International Contacts

Unfortunately, the eight weeks have ended and I have yet to hear from any international contacts. I am really a bit saddened about it because I was truly inspired and eager to learn of early childhood learning, teaching strategies, requirements, and techniques from any other country besides my own! I initially contacted TEN representatives because I wanted to heighten my chances of hearing from someone; but this did not help. I was also unsuccessful with finding any podcasts, so therefore I have had to resort to completing the 'alternative' assignment for many of my blog posts this past 7 weeks! For this week, the alternative assignment was a link to UNESCO. With this link the assignment was to find things that are of interest to me. Honestly, everything I read was of interest to me because this was an organization of which I had never heard. Listed below is my journey through the UNESCO website:

 UNESCO's mission is to support early childhood policy development with the aim to build a solid foundation for a child's lifelong learning. They actively work with Member States to develop and strengthen their national capacity to meet the first goal of the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action. UNESCO was started back in the 1950's. The focus of the organization is on upstream policy work, supporting governments through policy review, publication activities, and capacity building. Their focus is on peace, poverty eradication, among other things. Education is one of the principles they use to achieve this eradication of those things listed. A few of the ways that they are able to do this through education, is by offering activities such as Literacy for All, Skills for Work and Life, and Women and Girls Education.....to name a few. UNESCO currently has 195 Members and 9 Associate Members and they service many countries around the world. I feel this organization is a very beneficial one for the field of early childhood education.

                                                                          References
 http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Shared Web Resources

UNICEF is the organization that I used originally when I tried to contact educational professionals from other countries. When searching through the website for other links, at the bottom of the page; I noticed there were nine countries that UNICEF did not make connections with. Curiosity got the best of me and initially I set out to find reasons why these countries were not helped by UNICEF. I was unable to solve that portion of the equation but I was as to find statistical information about all nine countries. The link stated that the information was from the year 2013. Along with normal poverty information, the link also provided early childhood information; such as attendance rates with male vs females, and rich vs poor educational statistics. Unfortunately, the link did not provide info about inequities; but when looking at the statistic numbers in each country, I'm very sure that each one has SEVERAL inequities, even the state of being in a poorer country as number 1! The nine countries are: Bahamas, Brunei, Darussalam, Cyprus, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, and Singapore. Even though UNICEF does not provide connections with the listed countries; I like the fact that they still have connections so that viewers are able to donate aid/relief/monies.

Harvard University's Global Children's Initiative

 Unfortunately I had to resort to Harvard University's website because the podcasts were unsuccessful for me. But....I did learn of the great initiative this organization is putting forth for better outcomes for our young children! First, I found that the Global Children's Initiative started in 2009. The purpose of the organization was to advance the science based approach to improving the survival, health, learning, and behavior of children facing some form of adversity. Their missions helps to restore economic productivity as well.
 The second interesting fact about the organization was that their main goal is to help close gaps between what experts know about early childhood and what the public thinks they know about early childhood.
 The final interesting fact that I found out about this great Harvard organization was the fact that their activities are split into different sectors. Listed below are just a few of those activities:


National Scientific Council on the Developing Child- responsible for synthesizing and communicating the science of early childhood and early brain development for policy making and public knowledge.


National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs- responsible for interpreting and informing research on effectiveness of programs targeting early childhood.


Science of Adversity and Resilience- advances our understanding on how genes, experiences, and the environment affects brain development prenatally and basically how it affects the child's future.


These are just a few of the things that I have learned about this wonderful organization!














 

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I have been following is one that apparently was started in The United States, but is capable of reaching out to children, as well as having appointed representatives, all over the world. UNICEF is the website that I am speaking of. I think it's absolutely amazing how they aim to help needy families and children ALL OVER THE WORLD!! I think it's also amazing how they are able to share yearly statistics etc, about other countries, poverty levels, etc. It gives us a good feel and better understanding  of other countries, even though we are still here in America.

My current profession is with the Head Start program. Every one pretty much knows that this program in particular is aimed at helping low-income families and children prosper in the future educationally, as well as economically. On last week I got a chance to study poverty rates in the Philippines through this website. When looking through various components on the website it gives a lot of information on how and why the citizens of those countries are having issues with poverty. With Head Start, we don't always know the WHOLE story, but we are very willing to help. In our area, it seemed that many of the issues with childhood poverty in my town was the fact that many fathers are not present in the household to help support the family, and that many children were brought into the world by teenage parents. In the Philippines, families were often married before children were brought into the picture, but poverty occurred because of the low-paying jobs that the fathers held. It's good to know the that I can come to this website and see the differences in what causes poverty in almost any country that I'm interested in!

