Author: Nicoletta Armstrong

Celebrating the Impact of ICDP Training: A Creative Journey to Gratitude and Connection

The completion of an ICDP (International Child Development Programme) training course for caregivers at the end of November 2024, in the Republic of Georgia culminated in a heartwarming celebration, filled with appreciation and acknowledgment. For many participants, the training was a deeply transformative experience, and the event marked not only the end of the course but the beginning of meaningful connections and creative expressions that would resonate long after.

One particularly poignant moment came from Guliko (Gulnara) Merebashvili, a mother of three, clinical psychologist, and behaviour analyst. She shared a deeply personal reflection on how the training, led by Nino Margvelashvili, opened her and her family’s eyes to new perspectives on parenting and caregiving. The impact of the ICDP training was so profound that it sparked an extraordinary creative collaboration between Guliko and her husband, Merab Alanya to express gratitude towards the creators of ICDP and its process.

Together, they embarked on a project to create a wooden ICDP House puzzle, a tactile and symbolic representation of the values and principles Guliko had learned through the course. She expressed how, working on each individual piece of the puzzle, she was reminded of the life-changing values that Nino had helped her rediscover in herself. “Building a colourful ICDP house for the second time was a pleasure for us,” Guliko explained, describing how each piece not only connected physically but emotionally with the values she had learned during the sessions.

Photo above: Nino on far left and Guliko’s family

The most fascinating part of the creative process for Guliko was the engraving of the principles on the wooden pieces. “You see how the thoughts and experiences you shared with the group are turning into letters on the wood, letters turn into phrases and phrases into principles. The principles, in overall, are embodying a well-built, colourful house – a symbol of strong, loving and healthy family.” she remarked. 

The wooden ICDP House puzzle, now a tangible representation of their journey, is a lasting reminder of the personal and familial transformation that comes with embracing the principles of positive interactions between the two. For Guliko, sharing these emotions and reflections with her husband was as gratifying as the creation itself, marking a moment of deep connection not only with her training but with the person she loves most.

The celebration that closed the ICDP course was beautiful, serene and emotional. Even more than that, it was a tribute to the enduring impact of the values it imparts, turning gratitude and growth into a creative, meaningful act that inspires and benefits all of us. 

-Nino Margvelashvili

A small team of professionals linked to Normisjon has been working on bringing ICDP to Azerbaijan for many months. Thanks to their efforts, an ICDP training workshop took place in Baku, 17-19 October 2024. The workshop was the first step that started the process of forming a group to become ICDP facilitators, who would eventually implement the ICDP programme with caregivers/parents.

ICDP trainer, Magdalena Brännström, conducted the workshop. There were ten participants/ trainee facilitators, including two psychologists, one doctor, one occupational therapist, and six teachers. Seven of the participants were mothers.   They spent three days learning and discussing the key content of the ICDP programme, namely the eight ICDP guidelines for good interactions. The group connected well with one another through sharing their stories and experiences. This was the first phase of training.

The second phase of training involved doing another ICDP workshop which was held in December 2024. This initial group of trainee facilitators started doing their primary training through in English but as part of the ICDP process they have been  considering how to adapt the programme and its delivery to the Azerbaijani context.

In January 2025, the trainee facilitators started running their first ICDP caregiver courses for parents/caregivers. Two of the groups are engaged in rolling out the ICDP caregiver course in the Azerbaijani language; one group is doing it in Russian and another in English for expats. Three of the groups are conducting courses for caregivers in Baku and one group is situated in a different town.

Read the full report.

In the town of Gdansk, two ICDP facilitators, Lidia Wąsik and Izabela Wójtowicz, conducted a successful ICDP course for seven professionals at the GOPZiPU institute, (“Gdański Ośrodek Promocji Zdrowia i Profilaktyki Uzależnień” or the Gdansk Centre for Health Promotion and Addiction Prevention). It took place during the period between the 18^th of November 2024 and the 13^th of January 2025. The meetings were held on a weekly basis and lasted two hours each.

This was a pilot project representing the introduction and adaptation of ICDP to Poland. The ICDP materials were translated and adapted by Lidia with some help from professional translators.

Lidia explains: “There was a lot of work on creating the course content, Iza and I had many meetings and consultations to adapt the exercises and prepare powerpoint presentations. We also made outlines for each of the meeting and kept a diary. During the course I talked to my colleagues on an ongoing basis and received feedback on how the group was functioning. After each meeting, Iza and I discussed what had happened in the group and drew conclusions. The hybrid form – Iza appearing online and I being present in person – turned out well, but it was demanding. We maintained contact with the group outside the course meetings, sending emails with summaries and home tasks and other relevant content that, for example, did not have time to be discussed at the meeting. In the meantime, I was involved in promoting the program and recruiting new groups in Gdansk”.

The participants’ evaluations were very positive – click here to read.

Dear ICDP colleagues, friends and supporters,

It is with great sadness that I inform you that our dear friend and ICDP founder, Professor Henning Rye passed away on the 1st of February 2025. 

