A few weeks ago, I visited alongside
fellow British MP Ivan Lewis — the U.K.’s shadow secretary of state for
international development — the Chilomoni Resource Center run by international
NGO Sightsavers in Blantyre, Malawi.
The center promotes an intensive and
structured program of interaction and stimulation which encourages mothers to
play with their disabled children, many of whom are visually impaired, and
continue to provide that level of care at home. The goal is to improve the
level of care for children with disabilities, as well as and find innovative
ways to integrate care for these children into mainstream services.
But why is this so important?
Culturally, to play with children, and
for mothers to even acknowledge their child has a disability, is a major
challenge in Malawi. Coupled with an environment that lacks other sources of
support — nutrition, physiotherapy, paediatrics — early childhood
development programs rely heavily on community resources.
This is why Sightsavers’
work there is so essential. The weekly sessions to support mothers so they
can maximize their child’s development and potential and are a very clear
demonstration of how some of the cultural traditions of this country are being
challenged.
Early interventions key to post-2015
I travelled to Malawi with Ivan Lewis
and Sightsavers as part of a global campaign I am leading to ensure an
integrated approach to the organization of services and support in a child’s
earliest years is at the heart of any new development framework that replaces
the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.
We know that you make the biggest
difference in a child’s life by investing at the earliest years — from
conception through the first five years. The evidence from programs like
SureStart in the United Kingdom, supported by what we now know about the
neurological development of young children, prove the long-term social and
economic benefits of this policy. I believe we have an opportunity to extend
those benefits to some of the poorest children in the world. Like the mothers
and children I met in Malawi.
The scale of challenge in Malawi was
evident: Women are having on average 5.7 children each, 48 percent of children
are stunted from under-nutrition in their first five years, public services
operate at a fraction of GDP and are heavily supported by donor aid. Early
childhood development programs have an annual budget of only 30m kwacha
(approximately £60,000 or $92,780). Much of the delivery and funding is
devolved to community level and rely on the dedication and passion of teachers
like Caroline we met at Chilomoni. The children in Malawi deserve better and
more.
Despite these challenges, we left
feeling optimistic. There is real will among politicians to rise to this
challenge and at the grassroots, first class organisations that can lead this
change.
Bridging the gap between high level
policy and implementation will be essential. Providing just one paid teacher to
raise capacity of other carers, integrating services with existing under-5
health clinics, and utilizing the infrastructure provided by the
community-based childcare centers to roll out other essential services for
children and families.
We can help countries like Malawi
benefit from the demographic dividend, which means more women having fewer
children, more children surviving, going to school, having an increasingly
bright economic future, their mothers at work, and make sure every bit of
government investment works to deliver this progress.
We also need to build alliances with
G-8 countries and other developing countries to ensure that early childhood
development is not just a side issue — it should be right at the heart of civil
society, our fight for social justice and economic development. We cannot
afford to squander the talents of so many of the world’s people. We should
judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable, including those people
with disabilities. They can make a contribution if given an opportunity.
Integrated approach
We set out to learn about how early
childhood development programs are delivered and can be made widely available
in developing countries. We also wanted to understand more about how the needs
of disabled children are met in areas where financial and professional
resources are very scarce.
This visit reinforced my conviction in
the principles that an integrated approach to early childhood development would
bring practical benefits to the poorest children and their families in Malawi
and other countries.
If it is right for our children,
surely it is right for some of the poorest children in the world? That is why I
believe this policy should be at the heart of the new post-2015 framework.
Having learned from the fortitude and
resilience of the grassroots and families we met living in unimaginable
poverty, we now need to persuade other politician of the virtues of making this
a top global priority.
I will take away with me the memory of
sitting in a bleak church hall listening to mothers talking about the benefits
of the community-based childcare center their children attend and the
opportunities in life they will have as a result. Those mothers could have been
anywhere in the world.
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