UNICEF's website states that the United States government is on this mission WITH them to improve health, poverty, and education in countries who need it. The website (UNICEF) states the following; "In cooperation with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UNICEF saves and protects the world's most vulnerable children, working to ensure child rights and providing health care, immunizations, nutrition, access to safe water and sanitation services, basic education, protection and emergency relief" (2015). UNICEF is connected with the medical world as well such as teaming up with representatives from Africa to stop Ebola. In other words, the organization has supporters in many areas including government officials and those in the medical field.

When looking at all of the information that I have shared with you in this blog.....one thought entered my mind! I love the fact that the organization helps those who are in countries that are less privileged when they need the help; but what about when our very OWN country needs the help? What will or what have they done? I found my answer! When Hurricane Katrina hit in New Orleans, UNICEF provided School-in-a-Box and recreation kits to the area. I think the organization is great!

                                                                           Reference

UNICEF. (2015). Help Save Children's Lives. Retrieved from http://unicefusa.org

Poverty in the Phillipines

Unfortunately, for the past two weeks I have had zero contact with professionals! :(  Initially I emailed six professionals hoping to hear from at least two......ughhhhh....I have heard from NONE!! I will try again this week with new professionals because I really want to have contact!!! Soooooo for this week I chose to visit the UNICEF website and discover information about the Phillipines...... Much like African Americans had to do way back when, Filipinos children who are poor rarely finish school. They often have to quit so that they can help be providers in the family so that they can make ends meet. This alone is one of the very reasons poverty in childhood.....no matter the country......is so devastating to healthy development of a young child. Instead of being children, they have to act as adults! A study of poverty in Phillipines showed that in 2006, 5.4 million children were deprived of having at least one of the necessities of life (shelter, sanitation, and water). Around 840,000 children face at least two of those deprivations in the Phillipines; and luckily only a little over half of a percentage (which is 17,000) of children had to face all three deprivations! That's good to hear, but I pray it were none:(   On a positive note, since national and international push has been made to help in improving poverty rates, infant mortality and under five mortality rates in the Phillipines have decreased. To support my idea of children not being children and having to work because of poverty issues was revealed upon further reading. I found out that out of 25 million children in the Phillipines,   4 million of them are involved in child labor. Poverty has unfortunately become associated with the country. Poverty is highest amongst those in the field of agriculture, fishing, and forestry. These occupations alone contributes to 61.6% of poverty incidence in the Phillipines. The other sectors with high numbers of poverty include construction, mining, and transport. Hopefully with the continual help of UNICEF and other relief organizations; the Phillipines will be less known for poverty issues.

                                                References
http://www.unicef.org/social policy/index_66867.html

National Head Start Association

The website that I have chosen to place my attention on for this class for the next 6 weeks is the National Head Start Association. I chose this organization because I am employed with a local Head Start in my community and have been employed there for almost 11 years. Even though I was unable to actually request for newsletters without being a member, I was able to follow through with retrieving current news from the website. None that I saw were related to this weeks discussion of diversity and demographics, but I did learn the following;

• Since May 4-8 was Teacher Appreciation Week, NHSA encouraged parents and teachers to log onto Facebook each day and post and respond to videos or photos of meaningful interactions within the classroom.
• Bammy Awards- The discussion was about the Bammy Awards, which was created by NHSA and the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. This award recognizes the great contributions being made everyday by educators across the community. The award is also aimed for offsetting the scrutiny and negative outlook surrounding our profession.
• Repurposed Crayons- I feel this was quite exciting to learn! NHSA has partnered with restaurants to used repurposed crayons in Head Start classrooms. The mission was actually started by a mom in California by the nameof Sheila Michail Morovati. Her mission was to intially collect as many crayons as possible and give them to kids that were in need. I guess this section would relate to lower-income demographics, as this is what type of families Head Start serves, as well as the families that received the crayons.

These are a few of the current articles that I found interesting enough to share! 

Professional Contacts

Unfortunately, I began the homework assignment a little behind schedule, but I am still very much interested in finding individual professional contacts from different countries. Therefore, I have submitted four invitations for friendship from professionals in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Germany, Philippines, and finally Uganda. Hopefully I will hear from at least two of the professionals, but if I happen to hear from them all then I will narrow it down to two. My professionals were found under the UNICEF organization website. This seems like a very rewarding aspect of our class, and I am truly ready to begin communication from either of my candidates!


The professional early childhood organization that I have chosen to research is The National Head Start Association website. It's clear to see why I chose this organization, and that is the fact that I have been employed with the program for over 10 years!


I am truly excited about all the things that I will learn from my contacts about how other countries operate their early childhood programs, as well as learn the differences and similarities between their beliefs and ours! So excited!