During 2022 the International Child Development Programme was implemented on the premises of the Lada Family Centre (LFC) in the town of Nizhniy Novgorod.
The parent groups were conducted by specialists from the LFC, together with the certified ICDP facilitators. The training was conducted throughout the calendar year.
There were 8 study groups with 51 parents.
The ICDP programme was presented at the VI Regional Gathering of Young Families. This event was held at the Solovyi Estate, and it took place in August.
Twenty specialists at the Umka Centre in Chkalovsk received training in ICDP during October 2022.
In November 2022, an intensive course called “Optimization of parent-child relations: opportunities and limitations of educational organizations”, took place in the Vetluzhskaya secondary school, situated in the Nizhniy Novgorod region. Oksana Isaeva presented the work of ICDP and the content of its programme to 200 specialists of the Krasny Baki district.
In 2022, ACARI assisted around 290 families in situations of social vulnerability in the city of Juazeiro in Bahia and in Petrolina, Pernambuco, by implementing the Bem Me Quer project (2021-2026).
The objective of the project is for families to experience a positive interaction and relationship with children and adolescents.
For this, ICDP workshops were held with the families and positive interaction kits were delivered to encourage the participation of families in the meetings. Families were invited to participate in the meetings through WhatsApp groups and many exchanges of ideas and experiences were also carried out in this virtual space.
The kits were the great novelty of the year, they were prepared and delivered so that the family could use them at home, to practice the 8 ICDP guidelines for good interaction with their children. A total of 6 kits were delivered.
Kit 1 was called “Sowing love”, it contained coriander seeds, gardening tools and a container for planting.
Kit 2 was called “Assessing self-esteem” and its objective was to provide care for the caregiver, sharing positive experiences with the caregivers of children and adolescents. With this kit, the families made a “mini” beauty salon at home and had a lot of fun.
Kit 3 “Celebrating São João” was designed so that families could cook together and celebrate the typical festival with their family, generating good memories, joy and unity.
Kit 4 was called “Pasta day”, it included tomato sauce, pasta, sardines and soft drinks, through the cooking activities it was possible to reinforce the affective dialogue with the families served.
Kit 5, “Time to play” was designed so that families could create the habit of playing with their children and also teach and reflect on the ICDP guidelines for mediation and regulation dialogues.
Kit 6, “Family reading”, was also designed to reinforce the 3 ICDP dialogues, which contained a children’s book, a packet of popcorn and a soft drink.
All this work was only possible thanks to the support of the Kindernothilfe organization, to which we are very grateful.
Families have learned a lot during this time, but the path of reflection and transformation is a long one.
Comments from ICDP participants:
“Now I am paying more attention to my children, I am taking better care. I am aware what is required to raise a child in the best way, without hitting and assaulting them. Thank you!”
“After this project I understood that to raise my boy, you don’t have to use force, spanking. it’s about talking, giving love and affection. I am calmer and now I talk more, no hitting. Thank you so much”
ICDP Finland is proud to present the year of 2022 as one of the most expansive years during our 10 year history.
The Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters in Finland, ETKL, has educated nine new trainers with Nicoletta Armstrong as trainer. All in all, our new and old trainers have completed six Basic Trainings with a total of 66 graduates and two facilitator trainings resulting in 17 new facilitators.
ICDP Finland has also conducted an ICDP bilingual kick-off day for the entire day care personnel in the county of Inkoo.
In the Finnish research field there have been two papers addressing ICDP, one by Melissa Matjus at Novia University of Applied Sciences, addressing ICDP as a programme based on attachment and a Master’s thesis by Katri Kvick at Eastern University in Finland about parents’ perspective on ICDP as a parent support programme.
In addition to the many trainings, the ICDP Finland association has conducted virtual ICDP coffee breaks for members every first Thursday of the month, arranged an ICDP New and Old Educators Day for mutual inspiring, and offered a free “Magical ICDP”- webinar for anyone curious about how ICDP can serve people and organizations in different ways.
The photo shows attendees of a virtual meeting: From the COVID times we learned to meet virtually and the ICDP morning coffee meetings once a month are something we have continued with, even though the restrictions are lifted. This is a great way to check in with old and new members and share the ICDP spirit.
During the last two months of 2022, a group of 6 parents received training in the ICDP programme and completed the course by the end of December.
In December 2022, the teachers in the two Happy Start preschools, in Tashkent, finished their ICDP caregiver courses. A group of 10 new teachers/caregivers were certified and in addition 3 caregivers attended the course a second time. One facilitator from previous training also completed her course as an ICDP facilitator.
