Children in Palestine are growing up in what can only be characterized as violent circumstances.
ICDI, together with Early Childhood and Family Development Trust in the West Bank and 10 village communities are working towards improving the quality of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services.
One of the key activities of the project is to bring young children in closer contact with nature in their daily lives at home and at preschool, to support their healthy development. We want to do this in a sustainable way: conserving water, recycling materials and using found items from nature as play materials.
Description
Objectives
Overall objective: Creation of an improved rights climate for young children and women in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Specific Objective: Development of good quality community based Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services in 10 locations in the West Bank, benefiting both young children and their mothers.
Results
The primary target group are (at least) 2600 young children aged 0-10. These are children from marginalized families whose lives are dominated by insecurity within their homes and the community.
Our first aim is to increase the quality and number of services for children ages 0-10 and their mothers in the target locations. Our other aim is to strengthen capacity of local communities to develop and maintain stimulating, child friendly services and practices.
Activities will include the implementation of the ‘mother-to-mother programme’, in which a group of mothers is trained to do home interventions raising the pedagogical skills and awareness of other mothers; training of kindergarten teachers, which will develop the pedagogical skills of these teachers, which will in turn lead to a more enriching and interactive educational indoor and outdoor environments; and a ‘learn by play’ after-school programme for 7-10 year old children.
ICDI’s role in this project is to train local professionals in creating nature gardens with children (as a positive antidote against the violent surroundings they grow up in). We also play a role in advising the local partner organization EFCD Trust in monitoring and evaluating of the project.
