Consequences and Many Thank You's

Although I was not successful receiving any replies from my international contacts, I have learned so much more about early childhood education around the world just by reading and browsing links as well as focusing in specific organizations. It has been interesting reading other countries focuses and methods in implementing early learning including challenges they face in order to keep up the work. For me it has been very rewarding reading about my colleagues posts as well. They have also been very supportive with their replies and feed backs. For that I say:
                                                      
One of my goals is to keep learning from other parts of the world, there is so much we can learn from especially other early childhood professionals, together we can make a difference.

                                                  

Getting to know my international contacts-Part 3

After exploring the alternate website  (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/)  I found important work being done on behalf of children around the world. I learned about UNESCO advocacy on Early Childhood Education around the world as well as the implementation of quality and equality of resources for children's development. A lot of effort and dedication is being embraced  to provide  health, nutrition, security and learning opportunities for children despite the possible unintended consequences it might encounter. Another insight, I found interesting was the struggles the field of Early Childhood Education faces when it comes to investing and financing. Governments struggle to fund early learning programs which at times there is other priorities taking its place.

When I think about my professional goals. I think about advocacy, generate quality programs and serve as an advocate for children and families who need the most. When I went through this website, I learned about the different foundations and outside links dedicated to the betterment of our children. I believe that policies and laws will see the field of Early Childhood as an immediate necessary, because the children who are served will be the ones who will lead their countries in the future therefore investing in the future will have to start soon.

                                                               

Sharing Web Resources

From the National Head Start Association:

After much browsing this website I ran into very interesting topics on their news site. In particular, a recent unfortunate event where a center who served 17 children and families in rural Kansas came to a closure due to the sequestration. This center was located in a very rural area where poverty is very high. As the title of the article was "Congress turns its back on rural America" (Kaufman, 2013). In this article he explains how programs who serve children and families, who live in the most remote areas where poverty and unemployment has risen are being left without services provided by the program. These families count on the the program comprehensive family service approach as well as the teachers guidance and support to be better parents as well as help their child succeed in life. Unfortunately rural areas in that part of the country are being overlooked by policy makers. I am sure there are other parts of the country with the same struggles. In my opinion why is it, when there is a major set back economically the first human beings affected by it are children and disadvantage families? How can policy makers or whoever is in charge on deciding the financial area be so selfish against the most vulnerable? The more I read articles like these one, the more I want to keep doing what i do and more.

                                                         

From UNICEF focus in Uganda:

Although I could not find anything specifically related to equity and excellence, I found a very interesting program UNICEF is doing in Uganda girls and that is an Education Movement. This program focuses on increasing the participation of girls in school. Many of the girls who attend are either orphans due to the terrible slayings happening in Uganda or their families are not able to afford the school fees and materials. There is a lot of awareness approach within the community to put children in school. The article talks about a little girl who lives with her grandma whose parents were killed, she spends her early mornings before attending school gathering running water for her grandma, then she takes off in her one hour walking journey along with other children to her school. Her main dream in to become when she grows up (Nakibuuka, n.d.).

                                             

Reference

Kaufman, G. (2013). Congress turns its back on rural America. Retrieved from  

            http://billmoyers.com/2013/06/13/congress-turns-its-back-on-rural-america/

Nakibuuka, (n.d.) Thank's to the Girl's Education Movement. Retrieved from  

           http://www.unicef.org/uganda/6005_9755.html

Getting to know my international contact/Part 2

For this assignment, I have chosen to do the alternative part since I have not been successful with international contacts. The Harvard website had a lot of important information about Early childhood focus around the globe. It is interesting to read about how the past ten years world policy makers have just paid attention to the field of Early Childhood and the importance of it. Different countries are doing their shared of work but there still work to do. Every fight to bring a better outcome for children depends on the economic state of each country.
There main approach from the Center of development of Harvard University is to focus on child health and development in the early years. For example in high wealthy countries these approaches have worked to treat and prevent diseases as well as promoting a healthy child and social development. However, in middle economy countries their approach is focusing in creating policies which focuses in prevent child malnutrition, prevent diseases for children. In the lower economic countries where poverty, hunger and malnutrition is eminent, their approach is to bring basic health and knowledge of early childhood development. (Harvard University, 2012).

In this website, I also read about Brazil's innovated approach to bring social policies, scholars and leaders together in order to create better laws a policies which will foster equality among children.
It was interesting to read about what this Center focus is as well as the need and importance of promoting and advocating for policies, laws which will serve as a positive outcome for children. As this website could not say it anymore, despite all the different research and information about how important it is to implement a safe, healthy Early Childhood Development approach, there is a lot of work to do. The work is not done with only one set of people but all.