In January 2023, Magdalena Brannstrom held a three-day workshop for new facilitatorrs. A group of 7 women who all work in the field of early childhood education embarked on their training to become facilitators. “It is a privilage to train such wonderful people who have big hearts for children and who care for children in their everyday life. These women will become great ICDP facilitators because of their ability to care and have empathy for others.” – says Magdalena, ICDP trainer.
Photo taken at facilitators’ training
Feedback from preschool staff:
After starting with the ICDP course I can see some changes in the children in my class. They try to regulate thier emotions, be patient and listen. And they share or express their feelig. It is now easier to get their attention.
After the course I am more aware of my feelings/emotion, thinking, attitude and behavior around children. I am more patient.
I see the efffect of the course on the children in my class: Children became more open and trusting through my new relationship building.
I see many changes within myself: It has become much easier to build relationships not only with children, but also with loved ones, relatives and friends.
I became more tolerant, began to change my attitude towards people around me.
I have less condemnation and irritation in me. I began to understand children more and ask more questions about their condition.
One discoverry that I made thanks to the ICDP programme is that a teacher should not only give knowledge, but help the child in the development of his or her personality. A teacher can become a very close friend to a child.
I have ceased to be afraid of the unpredictable behaviour of children, because now I have a tool, I know how to react, what needs to be applied so that there are no unpleasant consequences.
I have seen changes in myself – that I became calmer, softer, began to understand children more; I began to see, experience and feel their problems and concerns. I respond to their initiatives more. And also I have seen changes in my class: We began to understand each other; the children tell their secrets, there is a friendly atmosphere in the classroom. While there is no chaos, the children have become more obedient, they remember information better, they develop comprehensively.
I have seen changes in myself: I became interested in the desires of children. I learned how important it is to show your love, emotions and speak encouraging words. I stopped with excessive strictness. I learned that children are individuals and it really became easier to work.
The year 2022 was a busy and very fruitful year for the Danish Centre for ICDP, as their annual report demonstrates. – click here to read it.
From the report:
In the Danish Center for ICDP, we have developed a good new rhythm in the area of management. Anne Linder continues to keep her primary focus in the field of development and provides supervision and support to the 35 active trainees. Jens Linder has settled in well in his new job as manager and ensures the smooth running of the many day-to-day tasks at the Centre. In addition, he is the key person responsible for the development of two new digital platforms; one is designed for courses and the other one is for parents. The development of the digital platforms had taken up a lot of our resources throughout the year. We are proud to have presented our course platform Relatuz in an updated design. Both trainers and users say the platform is easy to access and supports video analysis and other teaching material. In 2022, we have trained 725 persons at ICDP level 1; 68 persons to ICDP level 2 and at level 3, we have 3 new trainers.
Plans for 2023 With the new capacity in the management of ICDP, we can now purposefully focus on new development projects. The goal of all projects is to spread and quality-assure the ICDP mindset. At the beginning of the year 2023 we will continue to work with ICDP parents on the digital platform called, the Danish Center for Relations. On this platform, parents are offered knowledge about interaction – they are shown video sequences, animated films and receive guidance or teaching in groups. Furthermore, we are rounding off the work regarding the Certification of Institutions – where we also expect to provide a financial return to ICDP International. Among are new project developments planned for 2023, we are working on publishing a material case for teachers; the idea is that via ICDP, they can strengthen the community and well-being in the class. During spring 2023, we will be publishing a new book called ICDP and Leadership, as well as a new booklet ICDP and the Children’s Convention.
A post parenting assessment was undertaken for the ICDP parenting programme 2017-21 with the following results:
Caregivers reported that they have learnt “proper parenting methods” since they participated in the ICDP parenting programme.
Children across the project intervention area also reported that their caregivers talk to them kindly, spend more time with them and they have a more open relationship.
Children are reported to be more involved in the household decisions and making rules together with caregivers, giving them a voice in the household.
The qualitative findings were corroborated by quantitative data which indicates that overall, caregivers who received the parenting intervention show an improvement in engaging in activities with their children, such as having meals together, praising the child for good behaviour, showing physical affection, etc. compared to caregivers who received the cash-only intervention.
The ICDP parenting sessions were expanded to an additional district, Berbera, where parenting session were rolled out with caregivers of 150 households.
Mukesh Latth,Senior Social Protection Advisor for Save the Children, explains:
ICDP based parenting programme is being successfully rolled out by Save the Children, under their Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) programme. This work has been evaluated and has continued in 2022, as explained below.
