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World Forum Projects
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Global Leaders 2005 - 2006INDIA Reeta Sonawat What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? I am delighted to be a Global Leader. I could hardly sleep when I first heard I was accepted. I saw the email at 3:30 in the morning and I emailed all my friends and family right then! I spread the word because I thought that I would be able to go to the World Forum and would have the opportunity to do my presentation on HIV. But I was particularly excited that my advocacy would be supported and I could be more serious about that work It is an enriching experience to learn about the world. After hearing about other countries, I am both happy and worried. Both the good and the bad lessons will travel. While I am glad that there are so many positives that will be shared, I am worried about any negative unintended consequences. For instance, with boarding schools in China, I am worried that that will inevitably start in India. Another worry is that I don’t want others to be interested in becoming a Global Leader in order to receive money. Please share a brief description of your country: We are a developing country. For my next birth (we believe in reincarnation), I want to be born in India. I love my country. We have a democratic government. Common man can try to get into parliament. We can associate with our representative. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? Since we don’t have any licensing or registration, everyone can start their own pre-school - in apartments, garages, etc. It has become a lucrative market. Pre-school is academically oriented and the children even have tutors. People understand the significance of sending children to preschool. There are not enough slots/spaces for children. The best thing that is happening is that parents understand the importance of ECD. The other thing is people have started talking about pre-school in a big way - lots of media attention. Parents are aware of the importance of the early years. Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): Focus groups with parents on issues of overburdening children, what is child centered education and what should they be asking of the schools? How harmful is the academic pressure on children? So parents can make an informed choice. Electronic, print media to promote quality ECD. Develop a white paper on advocacy work to give to the government on what the expectation from parents and where we are currently and what is needed to bridge that gap. Dr. Ganesh Upadhyay What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? As a person from India who works in the government, this is a tremendous responsibility to support children around the world. I must take the steps necessary to create some kind of movement and awareness with other counterparts around the world. In India, we were doing that in our own way, but through meeting other Global Leaders, we get additional information, a sense of urgency, and a vision for how we can address these problems. This will impact children in India in a big way. Personally, I am moved by the problems all over the world as a citizen of this world. The agency for making children’s lives better anywhere it is a tremendous responsibility not only for children, but for society as a whole. For example, when parents are well off, they behave properly; they don’t have the addictions and diseases so those things will not be passed on to the children. The family has to be supported. Through the World Forum, I am seeing more of the interconnectedness of problems. I am seeing that we must see children’s issues from the child’s point of view.” From the Info Sheet write up: Becoming a Global Leader means an opportunity and challenge to mobilize parents, communities, institutions and governments to prioritize programs for children and women, and focusing on the need to understand that investing in children is investing for a bright future as Child Development Leads to National Development, human development, global peace, harmony, progress and prosperity; at local level. Advocacy for quality ECCE and its long term gains in terms of social equity and justice is an important aspect. Preparation of contextual material for advocacy for convincing administrators, planners, parents, workers and communities will be a priority. Being a Global Leader also primarily means to assimilate knowledge base from all over the world and use it in local and national contexts. Please share a brief description of your country: What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders):
Vijaya Murthy What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? There has not been single moments of excitement for me, because every minute has been thrilling from the point of learning and meeting people and getting to know the various issues that are being addressed in so many different ways. I learned things that I can implement at home. At the World Forum in Singapore, I learned about High/Scope and I incorporated that. In Greece I learned about Reggio Emmilio and I incorporated that; and in New Zealand, I learned about the reading recovery programs and I started a teacher program and remedial education in India, which is a unique thing in my country. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? Vrinda Datta What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? There were also some shocking things I learned as a Global Leader. For example, the resident care in China was shocking to me. It makes me question how to make a compromise about practical needs of a particular group and the issues for what is good for children. I understand that the boarding school program has evolved to address certain needs. It was very stimulating for me. I am working to balancing the context of the need with what I think actually needs to happen for young children. The frankness of each presentation was wonderful. I really appreciate people being courageous about showing both the challenges and successes of our own ECD within our countries. We are portraying reality. The two-year period gives good time to enjoy the opportunity and plan for further learning. Please share a brief description of your country: Today the pace of change in India, economically and socially, is moving too fast. And yet, I would say, it adds to the increasing diversity in the population. There is an enthusiasm; there is a “move-ahead” kind of feeling that really keeps everyone going despite issues such as poverty. We still have a high morale despite the poverty and other social problems. The democracy in India is something that we really appreciate. It gives tremendous freedom for every individual to evolve and work towards it. There is so much social activism and that is playing a very important role in trying to give every individual an equal part of the development process. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? The quality may not be the choice parents get, but parents do have many choices. Though India has a large group of working women, 127 million, there is very little attention paid to developing child care centers. We continue to address issues of survival and development. With high infant mortality, health and nutrition programme intervention are essential. Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders):
