GETTING TO KNOW YOUR INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS PT 3

UNESCO's "Early Childhood Care and Education" website enlightened me on many issues. In 1993, nine highly populated countries Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan launched the E-9 Initiative. The countries are home to nearly half of all the world population under the age of 14. The initiative is aimed at achieving progress in basic education. The principals meet every two years to discuss the progress of the goals. Goals include improve access and equity in early childcare and education in these countries. UNESCO is the leading agency in education helping all oountries develop and reform education systems from early childhood to adulthood. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) provides the holistic development of children from birth till 8 years old. Primary and Secondary education is geared towards building a foundation to ensure lifelong learning opportunities for all. Higher education for adults in is the key to developing societies that all learners acquire knowledge skills, attitudes and values to be used lifelong. UNESCO is also a supporter of gender equality. They promote the right to education for all. They advocate for girls education through the Global Partnership for Girls and Women's Education. They also promote gender equality in national education laws, policies and plans. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

The World Organization For Early Childhood Education's goal is to ensure that every child, no matter what background, race or location is entitled to a great education. It is a non-profit child advocacy organization. In 1948, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) have policies in place to guarantee that all children have the right to good health, well-being, and education so that they can develop their full potential. One committee the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), believes that if we give children all the tools they need to learn society as a whole will benefit. Leading economists agree that the best economic decision a country can make is to invest in the children. (ECEC) promotes equity for all children regardless of disabilities, location, rich, or poor. The World Organization For Early Childhood Education (OMEP) is made up of college professors, preschool teachers, parents policymakers, librarians doctors, nurses, advocates and activists. All are working toward the goal of equity globally in the early childhood education. (OMEP) is the oldest and largest international organization that focuses on early childhood education. www.omep-usnc.org

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS PT. 2

Unfortunately I still have not heard from any contacts. I went on the Developing Child website to learn more about global childhood systems around the globe. Innovation in Washington State began in 2011. It involves leaders, parents, and policymakers who get together and work on possible solutions to get the resources for a better education to the children who are in need. In Brazil there is the Executive Leadership Course which constitutes policymakers and managers who collaborate on the science of early childhood development. The course started in 2012. Policymakers include congressmen, civil leaders and city secretaries. They all work together for 3 months to develop science based action plans to strengthen early childhood policies. Un Buen Comienzo, which translates to A Good Start is an early childhood education project in Santiago, Chile. Its' Goal is to improve the language development of 4-6 year olds, parental involvement in education, improvement in school attendance and socioemotional development. There seems to be a movement globally to get children on equal learning fields, in attempt to leave no child behind. There appears to be many programs locally and globally. The question is: how many parents are really aware of these programs? I would never have learned about the many educational programs if I had not taken this course. As I learn, I pass on information to others that may need it. Reference http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

One of the websites I have been visiting is the International Child Resource Institute concentrating on Kenyan schooling. There is the Kid Safe Project which is a new child abuse prevention program which builds awareness of the subject concentrating on detection, intervention and prevention. Participants are also trained in child advocacy and child abuse prevention policies. Over 45 child advocates have been trained. I tried to research the statistics on child abuse in Kenya and I couldn't see a definitive amount of children that were abused in Kenya. Information was not readily available. There are lots of statistics on the United States but I found nothing on Kenya's statistics on child abuse. Makes me wonder why it is not readily available to the public. Thriive is another program ran in Kenya by the Arthur B. Schultz Foundation that loans money to small business owners. The loan holders in turn payback their loans by contributing to community based organizations serving low income children and families. It's enabling one hand to wash another in a sense. Inadvertently, it is also the rich giving money to the poor. Thus allowing the families to better themselves and lift their families out of poverty. The whole community benefits from this process. Reference www.icrichild.org/kenya

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS

Well unfortunately, I haven't heard from any of the contact I sent messages to in Week 1. I have begun a search again. I found a website for The World Organization For Early Education (www.OMEP-usnc.org). This organization was created in 1946, after WWII. A small group of educators and others came together with concern for the welfare of young children. OMEP promotes the well being rights and education of young children. While I was there I saw a story of a Kenyan educator that started her own school on a farm and is getting the children involved in purifying their drinking water. I emailed her and I also emailed the writer of the OMEP newsletter that was from Sweden. Hopefully I hear back from one of them. I also went to www.educationworld.com and started a blog requesting correspondents from around the world. This website has educators from all over the world. I hope to hear from someone there also. Wish me luck.

SHARING WEB RESOURCES

I subscribed to two newsletters. The first one I chose deals with the early childhood educators in Haiti. Haiti was involved in an earthquake a few years ago and has not fully recovered yet. Families re still living in tents. Many children are not attending school regularly. The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) values innovation, diversity and actions. The Haiti Case Study follows the Tipa Tipa method that trains pre-school teachers and parents on personal development, community spirit and values. I was motivated by this newsletter to learn more about how the educators increase their personal development and how the education system was being improved in the aftermath of the natural disaster. This newsletter subscription site is at www.wise-qatar.org/content/wise-haiti-case-study-tipa-tipa. The second newsletter I subscribed to was from the International Child Resource Institute in Kenya. The Daraja Early Care Program enables Africa's poorest children to receive an high quality education in an activity driven environment. The newsletter also supports a Grassroots Advocacy Project which assists women, children and families with networking and mentoring. Kidsafe Project is a rights based child abuse prevention curriculum. They have training courses on child advocacy. I was drawn to this newsletter because this Institute is empowering the children and the families. Prevention of child abuse is a very important topic because we lose our children in this manner by caregivers who may not have coping mechanisms, mental illness or other ailments. This newsletter is located at www.icrichild.org/Kenya

ESTABLISHING PERSONAL CONTACTS

The first steps I took to find professional contacts outside of the United States was to research the websites the Professor gave us. I subscribed to www.icrichild.org/kenya newsletters. That site is from the International Child Resource Institute in Kenya. This institute builds access to high quality and developmentally appropriate early childhood education for Africa's poorest children. Since I used to sponsor a child in Dominica, I googled Dominica and early childhood educators. I came across the Pan American Health Organization, who named Austelle Lockhart as one of the Roving Caregivers. The caregivers teach the young children in Dominica. I actually reached out to Mr. Lockhart on Facebook. From the website www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance I discovered the Ajoke International School in Ghana ran by Mrs. Bimbo Are. I emailed her and asked could she be a professional contact for me. I also found on that website a Haiti Step by Step Program/Tipa Tipa. I emailed the head of that school also at the website given. My email was returned as undeliverable to that address. I then googled Haiti Tipa Tipa and found this website www.sise-qatar.org/content/wise-haiti-case-study-tipa-tipa. I emailed that site and signed up for the newsletters. I am waiting on responses now. I want to wish everyone good luck making contacts.