I began to research the Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative". There is a significant effort to build an integrated international approach to children's survival, health, and development in the earliest years of life. The Global Children's Initiative (GCI), draws on lessons from the work done in the United States and uses these outcomes to improve children's health and development globally for all children from the poorest to the most affluent.
They focus on 3 strategic areas:
1. Reframing the discourse around children' health and development by educating high-level decision makers about the science of learning, behavior, and health in the early years.
2. Supporting innovative, mulit-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how helathy development happen.
3. Building leadership capacity in child development research and policy.
Strategic area #1 really relates to our week 4 discussion about how economists, politicians, and scientist play a role in the early childhood field. It is these decision makers that need to be educated on the how and whys of the early childhood years. The GCI is working to make this happen globally for all children. With strategic area #2, the more people worldwide that understand what can be done to ensure a healthy development, the more children and families will reap the benefits. And for numbers 1 & 2 to excel, quality research and appropriate policies need to be in place.
Guided by the strategic areas, the GCI has begun activities in three domains:
1. early childhood development
2. child mental health
3. children in crisis and conflict situations
Activities to improve early childhood development include, educating the leadership of key international agencies, publish and disseminate papers to establish a strong scientific framework for global work, and conduct systematic communications research to identify the most effective ways to translate the science of child development for global peace makers. To address the health and development needs of young children in various settings, assessments and interventions are taking place in various countries.
Mental health has recently been an under-addressed issue for young children. Three initial projects are being worked on to improve child mental health in Rwanda (children affected with HIV/AIDS), Shanghai, China, and Carribean nations, Barbados, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname (child maltreatment).
The two main issues that affect childhood crisis and conflict situations that this initiative focuses on are:
1. post-earthquake Haiti and Chile
2. strategies for addressing acute malnutrition
Finally, the core mission of GCI is educating and training activities that will incorporate all of the domains. They also provide developing opportunities to provide leadership training for individual researchers, policymakers, and institutions.
As I read your post, my heart aches for these children suffering in other countries. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own issues we tend to forget how fortunate we truly are in comparison to others. One fundraising effort I would like to implement in my own school is choosing an organization each year who provides assistance to these suffering children and raising funding to support the cause. The information you provided here is helpful in trying to find a starting point. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your post. Some how I always end up reading yours. I have to agree with Sarah on how unfortunate it is to see how unresolve issues of mental health and other sicknesses in other contries. I feel that your post helps us to realize how grateful we should be to even have the liberty to have inclusive learning enviroments that help all types of cultures and developmental issues in each classroom. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to reading more of your post.