigorated by this annual meeting as it brought a new course for action and it deepened the human contact between its members.

MOZAMBIQUE

The Pedagogic University in Maputo officially inserted the ICDP program in the curriculum of post-graduate students, as part of Master courses in psychotherapy. As part of this agreement ICDP will develop 2 training modules. The modules will be including field work for students, who will be accompanied by ICDP in their practical application of the ICDP program, whereas their written work will be examined and supported via internet.

Other events that recently took place, include a 2-day ICDP Introduction and Sensitization seminar attended by 15 senior staff from the Directorate of Education and Culture for the Maputo Province (see photos below).

According to the assessment made by the participants, this seminar had a very positive impact . It represents the first step in a strategy that aims to extend the application of the ICDP program for use in schools in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. Pedro Mendes informs: "We are in process of negotiating an MoU with the Ministry since the work of ICDP has made a good impression on them and they see that there is an urgent need to engage the teachers in the ICDP sensitization process, in order to promote the concept of Child Friendly School and improve children’s condition in the classroom and in the school. However we are short of funds that could be allocated for this purpose, something we need to overcome."

In addition, this seminar evaluated the local team's knowledge of the ICDP program, their performance and their acquisition of other skills they need to master in order to be able to start an ICDP intervention. As agreed with NORAD, the seminar was also a training in project management for the local team.

JANUARY

START OF A NEW PROJECT IN BRAZIL

ICDP has started cooperation with Dr Guillermo Navas, the director of Save the Children Fund Brazil, and his team in Recife working on a multi-institutional project in the semi-arid region of Pernambuco and Bahia states in North East Brazil, and Acomayo province in the Cusco region of Peru. The project is sponsored mainly by the European Community. Brazil and Peru are countries with huge inequalities linked to race, ethnicity, gender, social class and geographic location. In the North-East of Brazil and the Andean Highlands of Peru there are areas of extreme poverty where many children still die from diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, which should have been easy to prevent and treat. The overall objective of the project is to improve the development and survival of children under five in poor and excluded populations. The specific objective is to support Non-State Actors and Local Authorities to provide services which improve the health and wellbeing of children under five, and to increase the responsibility of duty bearers (including community members and parents) to protect children’s rights.

The action will target the most impoverished and excluded populations, that live in difficult to reach areas, out of reach of mainstream services and resources, and that are excluded from policy making processes. The action is aimed at promoting an inclusive and empowered civil society, where people are aware of their rights and familiar with the mechanisms at local level to advocate for the realisation of these rights and influence local planning and funding procedures. The action will facilitate a dialogue between civil society and local authorities on early childhood development, poverty and inequality, which will be taken to an international level. The non-state actors and local authorities from the selected areas in Brazil and Peru will develop new models for integrating basic services for early childhood development that will be implemented and tried in their municipality or district. They will create new concepts for comprehensive day care centres, where children under five receive basic education and get a wholesome meal every day, where hygiene and sanitation measures are respected, and where parents, caregivers and teachers know to refer a sick child, or a child in need of protection. The models will be evaluated by the end of the second year, and best practices will be replicated to expand the action to other municipalities and districts in both countries in the remaining three years. The experiences will be analysed, documented, published and shared among the stakeholders in the selected areas, and in a variety of networks for child survival, education and protection.

Save the Children aims to support this process through the creation of a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) composed of organisations that have technical expertise in education, health, nutrition and protection. In Brazil the TAG will consist of members from Save the Children (for overall guidance and for emphasis on child participation and early childhood development), Centro Luiz Freire (for reaching Indigenous and Quilombola communities, and for developing tools for early childhood education), Centro Nordestino for all health and nutrition aspects, Mae Coruja (for improving the state sponsored Mother and Child Health programme), ICDP (for early childhood development and parenting), and CLADE (for developing tools and standards in early childhood education).

The community groups will receive an initial training from the different partner organisations. The training will cover three thematic areas: a) Care and Psychosocial Development in Early Childhood (ICDP); b) Health and Nutrition in Early Childhood (CNMP); c) Protection of Child Rights and Combating Domestic and Sexual Violence Against Children (CENDHEC).

The action is targeted at the three following groups: 1. 52,400 Children under five from poor and excluded populations, and their caregivers; 2. Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in 36 municipalities in Pernambuco and Bahia states in Brazil and 4 districts in Acomayo province in Peru; 3. National, international -and European- networks and forums on early childhood development, education, child rights and child survival

During the first two and a half years of the action new models for integrated services for early childhood development will be created, implemented, and evaluated. After that, these experiences will be analysed, documented, published and shared in a variety of existing networks for child survival, education and protection, such as: (a) the Global Child Survival Campaign of the Save the Children Alliance; (b) the Global Campaign for Education2, and its Latin American, Brazilian, and Peruvian chapters; (c) The Save the Children Alliance Child Protection Initiative, and the Brazilian and Peruvian networks for human rights and child rights (ANCED and DEMUNAS respectively). Furthermore, the action will create a new network for early childhood development within the Latin American campaign for education.

A group of professionals (educators and social workers) from an NGO called ACARI (photos above taken at workshops) have started to receive training from ICDP and their task will later be to coordinate the spreading of the ICDP methodology to others. Polyanna Magalhães from Save the Children office in Recife is coordinating this initiative (far left on photo above). The first ICDP courses will be given to families and children linked to local preschools and to Mãe Coruja. (Mãe Coruja is the Governor of Pernambuco’s initiative for the care of pregnant women through the public health system. The programme aims to reduce maternal and child mortality by improving the coordination of services for pregnant women by the health, education, development and social welfare departments. The programme provides health education, literacy classes and a variety of life skills to pregnant women.)

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