In 2001, ICDP was invited to Buenos Aires to give training to a group of professionals interested in the methodologies developed by ICDP. At the same time UNICEF Argentina showed interest in ICDP and subsequently published ICDP manuals and booklets for caregivers.
During 2002, pilot projects were carried out in:
1. Berazategui, a rural community with a big influx of poor migrant families, 35 km from Buenos Aires, where the programme was implemented mainly with the families of the children linked to the local school.
2. Don Torcuato, Tigre district, a marginalized, impoverished and culturally deprived community; here the programme was well received by a group of active women (“la manzaneras”), who are working on several other projects in the community aimed at improving both their own lives and those of other local women. Before the project ended in March 2003, seminars were also given to several groups of health professionals.
In January and April 2003 ICDP workshops were held in Mina Clavero, by the ICDP team who registered themselves as an NGO called ‘Entrelazos’. Among the 40 participants there were doctors, teachers, social workers and parents. A team of 8 promoters was formed who implemented ICDP with small groups of parents, and some of them started to spread the programme to new groups of parents. This generated enthusiasm for ICDP in the community of Mina Clavero and neighbouring Cura Brochero. There was evidence of a positive change in the attitudes towards children in most of the families who benefited from the programme. The implementation of ICDP continued to grow steadily throughout 2004 and 7 new groups of ICDP promoters were formed covering both the urban as well as the rural areas in and around Mina Clavero. The ICDP materials were adapted to local culture with new photographs and video footage made for this purpose.
In 2003 ICDP developed a new training programme in Tafi del Valle; this was accomplished in cooperation with the local NGO “INCAI” and the indigenous women cooperative “El Takellar”. The first seminar was held in December 2003 and was followed up with practical field work and further seminars in 2004.
2005: A group of 14 teachers from 6 preschool centres in the poor and remote rural areas of Valle de Traslasierra received training and supervision for their project which reached 60 families and 150 children. Project leader was Virna Cassuccio.
During the same year there was a new development in Barrio de Villa Hall, near Buenos Aires. This is where Lamberto Arevalo implemented the ICDP programme with 14 families from the local community.
2006: There were field visits to 6 preschools in Cura Brochero and San Lorenzo where ICDP is being implemented. Regular support meetings were held with promoters working with families in La Paz. In Córdoba teachers and mothers linked to the NGO “La Minga” received training. The main focus was on creating positive strategies for setting limits to children and adolescent behaviour. A new CD with traditional songs was added to the ICDP pack of materials.
2007 and 2008: An ICDP training programme for 85 new facilitators developed in Mina Clavero, which spread the ICDP programme to eight marginalized zones. In Las Calles and in Cura Brochero the work continued from previous years and significant improvements were noted in children’s relationship with their parents and with their own peers.
2008 onwards: The founders of Entrelazos started to develop programmes based on the principles of ICDP and adapted them for different at-risk communities. They gradually came to realize that the theme of creativity was tightly linked to the quality of the bonds or connections which exist within different spheres of life: partners, family, school, handicap, work, talents and social projects. Connections and creativity mutually embrace and expand – this is expressed in the name of their organization: entrelazos means intertwining.