Child DREAM (Child Development through Responsive care, Early stimulation, Affection in family, and Motivated parents). A project in the Makwanpur district of Nepal
With the Child DREAM project, it has been possible to carry out several training courses, so that health workers and caregivers are educated in the latest knowledge and skills in early childhood education. They can now further educate and implement positive parenting practices in their local communities, where monthly meetings in mothers’ groups are held as well as parenting sessions.
Local keyworkers are also trained in dialogue facilitation on caregiving, violence-free households, and gender equality so that they can identify issues in their communities and conduct dialogue sessions with parents and local decision-makers. In addition, local governments are helping to resume activities to promote care at home and gender equality.
Child DREAM is funded by Nature Planet and runs from November 2019 to October 2022.
Impact:
- The project has reached all families with children under three in the selected areas. They, and health workers, have realized that 80% of children’s brain development occurs within the first two years.
- There has been a positive transformation in parental behavior. They engage in their children’s development and spend more quality time with them. The households are now filled with toys, nutritious food and positive encouragement to let their children explore and try to do things themselves.
- And at the same time, fathers are getting more involved in childcare and parenting, while gender-biased behavior has been set aside.
- The project has had such a positive impact on the communities that the local government aims to continue and even expand the education of healthy parenting through new mothers’ groups meetings.
Although COVID-19 has affected the project, continuous adaptation and re-budgeting has allowed the project’s objectives to be achieved. For instance, events and actions involving gatherings of larger groups and children in communities were changed to home visits and gathering in smaller parent groups.
Learn more about Child DREAM here