Henning was a towering figure in ICDP. He brought great insight and subtlety to our work, and was able to enlighten and guide a great many. He had used his professorship position and travel opportunities to spread awareness and promote the development of profoundly inclusive and sensitive approaches to care and education. He touched and inspired many of us in the ICDP world and outside it, introducing many of his students and university colleagues to the principles that are at the core of the ICDP vision.and mission. Karsten and Henning were possessed of a noble desire to translate psychological theories into a useful and meaningful practice that would make a difference to children’s worlds, and this was a sense in which the rest of us founders found resonance and ardent commitment to action worldwide. In my fond memories of Henning I shall always remember two aspects that manifested in our meetings from the very early days onwards, his immense knowledge and his great sense of humour, which brought us inspiration as well as fun and laughter over the years. Thank you Henning!

With kind regards from Nicoletta 

Henning Rye: A Lifelong Dedication to Children’s Psychosocial Development and the Role of Parents

With sorrow, gratitude, and respect, we received the news of Henning Rye’s passing on February 1st. Sorrow because we lost a good colleague, mentor, and friend. Gratitude for everything he taught us, both professionally and personally. Respect for his dedication to children’s psychosocial development.

Henning, born in 1934, started as a teacher before he trained as a psychologist and earned a PhD in clinical child and adolescent psychiatry. He worked as the chief psychologist at Berg gård, became a professor at the Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, and later head of the Section for International Work at the Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo. In 2016, he was awarded the King’s Medal of Merit for his work with children with special needs.

His collaboration with Karsten Hundeide led to the development of the International Child Development Programme (ICDP), a humanistic parenting guidance program that changed the perspective on children’s developmental possibilities. ICDP is used in Norway and over 40 other countries and has improved the quality of care for millions of children. Henning also extended these perspectives to all life stages, with a focus on dignified aging.

He had a long-term collaboration with the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which stands as a monument to his international commitment, also involving countries such as Sweden, Portugal, and Palestine.

Henning and Karsten, along with a small international team, aimed to translate psychological theories into practical applications that could make a difference in children’s lives. This has inspired us who followed. We remember Henning’s warmth, knowledge, and sense of humor, which brought inspiration, laughter, and joy. Thank you, Henning, your life and work will continue to guide us for many years to come.

Ane-Marthe S. Skar and Nicoletta Armstrong, ICDP International, and Heidi W. Steel, ICDP Norway

News update from Finland by Petra Zilliacus:

On a foggy Monday, on 9th of January 2025, a group of nine professionals graduated as ICDP facilitators on the Åland Islands. Eight of the participants came from social services and one was from a local school – see participants on the photo above.

Thefacilitators implemented the ICDP programme with groups of caregivers, and these groups were versatile, including either parents or professionals.

The new group of facilitators was both greatly inspired and greatly inspiring for the proud trainers Klara Schauman-Ahlberg and Petra Zilliacus.

Warm congratulations to the smart and sensitive group facilitators!

ICDP Facilitator Trainings and Outcomes – 2024

In 2024, five facilitator training sessions were initiated, resulting in 129 newly trained facilitators. Additionally, 25 facilitators from 2023 in Wolayta Sodo and Shasheme, completed their certification. These efforts were conducted across five locations: Addis Ababa, Adama, and Bishoftu in the western part of Addis Ababa. The facilitators engaged with 300 parents and 800 children. Some facilitators are continuing their work with parents and will be certified in 2025.

To support the training efforts, the English manual was translated into Amharic, and 1,000 copies were printed, sponsored by the ICDP International Office.

These training sessions were designed to equip facilitators with the skills needed to promote positive child development and strengthen parent-child relationships.

2. Details of the Trainings

Wolayta Sodo and Shashemene

• Groups: 2

• Facilitators Certified: 25

Addis Ababa (Western South Region of EFGC)

• Groups: 1

• Progress: Completed the second part of training. 24

Adama

2 Groups: • Group 1• Location: Amanuel Church• Participants: 30 facilitators• Children Engaged: 78

• Group 2

• Location: Ethiopia Muluwongel Church Adama

• Participants: 24 facilitators

• Children Engaged: 68

Bishoftu

• Location: Ethiopia Muluwongel Church

• Participants: 24 facilitators

• Children Engaged: 64

3. Parent Groups and Community Impact

• Parent Groups Established: 25

• Parents Recruited: 300

• Children Impacted: Approximately 800

Parents reported significant positive changes in their households, including better communication and stronger relationships with their children.

4. Testimonial

Parents shared their experience during group meetings:

One mother shared: “This training helped me and my children to have peace in our house.”

Another parent reflected: “I used to discourage my child from singing, telling her, ‘Don’t sing.’ But after this training, I realized how much I was holding her back. Now, I encourage her to sing and express herself freely. I’ve learned the importance of showing warmth and love in conversations, and I’m committed to creating a better relationship with my children.”

5. Conclusion

The 2024 ICDP facilitator training program has had a transformative impact on facilitators, parents, and children. By empowering facilitators, the program has fostered stronger relationships and created more harmonious households, reflecting its effectiveness and long-term potential to improve child development across communities.

