Author: Nicoletta Armstrong

ICDP’s partner in South Africa is the Ubulele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust, a non-profit organizaion in Johannesburg (https://ububele.org/about-us/), that provides therapeutic services to families and children in impoverished communities. The ICDP programme was well received by the Ububele organization in 2019, and after the training of trainers was completed they integrated the ICDP programme as one of their activities aimed at strengthening child and family mental health in the township of Alexandra.

ICDP trainer at Ubulele, Nicky Dawson, reports:

“In early September 2022 a new group received their ICDP certificates (on photo above) after attending the workshops. This training was carried out by facilitators from Ubulele. The implementation of the ICDP programme is helping create positive changes and thus it is extending our support to families and contributing to Ubulele’s own efforts of improving the lives of families in Alexandra”.

Change in the composition of the board: The Board of Directors of the ICDP Sweden Foundation has a new chair. After several years of greatly committed work in her role as chair, Annelie Waldau resigned in June 2022 and Veronica Kindbom was elected in her place. Grete Flakk, who contributed with her knowledge and experience from Norway, also stepped down and was replaced by Jenny Jakobsson Lundin.

The home page: ICDP Sweden is continuing to work on the development of their website. Among other things, the plan is to create a forum with the focus on sharing and highlighting good examples from ICDP practice. Educators from all over the country will be given the opportunity to talk about their ICDP work. The request will primarily go to educators, but guidance counsellors will also be targeted to talk about their work in their respective activities and municipalities. This aim is to inspire colleagues across the country, through raising awareness and networking. The ICDP Sweden board has already been receiving feedback from those working with the ICDP programme in different ways – and  the idea is to unite the network and work together.

Autumn 2022 training dates:

Basic ICDP training at caregiver level: It is taking place in Gothenburg on the 20-21^st of September and 18-19th October. In Stockholm the training is on 28-29^th of September and 25-26^th of October.

Facilitator level training: It is to be held in Stockholm on 10^th of November 2022, and it will continue in January, March and April 2023.

The training of trainers will start in Stockholm, on the 20^th of October. In addition, ICDP Sweden is hosting a digital trainer meeting on 11^th of November.

Click here to see images from the work in the department of Boyaca, Colombia.

Child and Caregiver Reporting on Child Maltreatment and Mental Health in the Philippines Before and After an International Child Development Programme (ICDP) Parenting Intervention

Emil Graff Ramsli, Ane-Marthe Solheim Skar, Vilde Skylstad, Disa Sjöblom, Zenona Gread, Wayomi Chiong & Ingunn Marie S. Engebretsen 

Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma (2022)

Abstract

Child maltreatment is a serious problem affecting millions of children. Research on self-reporting of child maltreatment has shown a difference in reporting between caregivers and children. Increased understanding of this has implications for further evaluations of parenting programmes and assessment of violence and maltreatment. The purpose of this study was to explore caregiver-child reporting discrepancies on child maltreatment and emotional health before and after piloting of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) in the Philippines. Data was collected from caregivers and their children before and after caregiver participation in ICDP. Participants were selected from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Programme in Leyte by Save the Children. Caregivers and children completed a questionnaire with some adapted items from the Conflict Tactics Scale Parent–Child version (CTSPC), some relevant complementary items on psychological aggression and items from the emotional problems subscale from the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Matching items, subscales and total count scores were compared using paired t-tests in STATA 14. Forty-six caregivers and 43 children aged from 5–13 years participated at baseline, and 44 caregivers and 42 children at endline. At baseline, children reported significantly more maltreatment than their caregivers. The groups reported similarly at baseline and endline on the items from the subscale on emotional problems. Both children and caregivers had lower scores on our harsh discipline scale at endline, indicating improved parenting strategies after the intervention. These results indicate a difference in reporting of child maltreatment between caregivers and children, with higher rates reported by the children before the intervention, but not after. This is important because it illustrates child and caregiver perspectives on maltreatment, and how they can differ. As such, our findings point towards a positive effect of ICDP on parenting.

Link to the study: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40653-022-00483-0

Link to the study on this website

Located in the São Franciscano hinterland, northeast of Brazil, the civil association ACARI, has been developing actions since 2004, being officially established in 2005.

ACARI is an NGO dedicated to the work of construction and implementation of public policies for women, youth and children – www.facebook.com/ongacari/. It has a multidisciplinary team, experienced in working with the population of this region through cooperation with those committed to achieving its main objective: to promote citizenship, to defend human rights and to struggle for political, cultural, social and environmental democracy. ACARI adopted the ICDP programme. It has been running projects ever since a group of professionals from ACARI received ICDP training from Nicoletta Armstrong in 2010-2012.

ICDP trainer, Ilze Braga, a psychologist from ACARI, informs about the development of a new ICDP project in 2022:

During this year, Simone Souza (ICDP trainer) and I, have been developing together a very special project here in Pernambuco, Bahia province in Brazil. The project is called “Bem Me Quer: lead a family life with love, dialogue and understanding”. Our key strategy has been the ICDP programme.

This initiative is supported by Kindernothilfe (Homepage – Kindernothilfe), a large Christian organization founded in 1959 in the German city of Duisburg. It operates in developing countries with the aim of enabling girls and boys to live a dignified life, free from poverty and violence.

For this project we produced new ICDP materials, that we call “a kit for positive interaction”, which proved very popular with parents.

As a result of our work 340 children and adolescents from Fundação Lor Feliz and Projeto Vida Nova will experience healthier family life that minimizes the use of psychological and physical violence. These families are now leading positive interactions with their children.

It has been very rewarding for us to see that families were becoming very interested in attending our ICDP sessions. They have been putting into practice the received knowledge with great enthusiasm. Children and adolescents who participated in this project have been developing positive interpersonal relationships, and started communicating assertively with their peers and family members.