Reference

Harvard University. (2012). Global Child Development. Retrieved by

          http://developingchild.harvard.edu/topics/global_child_development/

Sharing Web Resources Week 4

After visiting both of my websites I had previously picked which were UNICEF and Head Start, there is a lot of interesting information to learn from. For example, one of the issues affecting many Head Start programs are budget cuts due to the Sequestration. Many programs are being forced to close centers where others will work their budget to where it does not affect the children and families but will affect their staff, meaning lay off. In Billings Montana a center director faces this same challenges, not only lay off but increase class sizes. Rogers (2013) also talks about the necessity of programs such as Head Start are so important for the children where finding a quality care program in very limited.

Issues like this one are being found all over the country, maybe more than others. Laying off teachers because they can;t pay them not to mention some programs might be looking at cutting pay even benefits. In my opinion, is the wrong thing to do as we have read on the economist and politicians focusing on investing in  Early Care but yet programs which do that are getting cut, it does not make sense.

For example, in the Head Start program I used to work for due to the sequestration, they closed a center and started taking out money away from the teacher's salaries. Needless to say, a teacher assistant brings home less than one thousand dollars a month since this past February. Issues like these affect the program outcomes, quality and performances. Teachers in this program have started to make parents know what is going on by letting them know the importance of making their voices heard. Many past and present families have been proactive with this cause and respond has been overwhelming. I, also have started doing the same with the families at my center. Our goal is to create a parent group who are willing to speak and write to our politicians about their positive results because of Head Start.

Reference

Rogers R. (2013). Billings Head Start grapples with sequestration cuts. Retrieved from

        http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/education/billings-head-start-grapples-with-sequestration-

        cuts/article_d89bcf2a-3ef6-57b6-be64-d13b80fa8c1c.html

Getting to know your international contacts

Unfortunately I have not had any response back from my international contacts. I decided to do the alternate activity by going into the website  www.childhoodpoverty.org  and searching on a specific country about poverty and their insights.
I decided to read about the country of Kyrgystan where up to the year 1991 has been part of the Soviet Union. They gain their independence and added many policies, changes, laws which ultimately affected its population specially children. A high percentage of  their population earn their living through agriculture and farming. Another insight about poverty on Kyrgystan is with the rise of poverty children are being affected with malnourishment and lack of health services. About 24 percent of children are working some type of job at long hours. In addition, children living on the streets have risen whom are targeted for prostitution or trafficking. Intergenerational poverty has become also a concern. Although there are many policies and organizations working towards this epidemic, there is much work to do (C.H.I.P., n.d.)

After reading about this country, I became so much aware of how poverty targets so many lives around the globe in many different ways. When I think about poverty, I think about no food, no shelter, no running water, very limited basic needs to survive and it makes me think to myself for example, in my country if you have no food or resources then you are on your own, there is no food banks to go and get at least three day supply, there is no emergency shelters where you can go at least for a night most likely you will sleep on the streets,  etc. When you learn more about poverty and how it can manifest in many different ways and affect so many people,  makes a person appreciate so much more everything they have and sadly enough many are never happy and grateful for it.

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

C.H.I.P.  (n.d.). Chip national activities. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?
action=chipactivities-nat#17

Sharing Web Resources

My first organization I had selected was UNICEF especially focused on Uganda. UNICEF stands for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. Their purpose is to focus on child survival and development, basic education and gender equality, child protection, advocacy and partnerships, many more.

As I browsed through UNICEF's website focusing on Uganda, there was a main topic which caught my attention called Basic Education and Gender Equality: How can innovation improve access to quality learning? I found, they are currently working on providing technology access to the most remote areas of the country with the purpose to provide and accelerate a learning environment besides their normal school settings. There are many opinions about this project. Some think that providing technology is a way to innovate thinking and learning opportunities. On the other hand UNICEF Associate Director talks about the learning objectives have to  be taken into consideration when investing on technology. She argues the fact of what is the main  goal and intention to provide advance technology and how this meets the children learning objectives

I found this topic very intriguing due to the fact of technology being introduced with the purpose of accelerating the children's learning development. My purpose is to keep following this project and learn more about their end results.

Website: http://www.unicef.org/education/bege_69027.html

The second organization I selected was the National  Head Start Organization. As I browsed through their website, there is a point of focus at this time which is the current budget cuts threatening many programs around the country in especially children and family services. Currently, programs around the country are being forced to cut slots, reduced their resources and many more, due to these cuts. There are many ways of getting the word out there whether is by writing to Congress or participating in Head Start events. 

I believe this problem is serious, it can put our children's and families in need in greater risk. It also affects our educators and the quality of the program. I will keep learning about the outcomes of this problem.

Website :http://www.nhsa.org/news_and_advocacy/advocacy/sequestration_action_resources

One think I have learned about these two organizations is the fact that there is so much to do on behalf of children around the country and the world. Many things can be done with appropriate practices and dedication.  I find it very interesting learning about their purpose and goals.