Getting to know your International Contacts- part 3

I would have loved to make contact with my initial international contacts, but exploring these other resources have been great.  I am learning about websites that I was not aware of and some that I briefly explored once or twice before.  I am excited to share these findings with all of you.

UNESCO

The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) was founded on 16 November 1945.

UNESCO has 195 Members and 8 Associate Members. It is governed by the General Conference and the Executive Board. The Secretariat, headed by the Director-General, implements the decisions of these two bodies. The Organization has over 50 field offices globally. Its headquarters are located at Place de Fontenoy in Paris (France), in an outstanding modernist building. Inaugurated in 1958, the building has recently been renovated.

Today, UNESCO's message has never been more important. We must create holistic policies that are capable of addressing the social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainable development. This new thinking on sustainable development reaffirms the founding principles of the Organization and enhances its role:

•    In a globalized world with interconnected societies, intercultural dialogue is vital if we are to live together while acknowledging our diversity.

•    In an uncertain world, the future of nations depends not only on their economic capital or natural resources, but on their collective ability to understand and anticipate changes in the environment - through education, scientific research and the sharing of knowledge.

•    In an unstable world - marked by fledgling democratic movements, the emergence of new economic powers and societies weakened by multiple stress factors – the educational, scientific and cultural fabric of societies – along with respect for fundamental rights - guarantees their resilience and stability.

•    In a connected world - with the emergence of the creative economy and knowledge societies, along with the dominance of the Internet, the full participation of everyone in the new global public space is a prerequisite for peace and development.

UNESCO is known as the "intellectual" agency of the United Nations. At a time when the world is looking for new ways to build peace and sustainable development, people must rely on the power of intelligence to innovate, expand their horizons and sustain the hope of a new humanism. UNESCO exists to bring this creative intelligence to life; for it is in the minds of men and women that the defenses of peace and the conditions for sustainable development must be built.

Education for the 21st Century

Putting quality education at the heart of development Since its creation in 1945, UNESCO’s mission has been to contribute to the building of peace, poverty eradication, lasting development and intercultural dialogue, with education as one of its principal activities to achieve this aim. The Organization is committed to a holistic and humanistic vision of quality education worldwide, the realization of everyone’s right to education, and the belief that education plays a fundamental role in human, social and economic development. 

UNESCO’s educational objectives are to support the achievement of Education for All (EFA); to provide global and regional leadership in education; to strengthen education systems worldwide from early childhood to the adult years; to respond to contemporary global challenges through education. As the only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education, UNESCO’s work encompasses educational development from pre-school through to higher education, including technical and vocational education and training, non-formal education and literacy. The Organization focuses on increasing equity and access, improving quality, and ensuring that education develops knowledge and skills in areas such as sustainable development, HIV and AIDS, human rights and gender equality. UNESCO works with governments and a wide range of partners to make education systems more effective through policy change. It coordinates the Education for All movement, tracks education trends and raises the profile of educational needs on global development agendas.

Sharing Web Resources

This week I have explore the Zero to Three Website. I absolutely love this organization and each time I have visited this site I come away with valuable information.

Zero to Three is a national, nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policy makers with the knowledge to nurture early childhood development.  The zero to three website has resources for anyone wanting information on early childhood development.  To access the website click this link www.zerotothree.org.

At the bottom of the homepage I discovered the Featured Update.  I knew that I wanted to read more because I saw ZERO TO THREE applauds the President for making babies and toddlers a priority in his 2014 budget proposal, with a substantial investment in early learning.  As an infant teacher I am always looking for information that will help me have a better understanding of my sweet babies.  In the press release ZERO TO THREE wants to make readers aware that President Obama is has made toddlers and babies a priority in his 2014 budget proposal, with a substantial investment in early learning.

Below you can read the release from ZERO TO THREE

“The release of President Obama’s budget today marks a groundbreaking moment for babies and toddlers in this country --especially those who are at risk and may lack the positive early learning experiences they need to succeed in school and life, ” says Matthew Melmed, Executive Director of ZERO TO THREE. “I applaud President Obama for his leadership in emphasizing how important it is as a nation for us to begin where learning begins – at birth.”

The President’s Plan for Early Education for All Americans is the roadmap for the early learning components of the budget released today.  The budget includes $1.4 billion to expand the comprehensive supports offered to the most vulnerable families through Early Head Start – which for almost 20 years has proven it improves both child and parental outcomes. The plan would provide $200 million in 2014 specifically to create more high-quality child care options for babies and toddlers with working parents, using Early Head Start’s quality benchmarks, expertise, and resources. Looking ahead, the budget proposal provides for $7 billion over 10 years to ensure young children and families have access to high-quality child care.

