Global Child Initiatives

Since I have not heard from my contacts this week, I chose to learn more about Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative, a program launched by the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard. The main goal of the program is to engage individuals from multiple disciplines and institutions such as researchers, public leaders, practitioners and students at the global level to address issues affecting children using knowledge of child health and child development grounded in science. They seek to create public awareness and understanding about child development in an effort to influence policy and support the well-being of children throughout the world. They focus on three main objectives in support of their overall goal:

·  Educating high level decision makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior,and health, beginning in the earliest years of life

·    Supporting projects that create understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track

·      Building leadership capacity in child development research and policy to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.

I found the center’s commitment to the well-being of children throughout the world and their initiatives to be of great interest. Prior to researching website, I had not been aware of work being done at the global level to influence global public policy. I think these kinds of initiatives are crucial in bringing about more attention to the needs of children throughout the world in an effort to bring about much needed change. One program I read about that was of great interest was about an Early Childhood Development course conducted for Brazilian policymakers last year.  The program brought together 50 Brazilian politicians, policymakers, public managers and civil-society leaders together to discuss how they can use knowledge about the science of child development to drive policy and practice. 

I gained several insights from reading about this program. Firstly, I realized that there is a disconnect between the available research and the awareness level of stakeholders. Although there is a vast amount of research available on child development, there is a need to create more opportunities to communicate what we know to all stakeholders. If policymakers are uninformed how can we expect them to make decisions that adequately address the needs of children? Secondly, I learned that simply passing on the knowledge is not enough. Policymakers need to figure out put their new found knowledge in to practice. In the words of Course Director Mary Young “We need to translate (that) knowledge into practice to close the gap between what we know and what we do.” Another insight I gained was about the challenge of ‘putting all sectors’ on the same page, which seems to be the case in Brazil and I am sure stands true for other countries as well. In other words, although the sectors addressing the needs of children; education, health and social services might  have a common goal, the best interests of the children, the practical challenges of coordinating the work among the sectors may exist. 

Another program I read about was a Child Development Project that was conducted in Zambia. An assessment tool taking into account existing child development measures with additional measures to take into the Zambian context was used to assess children across all domains of development. One of the goals of the project was to use the data collected to better understand child development in the Zambian context in order to identify interventions that will improve outcomes for children in the area. One main insight I gained from reading about this project is the importance of taking context into account in assessment.  Researchers took into account factors that particularly affect Zambian children and modified the tools used accordingly. In doing so, researchers were able to identify specific interventions that will be effective in addressing needs of children in that region. 

            There are many issues affecting children throughout the world today. Change is needed so that all children in every part of the world will have an equal chance at reaching their fullest potential. Although we are far from reaching this goal, by bringing all stakeholders together to create a common understanding and common goal, we can work to bring about change one step at a time. 

References:

Harvard University: Global Children’s Initiative

Retrieved from: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/