Equity and Excellence

Almost immediately when I visited Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website I was intrigued by one of the links that read Across countries (Saving Brains). I found that it is "a  partnership led by Grand Challenges Canada, Saving Brains seeks to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life ( Developing Child, 2020). I trust that much like taking the time to get to know your individual students applying research of known key factors as to what variables play a factor in their development is efficacious to their overall growth. The Saving Brains portfolio of activities is designed to develop and broaden the reach of products, services, and policies that protect and nurture early brain development (Developing Child, 2020). They have projects that seek to protect early brain development all over the world. Currently, projects are being implemented in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America (Developing Child, 2020).
There is also work done in Brazil that has a partnership that ushers training in policy.  The collaborative Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI) partnership has been highly successful in creating a science-driven early childhood movement in Brazil, most notably through training Brazilian policy makers on how to apply developmental science to inform programs and policies and, recently, through launching the iLab Primeira Infância, one of the Latin American Innovation Clusters (Developing Child, 2020). Equipping all professionals on the various levels of early child development is needed as policy will consistently change as the economy does and it is imperative that everyone remains current on the policies that both benefit and effect early child development. "Children with healthy intergral development during the first years of life have a greater ability to adapt to different environments and to acquire new knowledge, helping them to achieve good academic performance as well as personal , vocational, and economic fulfillment and become responsible citizens" (NCPI, 2020).

Additionally, I learned about a Canada's "Albert Family Wellness Initiative". That is a movement that was looking to gather a resolution to its prime economic struggles. In 2007, Alberta was facing a health crisis—increasing rates of substance abuse and addiction and mental health issues among its residents—combined with a lack of adequate comprehensive, integrated programs to address these issues" (Developing Child, 2020). Through research a strategy evolved referred to as "knowledge mobilization". Much of AFWI’s work has focused on providing the infrastructure and facilitation to bring together practitioners and policymakers from across Alberta with scientists from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and other experts to enable them to collaborate and develop science-based, innovative solutions for the fields of health, justice, education, and human services (Developing Child, 2020). In the same way that educators, students and parents partner up to meet the total need of the child within a classroom it makes sense to have those in a higher authority to devote their resources to early child development. Through knowledge mobilization, AFWI has trained an “army” of change agents who continue to share the message of the importance of early childhood development with their communities and who are transforming the ways in which they and their colleagues work (Developing Child, 2020).

 




References

Early Childhood. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ncpi.org.br/en-us/early-childhood/

Partnerships with Global Early Childhood Organizations. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/#global