Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that I will not hear back from any of the international contacts that I tried to contact. Therefore, I feel it is safe to assume that I will be participating in the alternative assignment for the rest of the course.  These alternative assignments have been interesting and I have been learning a lot from exploring websites that are about early childhood outside the United States.  I look forward to learning and reading about what is going on in the early childhood field outside of the United States. 

This week I visited Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website and learned some great information about the early childhood field globally.  The Global Children’s Initiative is focused on three main areas. 

            Early childhood development

Child mental health

Children in crisis and conflict situations (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2014).

From the website I learned, that leaders and policymakers from Brazil are very much concerned with early childhood development and they attended a workshop at Harvard on the topic of child development.

Participants came from more than 15 States in Brazil, more than 20 attendees were from the executive branches of government at the federal, state, and municipal levels; 12 deputies from the federal parliament, who are members of the parliamentary caucus on early childhood and who represent 8 different political parties; and 15 leaders from child-focused foundations and non-governmental organizations in Brazil. (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2014b).

A second program that I learned about is in Santiago, Chile and is working to improve early childhood education by offering teachers professional development through a collaborative program, Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), “A Good Start,”which has received some funding from Center on the Developing Child and began in 2007 (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2014C). This program also encourages families to get involved in their children’s education, works to keep attendance up, aids in critical health issues and assists with social emotional development (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2014C).  

A third program that represents the concern to focus on the early childhood internationally is Zambian Early Childhood Development Project. This project was the first in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2010 assessments on children’s physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development was done before and throughout their schooling years (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2014d).  From the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project it is hopeful that they will learn more about child development and improve intervention for the developing world (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2014d).

It is quite clear that equity and excellence in early childhood is just as important outside the United States as it is inside the United States. 

References

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2014a). Global Children’s Initiative.

            Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2014b). Learning and Leading:

Brazilian Policymakers Chart a New Course with the Science of Child Development. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_

initiative/applying_the_science of_early_childhood_in_brazi/executive_leadership_

program/

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2014c). Un Buen Comienzo Retrieved

            From http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/ubc/

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2014d). Zambian Early Childhood

 Development Project. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/

global_ initiative/zambian_project/