PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS

Presentation: Integrated Early Child Development
Speaker: Jim Irvine

Traditional government organisations, infrastructure and administration of health, education and social welfare services for families and young children often do not mirror the indivisibility of children's survival, protection, development and participation rights. Yet, irrespective of the disciplinary entry point, when early child development programmes make conscious efforts to address health, nutrition, stimulation and interaction in an integrated manner, studies suggest that there can be immediate benefits for children and their families, and that these benefits may continue through schooling and into adult life. However, especially in the early stages, promising integrated ECD initiatives may depend for their strategic direction and financial support on development partners and project-related funding, and are thus vulnerable, with very little opportunity to demonstrate longer-term benefits.

Sector development programmes intended to enhance coordination of donor and government efforts, and attract additional resources for improved services may even lead to diminished resources for organised ECD programmes. Increased expectations on families, communities and private sector providers may become policy, even in countries where participation rates in ECD programmes remain low, and education indictors reveal high levels of inefficiency and attrition in the critical early school grades.

Sustaining and expanding quality integrated ECD programmes pose significant challenges for professional education and team-work; family / community / NGO / private sector / government partnerships; documentation, targeted dissemination and advocacy of local evidence of programme process and impact; reducing inequalities of access for disadvantaged children; and working within sectoral, community and resource realities.

Presentation: Early Child Education
Speaker: Gulzar Kanji

Investment in an evidence-base for effective practice and policy in early childhood development programmes is expected to result in high quality integrated programmes, better services for young children and overall improvements in health, social competence and economic growth. Since the World Bank has loaned more than U$ 1.6 billion over 15 years to many countries, the stakeholders would be keen to learn if myriad programmes offered by governments, private institutions, community organizations and NGOs in the developing countries are effective and beneficial to the recipients. However, the questions that need to be addressed are: 1) Whose measures are they? 2) Can measures arising from studies in the richer world be universally applied to all situations and contexts? 3) Do measures/studies take into account the wider cultural and linguistic contexts, the devastating impact of grinding poverty, and infections of epidemic proportions? 4) Do measures inhibit the study of areas which are given low priority? If we accept that childhood is a dynamic concept and that it varies with the needs and perceptions of different societies at different times, and that children experience grossly unequal childhoods depending on the context they are born in, we need to be vigilant about the kinds of measures we develop. Despite my reservations, my personal experiences of three AKDN programmes in Northern Pakistan and East Africa, have made me appreciate the importance of sustained investment in a range of studies from the start of new programmes for a broader understanding of their quality, their appropriateness to the context, their cost effectiveness, and their sustainability. The need to address the impact on children's lives of the vertical and compartmentalized approaches to early childhood development in our societies is also highlighted.

Presentation: Roles for NGOs in Support of ECD
Speaker: Tanveer Ahmed

Political theorist divides society's state, Private Entrepreneurs and Civil Society. The Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs) are an important part of Civil Society and are distinct from both the state and private enterprise. Their unique position outside the market and the state, comparatively smaller scale, connection with citizens, their flexibility and capacity to tap private initiative in support of public purpose have positioned NPOs as strategically very important position.

These organizations, known variously as 'non-governmental', 'voluntary', 'community based', 'charitable' and 'welfare societies', include a sometimes bewildering array of entities - schools, hospitals, dispensaries, human rights organizations, sports clubs, madarsas (schools primarily providing religious education), residents welfare associations, organizations involved in material assistance to the needy, community based organizations involved in lobbying for civic amenities, and many more.

There are total number of 56,219 NGOs in Pakistan, out of which 33,168 are existing in Punjab, 16,891 in Sindh, 3,033 in NWFP and 3,127 in Balochistan. It was found that out of traceable 44,625 NGOs, 46% are working in education, 6.1% in Health, 17.5% in Advocacy and 30.4% in other areas.

Pakistan spends only 2.6% of its national budget on education. This has resulted persistently low literacy rate (among the lowest in the World). Out of the 53% of children in the age group of 5 to 7 who are enrolled in primary schools every year, as many as 50% are dropped out from primary schools even before acquiring literacy. This scenario has enhanced the importance of early education and therefore NGOs have taken the initiative of intervening in Early Child Development.

Out of 20, 699 NGOs working in education sector only 17 are recognized as working in the Early Childhood Development, out of these 09 NGOs are working at National Level, 08 at Provincial Level. These NGOs are covering 27 districts of the country, of these 05 of Sindh, 05 of Punjab, 05 of NWFP, 08 Balochistan, 04 in AJK. These NGOs are having highly diversified intervention in more than 500 communities / Schools. The area of Operation of these NGOs are ECD Implementation, Material Development, Community Participation, Capacity Building, Research, Curriculum Development, Infant & Child Focusing, Policy Focused & Advisory Support, Advocacy, Monitoring and Evaluation, Awareness Raising, and Health.

