Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

The three new insights I gained about early childhood systems around the globe came from the Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website. As I explored the site I found it interesting that in order to improve early childhood education Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), established a program called A Good Start it is a joint task in Santiago, Chile to improve early childhood education through teacher professional development. The program targets children four to six. years old it to improve the quality of education.  The focus area is language development.  It is designed to intervene in critical health areas, improved school attendance, socio-emotional develop and include family involvement.  UBC also integrated a comprehensive evaluation and an arbitrary experiment in the schools. This is particular longitudinal evaluation in early childhood education has not been carried out in any other country in Latin America and place Chile in the forefront of demonstrating high quality education.

In further reviewing the site I gained insight about the Global Children Initiative with regards to Children and Crisis. The goal of this effort is to foster interdisciplinary partnership that incorporates a science-based, developmental perspective into the assessment and management of child well-being in a range of natural and man-made crises, focusing on both immediate circumstances and long-term adaptation. There are two issues that are the initial focus of activity in this field. They are exploring comparable approaches to surveying child status in post-earthquake Haiti and Chile and bringing the science of child development into strategies for addressing acute malnutrition.

The third insight deals with child mental health concerns this issued is under addressed  but has significant  consequences for the broader health and development of children and society.  There is an urgent need to identify the scope of the problem within and across countries and to develop evidence-based approaches in policy and service delivery that are responsive to diverse cultural contexts. To address this issue a working group developing a focused agenda in research, education and public engagement to address the gaps in knowledge. The project selected to evaluate under this project is Assessing the state of child mental health services in Shanghai, China;

Developing and evaluating family-based strategies to prevent mental health problems in children affected by HIV/AIDS in Rwanda; and addressing child maltreatment and mental health outcomes in three Caribbean nations (Barbados, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname). 

Reference:

Center of developing child Harvard University, (n.d,).Retrieved fromhttp://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/global_children_s_initiative__activities/