The President’s plan also extends and expands home visiting -- which has been warmly embraced by states, communities, and parents -- to reach more families where they live, with information, guidance, and encouragement.  The budget proposal released today allocates $15 billion of funding over 10 years to invest in this effort.  “Babies don’t come with an instruction manual, and every parent can benefit from reliable information about early learning and a helping hand,” says Melmed.  “The President’s plan helps parents utilize what science and evidence-based practice has to offer in order to give babies, toddlers, and young children the best start in life.”

The President’s plan is rooted in brain science, which tells us that babies are born wired to learn. Starting on the first day of a child’s life, positive early experiences establish a strong foundation upon which all later learning and healthy development is built. But infants and toddlers who lack quality early learning experiences can fall quickly behind.  Research clearly shows that gaps can appear even before their first birthday.

The President’s plan builds on what we know works: start early with consistent, high-quality, evidence-based supports that match what parents need and help parents nurture the early development of their babies and toddlers.  

“This is a smart plan. We know what quality looks like and what babies need,” concludes Melmed.  “By leveraging what we know works to help families, our nation can improve the care for babies and give them a strong start toward future success.”

I am so excited that Early Childhood is high on the President's list!!  They are finally getting it and soon all children will have access to quality education!

Resources

Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families http://www.zerotothree.org/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

This week I reviewed the following website: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/.

 I attempted to reach out to my initial contacts and have still not heard anything back from them.  I found the information on this site to be very informative.

Using the research from from their work in the United States, the Global Children’s Initiative seeks to advance the Center's core mission globally by implementing a compelling research, public engagement and leadership development agenda in child health and development that is grounded in science and engages researchers, public leaders, practitioners, and students from a wide range of institutions around the world. Specifically, the global program will focus on three strategic areas:

•  reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;

•  supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and

•  building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.

There is a support for the innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to explain global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed and how to get it back on track.  Guided by these strategic objectives, the Global Children’s Initiative has begun to build a portfolio of activities in three domains:

•  early childhood development;

•  child mental health; and

•  children in crisis and conflict situations.

The three insights I gained from my exploration were taken from the Child's mental Health section.  The topic of mental heath is an issue that is under-addressed and could have implications for broader health and development of children and societies.  On the website they talk about three initial projects they have selected to launch this effort in focusing on child's mental health:

1.) Assessing the state of child mental health services in Shanghai, China

2.) Developing and evaluating family-based strategies to prevent mental health problems in children affected by HIV\AIDS in Rwanda

3.) Addressing child maltreatment and mental health outcomes in three Caribbean nations (Barbados, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname)

To help strengthen their policy relevance these projects are designed to include economic components to analyze allocation effects in the supply and demand for services.

Sharing Web Resources- National Black Child Development Institute

“Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children - all of our children - a better world.”

- President Barack Obama, 2008

This week I revisited the National Black Child Development Institute website, I wanted to find something that dealt particularly with early childhood education.  Under the What We Do Tab is a section that focuses on ECE. NBCDI supports federal, state and local efforts to provide increasing numbers of low-income children with access to quality early education and care; efforts to create a strong and supported early childhood workforce; and efforts to promote developmentally and culturally-appropriate standards, curriculum, instruction and assessment that are aligned within and across the early childhood to early grades continuum. 

To increase and equitably distribute quality across the birth through eight continuums, while also connecting early childhood and elementary schools, NBCDI focuses on: 

·      Supporting specific efforts to recruit, professionally prepare, compensate and retain a well-qualified workforce across multiple birth through eight settings, including family and center-based child care as well as public and charter schools

·      Commitments to ensuring cultural and racial diversity in the workforce, which has decreased, even while the population of children has grown increasingly more diverse

·      Supporting the development and revision of QRIS (Quality Rating and Improvement Systems) that are as focused on the “Quality” and the “Improvement” as they are on the “Rating”

·      Explicitly advocating for the inclusion of school- and community-based early childhood teachers and administrators in joint professional development opportunities with K-12 teachers and administrators

·      Encouraging the development of culturally, linguistically and developmentally valid and reliable measurement tools for young children and the classrooms in which they learn

·      Encouraging states, districts and schools to embed professional development opportunities that support a deeper understanding of families’ race and culture, and explicitly teach teachers from all backgrounds how to develop and strengthen relationships with parents and the community

I think this is a wonderful organization and with this being Black History Month, I am making a commitment to Take Action and become involved!