Assessment report
A post parenting assessment was undertaken for the ICDP parenting programme 2019-21 with the following results reported in the 2022 report:
There is a significant overall increase in the parenting/caregivers’ interaction with children.
During the Focus group discussions results such as some changes in beliefs on corporal punishment were attributed to the parenting programme; this is evident by what some interviewed children explained. The children said they had observed changes in their parents and caregivers’ practices and attitudes towards them and their welfare; they said their caregivers showed kin interest.
Generally, the post parenting assessment results show that parents/caregivers benefited from the parenting programme as they became more attentive, patient, caring and responsive to their children’s needs.
The results further indicate that the parenting programme had enlightened them on issues relating to gender roles especially when it comes to the traditional tasks which are given specifically to boys and girls.
Developments in Kalalushi
A Parenting Handbook, based on ICDP parenting (with additional modules on nutrition, budgeting and gender education) was contextualized to the Zambian context. The handbook is being used for scaling up the parenting programme in another district in Zambia, i.e., Kalalushi.
A group of 23 additional animators (9 men and 14 women) including members of the Community Welfare Assistant Committees (CWACs) and staff of the departments of community development and social welfare in Kalalushi district were trained as parenting animators to help roll out the parenting sessions.
A new ICDP project was started in Toronto, Canada, in cooperation with the Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora church members. It was initiated by Atnaf Berhanu ICDP trainer from Norway.
“At the end of September 2022, about 65 Ethiopian and Eritrean parents attended the ICDP parental guidance workshop over a period of seven days. All parents showed a lot of interest and held lively group discussions. At the end of the course, they gave good feedback and unanimously agreed that for them it was important to work on maintaining good quality interactions with their children and that ICDP was therefore of great help to them.
Photo: facilitators during virtual training
Another positive result of this work was that 10 individuals registered themselves for ICDP Facilitator level online training. It was agreed to hold meetings on Zoom once a week, each meeting lasting 3 hours. Due to very different time zone between Canada and Norway, we could not have more than that. So far, they have covered part one of the training. We agreed to continue with the second part of the training after the New year.” – Atnaf Berhanu.
After two years of restrictions due to the pandemic, the developments of ICDP in Ethiopia started again in August 2022. A workshop was given to the board members of the Ethiopian Mulu Wongel Church and to the leaders of the West Arsi and Shashemene Sub-Region Churches. The workshop aimed to raise awareness about the ICDP programme and its significance for Ethiopia.
Photo: A new group of trainee facilitators.
In November 2022, a new group of future facilitators began to receive ICDP training. The first workshop was held in the town of Shashemene, in the south of Ethiopia. Atnaf will continue their training in 2023.
ECEC/ICDP Nepal organized a 3-day conference in Nepal, which took place in Kathmandu, from 9th to the 11th of November 2022. The theme for the conference was, “Reactivating human care and improving lives through ICDP” because this parenting programme has changed individuals, families, and communities through its powerful psycho–emotional tool.
The objective was to network, support each other and share experiences and learnings not just with participants from Nepal but also with neighbouring countries who are implementing this programme. Besides participants from Nepal, the conference was attended by representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Norway and Thailand. The 3-day sessions covered a vast range of topics through special sessions, workshops, panel discussion and keynote speakers.
The first day of the conference was attended by ICDP Facilitators and trainers who came from many different parts of Nepal. The conference was at the same time an annual ICDP network meeting. It was also attended by guests from local areas, as well as from other countries. In all, there were 237 participants. Local and international experts covered the following topics: ICDP in Mental Health; ICDP in Education; ICDP in special need; ICDP in Families.
The last two days were attended by delegates from different organizations in Nepal and by delegates from those regional countries who have been implementing ICDP.
The second day was attended by 79 participants and it started with a keynote speech by Sumnima Tuladhar, (ED from CWIN Nepal) on the 3 Ps of child rights set by the UN. A workshop on ICDP implementation strategies was led by Heidi Steel, chair of ICDP Norway and its main focus was to help take ICDP forward in respective countries.
The keynote speaker on the third day was Ane-Marthe Solheim Skar, researcher and ICDP Foundation board member. She presented a review of the research findings related to ICDP. There were 61 participants on the third day.
The conference was closed with discussions and reflection on learnings from the 3 days. In the afternoon, guests from outside Nepal were given a brief city tour and the closing of the event included a special dinner.
Overall, the conference was successful to meet its objective and all the participants were enthusiastic to take ICDP forward in their respective area of work and countries.
