The organization Red ICDP Bolivia (ICDP Bolivia Network) acts as the vehicle for the implementation of the ICDP programme in the country. Year 2020 has been challenging due to the pandemic, however, more than half of the planned activities were achieved as planned. ICDP coordinator Olivia Sullca informs:
In 2020, the ICDP team had set itself three objectives: 1) To train and support new facilitators to exten the application of ICDP in the municipalities of Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and Potosí. 2) To provide monitoring to facilitators previously trained in the programme’s methodology. 3) To strengthen the ICDP network in the country in order to sustain the work in the future.
The execution of this plan was not achieved fully, only by 64 percent which was due to difficulties caused by the corona virus. The adverse factors include the suspension of activities in the Educational Units and Health Centres, where the programme has been implemented with the participation of caregivers.
With regards to organizing and forming groups of facilitators and/or volunteers, this objective was achieved in some of the municipalities such as Santa Cruz, Potosí and Tinguipaya. In Cochabamba it was not possible to form a group and only one person was trained as facilitator.In the municipality of Acacio, the group of facilitators were formed as planned but people from the health sector were unable to attend because health personnel was obliged to deal with the health emergency of COVID-19.
Once the quarantine was made more flexible, the facilitators trained the caregivers in person in rural areas and in the city the virtual platforms were used.
The trainers from Red ICDP Bolivia provided online monitoring support to groups of facilitators in the different regions of the country.
The evidence from monitoring of the implementation of the ICDP programme showed that the newly trained facilitators succeeded in conducting ICDP courses for 178 caregivers. The original plan as to reach 250.
The training activity for caregivers in complementary topics was not fulfilled due to the suspension of classes in the Educational Units, whose beneficiaries were the parents.
Regarding home visits, which were aimed at reinforcing the contents of the programme, in a year where COVID-19 forced children to stay at home, this was achieved by 62% of planned visits.
The envisaged national network meeting for facilitators did not take place, however, the facilitators were trained in several complementary topics: self-esteem, child development, behaviour regulation and attention in crisis situations. This training was conducted through virtual media with the participation of 20 facilitators nationwide.