Atnaf Berhanu

8^th of January 2025.

Project “Women with a Soul”, was developed by Abel Salazar, ICDP trainer, in the village Santa Teresa, Antioquia, Colombia. The following statement was sent to ICDP in December 2024, by a mother who received training in ICDP:

The ICDP programme showed us that although nobody teaches us how to be parents, there are in fact many tools that could guide us in our role as parents – and in my own life I experienced the ICDP guidance and its tools as very useful.

ICDP made me see my own child in a different way. I started to value him and give him importance he deserves. I realized that his opinions are equally important as mine… that quality time is more valuable than a quality toy…. that limits are necessary but are to be set with love and explanation… that observing and listening works better than commanding … that the most practical way for children to obtain their goals is for parents to become their number one fans. I understood that my role and my priority is to accompany, love and guide, to be a mediator between my son and the world around him.

ICDP has brought out the best version of myself, and this has improved the relation with my son, with my family and with myself. And also with a group of wonderful women who participated in this programme. We managed to appreciate each other and listen to our life stories and build knowledge together. In each meeting we shared with sincerity and felt love and respect for each other.

The meetings were also attended by several older women who endured much in their lives; whose lives were full of unfulfilled dreams. Yet they were possesed of a wonderful quality, a special strength… It was so rewarding to see how ICDP made them want to learn, and how they started to understand about the digital world which was previously beyond their understanding – just like children, they too needed support and guidance about the world. One could observe how these older women started to value and take better care of themselves. They started to feel deserving of good things, realizing that it is never too late. Their enthusiasm was present in all the meetings and they never missed to attend a meeting; their positivity was visibly affecting other participants who became more enthusiastic themselves.

The ICDP programme has brought us together as a community and it has made us stronger. It has taught us not only how to relate to our children but also how to relate to other in our environment, particularly with women. Hopefully this programme will continue to grow and reach more people because it has given us back confidence, hope and a healthier way of relating to each other.

Thank you ICDP!

Click here to read about ICDP activities in 2024.

From the report:

The year has generally been stable, with us consolidating the new management structure and working to future proof ICDP’s importance in the educational landscape in Denmark. We have reached our goals for 2024: We have certified a daycare center in ICDP; Published a material package for the youngest classes in schools with a focus on teaching children about empathy through the ICDP program; And held an ICDP conference with a large municipality under the title “ICDP and psychological safety” in collaboration with a large Danish publishing house.

In 2024, we have been successful on many parameters. Overall, it has been a great satisfaction that the generational change is about to take place. With the current construction and the new broad management, we have future-proofed
the work with ICDP in the years to come.

We have trained 478 persons to ICDP level 1, 33 persons at level 2 and 3 persons at level 4.

In 2024, we have entered partnerships with several actors in the pedagogical sector with the aim of increasing our network and reaching more pedagogical settings.
– ICDP and co-teaching – with Mickie Sonne Sunesen from “Nordic-learning”
– ICDP and resilience – With Ida Skytte Jakobsen from the Danish Center for Resilience.
– ICDP and sensorimotor skills with Gitte Frost from the company Physiotherapist Gitte Frost
– ICDP and Nest with consultant and leader Karin Lykke
– ICDP and inspections with Sebastian Damkjær Ohlsen from “Be-coming”
– ICDP and psychological safety with Peter Andersen, Dafolo – a big Danish
publisher.
We regularly invite potential partners to coffee meetings to keep us moving. Our values are to spread and quality-assure the ICDP program. We do this best in collaboration with others. All our invitations are met positively – we are well-known and well-liked in the educational community.

This year we have published 5 Newsletters to our approximately 2.000 subscribers. We inform the followers about training courses, new material and various ICDP activities.

ICDP Café: Four times a year we invite all who are interested to a free ICDP Café. The Café is for the professionals that work with children and young people and who want input and dialogue about working with relationships and interaction.

A new group of professionals received training in ICDP at a workshop organized by Save the Children and the National Institute for training social workers, in the Ivory Coast. It took place from 10-12 December 2024. The trainer was Aubin Sanou who travelled from Burkina Faso to lead the workshop. He was assisted by some of the previously trained facilitators who have been implementing the ICDP programme with parents in the Ivory Coast for some time.

This training represents an important initiative as part of a long term vision leading to sustainability of ICDP in the country. The national institute hopes to establish a team of ICDP trainers in future, who would be in the position to train new groups of facilitators of the ICDP programme, on an ongoing basis.

Nicoletta Armstrong, from ICDP, gave an inspirational speech in French on the first day of the workshop. Mukesh Lath, from SC Finland, is overseeing the developments together with the local Save the Children and he suggested a brainstorming session on the last day of the ICDP training to examine how the CSSP/ICDP parenting programme could be made an integral part of the Safety Nets Programme that is delivered by the Government.

“The workshop went well. The participants gave their all during the exercises and there was a lot of sharing of experiences. They have now embarked on their first self-training projects which will be completed by the end of January. The second self-training will be finalized by mid April.” – Aubin Sanou.

Read short report by Aubin, in French.