There are small number of NGOs in Pakistan specialized in ECD, but have rich experience of working in the field of Early Childhood Develop. They have developed thousands of community based models of ECD. Many of these models are developed as a result of Public Private Partnership. This is now responsibility of Government of Pakistan and other interested stake holders to take benefit out of it, evolve the whole process of ECD towards complementation and institutionalization so that the whole nation can enjoy the benefit of it.

Presentation: Child stimulation programmes: "A Portage pilot project in Ryazan"
Speaker: Karen Edwards

Many children with special needs spend their lives within the orphanage system in Russia, having limited access to rehabilitation and education. These children will be prone to suffer the effects of institutionalisation, further compounding their disability. The reasons why children are admitted to the institutional system are explained.

The presentation describes a six month pilot project of Portage, an early intervention programme for 24 children with special needs, aged between 1 and 4 years at a baby orphanage in Ryazan, Russia, conducted by the British NGO ThePromise.

Portage offers a method of working with young children to assist in development of five key areas; socialisation, self-help, cognition, motor-skills and language. Support offered through Portage is based on the principle that the people who have everyday contact with the child are crucial figures in the care and development of the child. Adaptations to the Portage system, normally carried out in the child's home with the family, to an institutional setting, are explained. The Portage assessment, individualised intervention plans, and precision learning methods are illustrated.

The successful acquisition of children's previously missing skills and the attainment of new abilities as a result of the intervention is described. Challenges, key results from the evaluation of the pilot project and plans for the future are discussed.

Presentation: Protection, Provision, Participation of Child Rights: The Role of the Government
Speaker: Bernadette Dean

The presentation will briefly look at how some deeply ingrained but largely unexamined conceptions of children influence our perception and understanding of their capacities and perspectives. It will then present the conception of children underlying the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and show how the tensions between these conceptions challenge reform efforts. It will further outline the responsibility of the government delineated in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), assess the role of the Government of Pakistan and explore the barriers to reform. It will then suggest some ways forward to ensure children their rights.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

Workshop: Addressing the Needs of Disabled Children
Facilitators: Aisha Yousafzai and Sanober Nadeem:

The number of children and adolescents with disability are significant, current estimates suggest that approximately 200 million children are born with a disability or become disabled before age 19. Children who live with a physical, sensory, learning or mental health disability are likely to be excluded from many mainstream programmes addressing child health and development. The inclusion of disabled children in early child development programmes is essential, but poses many challenges. This workshop is an introduction to the concepts of disability and inclusion. In the workshop we will examine how programmes can begin to identify children with disabilities in local communities, to explore concepts of disability, how to identify the needs of disabled children and their families and how to begin the process of inclusion for improved wellbeing.

Workshop: Assessing the Impact of ECD Programmes
Facilitator: Peter M Mwaura

Objectives of Workshop on Accessing Impact on ECD Programme

1. Conceptualizing Impact assessment.
   . What and Why of Impact Assessment.
2. Contextualizing Impact assessment in ECD Programmes.
   . Dimensions in ECD for Impact assessment.
3. Process of Impact Assessment.
   . Things to consider in impact assessment.
4. Issues in Impact Assessment.
   . Broad Issues relating to implementation and utility of impact assessment in an ECD Programme.

Workshop: Monitoring and Evaluation of ECD Programmes
Facilitators: Shehzad Mithani and Fauzia Khuhro

The objective of this workshop is to inform ECD grade practitioners and parents about the structure of early childhood education environment and to develop an audit tool in order to evaluate the programme against the Core National Curriculum.

Nature of workshop will be interactive where participants will do the following:

• Participants will be shown a video clip of an ECD classroom of age five students.
• Participants will observe the structure and readiness of physical learning areas, classroom environment, student engagement, teaching learning dynamics and classroom management.
• Participants will be given pages 7 to 13 of the National Curriculum for ECD to read in groups.
• They will develop an audit tool against the specific learning outcomes to enable them in monitoring and evaluation of the programme.

Workshop: Establishing sustainable services for ECD
Facilitator: Rozina Mistry

The objective of the workshop will be to enable participants to develop a better understanding about critical elements of sustainable ECD programme,

Methodology

Participants will be asked to divide themselves into two groups. They will be asked to select a reporter from their group. Each group will be given a handout that briefly describes a sustainable model of ECD service. Each group will discuss following questions about the case study in their group. Participants will be asked to reconvene in the last 20 minutes and share the deliberations of their group recorded on a flip chart:

• What are the key learnings of the case studies?
• What model can be proposed for the development of sustainable ECD programme in Pakistan?
• Identify main barriers that will prevent participation of the community in ECD programme;
• Suggests recommendations for addressing these barriers
• Who could be the actors in the development of the sustainable model for ECD programme in the poor communities?.
• What would be the key processes involved in the development of the sustainable model of ECD programme?
• Identify main barriers that will prevent participation of the community in ECD programme;
• Suggests recommendations for addressing these barriers