Ilze and I hope to travel to the ICDP Network Conference in Colombia, in November this year, in order to meet up with other ICDP teams from Latin America, to learn more and to share this experience.

The ICDP Parenting Skills Programme in Burkina Faso

The social protection of children in families and in their communities provides a reliable basis for the survival and healthy growth of all children and for their learning. It should be remembered that the main factors and conditions for success in education and good health for children depend on the treatment and education practices of parents, caregivers and communities.

In order to improve the practices of caregivers, the NGO Save the Children in Burkina Faso has undertaken to roll out the ICDP parenting skills programme as part of the project “Combating child poverty and vulnerabilities in the regions of the Boucle du Mouhoun, Centre North, East and North, through Child-Sensitive Social Protection”.  Through these four regions, the project intervened in 11 municipalities: 4 in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, 3 in the Centre North, 2 in the East and 2 in the North. 

The programme was able to proceed despite the precarious security situation in these areas. Some displaced parents were able to benefit from the programme at their host site and they actively participated. 

From 2021 to the present day, a total of 323 groups have been sensitized on the ICDP parenting skills programme in the 11 municipalities, reaching 4141 people, of which 2508 were women.  The changes are perceptible and very remarkable; we can mention the rapprochement of parents with each other first, then parents with children, also the improvement of children’s academic results.  Joy and happiness developed within beneficiary households.  In some communes today, husband and wife can sit and talk together, whereas in the past this was not possible.

Click here for full report with testimonials from beneficiaries.

Read the summary of the project for Syrian families, which was carried out in cooperation with “Stafford Welcomes Refugees”.

Stafford Welcomes Refugees (SWR) is a constituted voluntary group of local people. It was set up in 2015 in response to the Syrian refugee crisis to press the UK to take its fair share of refugees fleeing war and persecution. The group also wish to provide a welcome and support for any refugees coming to Stafford. From these initial aims SWR has developed, and now has several action groups which work on specific areas.

SWR website: https://www.staffordwelcomesrefugees.org/

In November 2021, a group of facilitators completed their training; nine persons from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Slavyansk, Gnedin received their diplomas as ICDP facilitators. On 23^rd of February 2022, just a day before the war started in Ukraine, six trainees completed their training and received diplomas as ICDP regional trainers.

When the war started most of the ICDP Ukraine facilitators temporarily suspended their work, as they were forced to leave their homes, move to other cities or travel to other countries. However, at the end of March, they began their work again.

In April 2022, a new project was started aimed at providing psychosocial support to migrants and internally displaced persons. Ten facilitators (see photo) from Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Poltava and Zaporizhzhia took part in the project with the support from SD Britain and several other national members of the Susila Dharma International Association (SDIA).

By mid May 2022, a total of 325 people attended ICDP workshops, including 263 adults and 62 children.

Some facilitators have remained in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other frontline towns and cities, continuing to support parents and families where they can, even conducting classes with children in a bomb shelter in a subway. Others who left Ukraine to go to other countries are now working with children there as well as helping parents. Some of them have been able to carry out in-person support groups, others have resorted to online training sessions. Some come from a formal psychologist background, others are teachers or social workers. They agreed between them how best to use the funds given from SDIA to distribute between the group of facilitators, basing that on how many sessions they could practically carry out over the time given. Their activities included:

– consultations with parents on how to communicate with children
– crisis counselling
– dealing with trauma
– activities with children

ICDP fits well with other forms of support and therapy, particularly in groups where parents and children can share stories and the feeling of trust and healing can grow. Several facilitators use art techniques and games to help break down barriers and gain trust. Others will talk about film and talk about heroes to engage with the children and parents. Clients hear about ICDP through seminars and learn from colleagues or friends about the ICDP work, and come seeking help. Some use social networking and newsletters to let communities know about the training sessions. As situations calm down in Ukraine, facilitators are able to work better and more consistently.

The facilitators have found that many children are distressed by the conflict around them, many express restlessness and irritability, and are being neglected by their parents because their parents are distracted and emotionally traumatized themselves.  Many families have been separated and children are often being looked after by extended family members. By using physical touch, eye contact and talking and listening with love and engagement, they’ve helped parents reconnect with their children.  These are a few examples of testimonials (translated from Ukrainian):

“Thank you for the lessons and everything you do for the people – it is very important to have support, and you are like God’s helpers…thank you”

“I like that everything is simple and easy to communicate, although it is about serious and deep things. I like a lot of examples, videos, etc. Thank you for continuing your hard work!”

“I am very happy to take part in the programme. You treat every member so carefully. For me, as the mother of a small child, the ICDP programme is very relevant”

A group of ten professionals from the Finnish Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters www.ensijaturvakotienliitto.fi have been receiving training in the ICDP programme since November 2021, when they attended the first workshop at trainer level.

The second workshop was held in May 2022, and the final workshop will take place in November 2022. After the first workshop they started to train a new group of facilitators, which is part of the ICDP requirement for certification as ICDP trainers.

“At the May worksop the whole group of trainees showed keen interest, as well as a depth of understanding of the ICDP programme . ICDP has been part of the work of the Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters for eigth years now. The trainee trainers are all working with an extremely vulnerable population, often dealing with mothers and babies victims of violence or drug abuse and they support them through a range of programmes and activities, including ICDP. There is great commitment in the Federation to maintain the application of the ICDP programme and to extend the coverage. The new ICDP trainers and facilitators will be formed by 2023 who will be able to take the ICDP sensitization programme to many more mothers and children in different parts of the country. It has been a privilege working with this talented group of professionals.” – Nicoletta Armstrong, their trainer.