KENYA Henry Manani What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? Second, I am given a different platform to address issues in my own country. I get looked at in an entirely different way. Because I will be viewed by my country people as giving the trends of international thinking and practices, initiatives and approaches, this will strengthen my contribution to the Kenyan National ECD programme. I have a better view when I am asked: Where are we globally? Where are we in our structure? How do we deal with advocacy issues for children in my own country? For example, if I went to my own government or others in my country, they would not have the confidence in what I had to say. But now, with my knowledge as a Global Leader on ECE around the world, they feel confident in what I have to say. When I was listening to what the Mexicans and South Africans were doing, I felt challenged. I felt that is what I should be and should be doing. At the 2 day activities with Global Leaders, when I heard other Leaders, it opened up my horizons and exposed me to what was going on elsewhere. It also made me recognize what I was doing. Please share a brief description of your country: Kenya was a British colony, and became independent in 1963. The government in power is a coalition government consisting of several parties. We have an Executive, legislative and judicial. The Executive is the president which is an all powerful person; he is above the law. Right now, there is a very big debate whether the powers of the president should be reduced because of past experiences. Kenya occupies an area of 582,644 square kilometers and lies along the equator extending approximately 4.5 degrees north and 4.5 degrees south of equator. There is a population of 31.5 million of whom 20% are children of 6 years and below. The larger part of Kenya is arid and the rest is pastoral with nomadic communities. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? In terms of structures that administer the ECD programs, we have the ECD section at the Ministry of Education which deals with administration and funding issues. We also have an ECD section within the directorate of quality assurance which deals with the development of the main tenets of standards for all ECD programs. We also have the national center for ECE which is responsible for the development and design of curriculum. In terms of policy, since EC programs include health, education, and teacher employment, the Policy of Partnership was implemented so that different groups can concentrate on each necessary component for quality ECD. 80% of EC programs are managed by local communities. 20% are by other people. The sustainability of the program is there because it is locally supported. In 1980, Presidential Civanlar(?) gave the responsibilities of ECE to the Ministry of Education. National Centre for Early Childhood Education was established in 1984 with its networks throughout the country known as district centers for ECE. Training programmes have been developed for Trainers, ECE teachers, parents and communities, and ECE management committees. Many programme initiatives have been developed to support the disadvantaged children and communities to provide quality ECE services. Localized curriculum has been developed in 26 out of 42 ethnic languages. Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): Provide food, clothing and shelter to children in slums. It is necessary to educate the parents to set up home-based care. Transition from pre-school to primary one. Ensuring consistency of care and education throughout all levels of education. Lynette Okengo What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? When I received the letter inviting me to be a part of this, where it says “this will change your life”, I wasn’t sure what that meant. But now I am seeing that there is so much that I don’t know about children. This doesn’t just affect my professional life. It has affected how I work with children in terms of being a mother, a teacher at our church school, and as a trainer. I will see my own children differently—even at church where I am a teacher. I have really changed my view of things. It really has changed my life. I was in a workshop yesterday where we were discussing the holistic development of the child. I realized this will not be possible in Kenya until we train holistic teachers. Please share a brief description of your country: The people are very friendly. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): Our government isn’t very sensitive to the children. We have lobby groups for women, and for AIDS, but nothing for children. We need a lobby group for children or a way to influence policy-makers. CHINA Liu Yan Please share a brief description of your country: All of our people want our society to be more democratic and advanced. I just spoke with a woman from Canada. I asked her what she thought about China and she says that people in China buy a lot of things and spend a lot of money. I had to let her know that China is a developing country. We have the biggest population in the world. It is important for Chinese people should be better known outside of our country and for us to know the rest of the world. That is not easy for us because of communication issues. We can exchange ideas here and that is why I want to be involved with this international program. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? There are strong support systems to meet practitioners’ needs to improve their professional developments. Besides the supervision and support from the departments of education administration at different levels, there are well organized systems including teacher training systems, pedagogical research centers, and educational research institutes, all of which work together to give strong supports to the settings and practitioners, and to help them to improve the qualities and raise the level of their professional development. Relying on such strong resources and supports, the practitioners are encouraged to do pedagogical research in their work, to publish their research papers, to participate at national conferences and seminars and so on. Practitioners have been treated as ‘the professionals’ not ‘baby-sitters,’ and they have higher social and economic status like the elementary and middle school teachers, and the accreditation system for teacher’s professional levels has been developed. Community-based special programs on the weekends for children under age 3 and the disadvantaged children now have been developing. Kindergartens are encouraged to develop parent-kid programs on the weekends and open to the community, which is financially supported by the local governments, and can create more opportunities for those disadvantaged kids and their families to share the limited public resources of ECE. Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): Zhou Anqin What does becoming a global leader for your children mean to you? At the World Forum, as a Global Leader, I feel I am around people who love children and want a better world for children. I know there are so many people concerned about ECD and that has touched me. There is a lot of research. Children’s rights are not something many people talk about. We talk about educating children, but we don’t make ECD accessible for young children. If we a want to make an impact, we need to focus on poor children. For example, in Beijing some of the children are in a similar situation as Canada, but for poor children, this is not the case. Please share a brief description of your country: What are some highlights of early childhood development in your country? Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): Plan China pilot project on home-based ECCD, it will be a solution to recommend to China government. BRAZIL Caius Brandao What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? I feel really happy about my role as a Global Leader. This is recognition, a compliment, as someone who has been working for 17 years on ECD. I feel supported, strengthened and provoked to do even more. I also feel that the experience is teaching me a lot and making me focus on issues that were in the back of my mind. Those ideas have now emerged more strongly—especially in terms of my political views. Sometimes it bothers me when I feel some level of political naiveté coming from early childhood professionals. Working with other Global Leaders on ECD makes me see that I have something important to contribute to the conversation. Please share a brief description of your country: Lula is the most leftist leader we have had so far. Brazil has huge debt with the World Bank and IMF; that limits our ability to invest in social programs. We have a federal government that supports a truly democratic process. The local government is responsible for providing support for children’s services and because of corruption and lack of political will, is more difficult to implement. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? We lack a national coalition on ECD. We also lack institutional leadership that can bring us back to having early education as a national priority. Brazil has one of the most advanced legislation for children’s rights in the whole world. We also have a legal platform to secure those rights and a way to provide support services for children and youth. What we don’t have is the financial resources to create that infrastructure and we lack the political will. Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): We will distribute CD’s to a network of community radio programs throughout the country. Radio spots. We have all the equipment and we have a group of 20 youth being trained to design and develop the program. Vera Lucia Anselmi Melis Paulillo What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? I have worked for over 33 years in the ECD field. I became a Global Leader just after retiring from the government. Being a Global Leader is recognition for my first choice in my career. Nobody thought I could make a career in ECD, but I have embraced this as a cause. I want to get everyone that I know and make connections from the contacts that I have made throughout the last 33 years. I have been able to establish a very wide network and put everyone together. I have transformed myself as a central source to everyone and have made the World Forum one of the important resources for teachers in Brazil. I want them to have a feeling of belonging and not be alone anymore—like I had felt before the World Forum. Seeing what is happening in other countries, I can build this network. The Global Leaders help my voice to be louder. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): Improve better practices in ECE in Brazil. Give the opportunity to Brazilian teachers and educate them about what we have done already. Laws, materials…Create partnerships to promote that effort. Advocacy through the media to the broader public. To espouse the importance of the early years so we can make a difference for your future. Families, institutions, government working together to make possible the public service. Better advocate through seminars, congress and other speaking engagements to talk about how we much engage locally for young children. Write a letter of commitment/good intention/white paper on early education that can be used at any event to promote our position on ECE. POLANDMalgorzata Karwowska-Struczyk What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? In my country, I try to interact, share with people, professionals and my students, and teachers in order to learn from them and based on it, discuss new approaches and ideas to ECE. And this means the same for Global Leaders to be very responsive and sensitive to others and also active, creative and innovative in my work. Please share a brief description of your country: What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): Also thought about a website where we can include the research from different parts of Poland and contribute to policy. We don’t need a big research book, rather a easy to use website so that people can easily access the research findings. We as an academic institution will have a good idea of what to contribute and can connect and serve as a clearinghouse of all research information. On a project that we are already doing: We are finishing our research on High Scope. We would like to follow up with these children at 14 and 19 years of age. We have already begun this project. We need to keep track of these children so we can find them again. Monika Rosciszewska-Wozniak What does becoming a Global Leader for Young Children mean to you? Being a Global Leader is an additional duty. I am thinking how to manage being a Global Leader when I come to Poland—how to balance that with all my other responsibilities. I should do something important for changing the lives of children in Poland. I cannot do that by myself and it is my duty to find others who are dedicated to the same ideas. I was particularly inspired by hearing from the Kenyans. I saw how we can change the lives of children when you find a good way to change the law and at the same time to implement that law. In Poland we usually push government to do something rather than collaboration. I learned from Kenya that they think and work together; both non government and government institutions to make a good program based on ideas and shared philosophies. That level of collaboration is a good model for what we can achieve in Poland. What are some highlights of Early Childhood Development in your country? Please describe your advocacy project (proposed advocacy ideas for new leaders): If we do a website, we ought to have it for teachers to use—experts, sharing ideas, training, and to improve their way of working with children. |
