In Malawi, Help a Child and its partners are supporting communities to set up Community Based Childcare centers (CBCCs), so that children have access to Early Childhood development services from a young age.
Providing children with the opportunity to learn from an early age is vital for their empowerment. However, achieving this requires the involvement of the entire family and village. Hence the CBCCs promote parenting skills, raise awareness and improve the knowledge of the parents and community as whole.
Furthermore, to improve the quality of the CBCCs, training is provided to caregivers and parent management committees. We also support these centers with infrastructure improvements and learning materials.
The program emphasizes all the elements of a child’s development including early learning, health, nutrition, social development and psychosocial wellbeing. In some areas we also provide seeds for the centers’ gardens to improve the nutrition of the children in the centers. And as early childcare starts with the proper care for mother and child during pregnancy, the program promotes safe pregnancies and provides access to quality pre and antenatal care.
As a result of this intervention we expect to equip parents to provide adequate care and protection for their children. Moreover, through the CBCCs, the communities themselves will be empowered to provide quality child development services.
Parenting
Parents are the most essential key players in improving the wellbeing of children. In our project areas parents face a lot of challenges. This is why Help a Child developed The Parenting Challenge, a method to improve the knowledge, attitude and skills of parents. In 2017 a pilot was conducted in two of our project areas (Edingeni and Zilakoma) as well as in Arua, Uganda. Download the leaflet and Research Report 2018 below.