Author: Visma Digital Commerce

At Fundaţia Umanitara Pacea (FUP) an ICDP workshop took place on the 18th and 19th of January 2018.

Fundaţia Umanitara Pacea (Humanitarian Foundation for Peace) is a non-political, nongovernmental organization founded in 2000 by the Franciscan order in Bacau, Romania,. It was set up in order to assist poor and marginalized people and focuses especially on providing education opportunities for children and young people. 

ICDP, FUP and the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) established cooperation in 2015, to bring the ICDP programme to FUP staff. NCA has been providing administrative and financial support to the ICDP training process at FUP.

After the workshop in January 2018, FUP has gained four new ICDP trainers: Cornelia Disca, Michaela Moraru, Dana Smerea and Lucian Mihai Bobarnac. “All their tasks and requirements for ICDP certification were carried out in a satisfactory way.  We had a small celebration with champagne, cakes and speeches. Silvia Breabin, ICDP trainer from Moldova was also present and she made a good and professional contribution to the group. There are six trainers now and they hope to organize a gathering of all the ICDP facilitators in Romania to a brush up on ICDP and hold an inspirational day. ” – says Elsa Dohlie, their ICDP trainer.

Silvia Breabin was trained several years ago in ICDP by Nicoletta Armstrong and has since then been training in Moldova as well Ukraine, but she is currently living in Romania.  She is now in contact with Nicoletta seeking support to establish together with the Romanian trainers an ICDP Romanian association, acting as a vehicle for spreading ICDP training more widely and systematically in Romania.

 A group of parents and caregivers have started to attend an ICDP course in Germany as planned.

On Saturday 13th of January 2018, an ICDP meeting for caregivers was held in the city of Hameln. Participants included two mothers and four professionals (three caregivers of special needs children and one childminder). It was the start of the first ICDP course to ever take place in Germany.

 “We had a wonderful meeting, in which we successfully engaged in building shared awareness, bonding and created the ground for sharing and future ICDP work together. I am very happy to finally get started with ICDP and this group! Some institutions, I got in contact with, are also interested in the ICDP programme and my plan is to offer ICDP training to different groups later on, i.e. parents of autistic children, education of childminders, and caretakers of older people.” – said Rita Crecelius (on photo above), the ICDP facilitator in charge of the course in Hameln.

An update by Nicoletta Armstrong

Ocotal
I started the ICDP training in Ocotal, Nicaragua in November 2016 and at that time I signed on behalf of ICDP an agreement for cooperation with the “Instituto De Promocion Humana” (INPRHU), a non-governmental agency working in the area of social development in Ocotal.

Since then, the work of ICDP has been steadily progressing at INPRHU. After my initial training visit, I have limited my involvement to just planning and supervising the ICDP training of the local team, which was taken over in 2017 by my Swedish colleague Monica Andersson (on photo above). She completed the training and there is currently a team of ICDP facilitators in Ocotal.

Monica has worked with the ICDP programme for a number of years in context of foster parenting in her native Sweden. In addition, Monica lived and worked in Nicaragua for several years during the 90-ies, coordinating a Swedish NGO focused on helping street working girls in vulnerable situations. Her organizational and field experiences from those years, as well as contacts have proven to be an excellent foundation for the development of ICDP in Nicaragua. 

Monica’s plans for 2018 include an ICDP visit to Ocotal in April, when she will be volunteering her work, although she managed to raise funds to cover expenses. The aim of the visit is to hold an ICDP workshop at INPRHU on the 12 and 13th of April, in order to consolidate the existing team of facilitators.

Managua
The ICDP foundation is in process of signing an agreement with a primary school in Managua (on photo below). Their school teachers have asked for ICDP training, in the hope of resolving some of the relational problems they are currently facing with the students. Monica will conduct the first ICDP workshop for the teachers on 7th and 8th of April and the second workshop will take place on 21st and 22nd of April 2018.

The Wawa Illari project started in 2017 and it is continuing…

The University Inca Garcilaso Vega (UIGV) in Lima is the ICDP partner on the ground, whereas Ana Sofia Mazzini, chair of ICDP Peru, is coordinating the implementation of all the components of this project – a demanding task as this is a complex multidisciplinary project, where in addition to ICDP there are three other components that are led by our colleagues from Canada: nutritional and health programmes, as well as teaching families to grow vegetables in community gardens and at home.

It is a research project with Canadian sponsorship. The overall aim is to improve the psychosocial, nutrition and health development of the children in Pachacamac. Pachacamac, is an area south of Lima (photo below), characterized by desert conditions whose population has a very low socio-economic status, with high incidents of malnourishment in children.

In 2017 a core group of medical professionals from the university UIGV was trained in ICDP. (Photo above was taken from one of the workshops.) In April 2018 they will start the ICDP training process of a team of nurses (the nurses are in their final year as students at UIGV) who will eventually become ICDP facilitators.
In the third phase one hundred families will attend the ICDP weekly sessions over a period of three months. The same families and children that receive ICDP will also be involved in the other components of this project and each component will be evaluated by comparing pre and post data.

The implementation of ICDP in China has been gathering momentum over the last twelve months. 

Fifteen ICDP certified trainers undertook the training of 124 new facilitators, 69 of these facilitators got their diplomas. The new facilitators gave training to 326 caregivers and as a result 2,078 children benefited from ICDP in China.   
 
A paper about the application of the 8 ICDP guidelines in a preschool was published in the China Early Child Education Magazine – it was written by a preschool teacher who is also a qualified ICDP facilitator. Another study about ICDP impact on minority population in Yunnan is currently being prepared by a qualified ICDP trainer.

A booklet for caregivers was prepared in Chinese and an ICDP cartoon was produced to accompany the booklet. In addition, three short films about ICDP application in different Chinese culture contexts were also made and these films were loaded on the official China video network.

ICDP China held its first annual conference in October 2017, which was attended by about 120 people, including facilitators, trainers, partner organizations and some of the caregivers. The theme of the conference was “Supporting each other”. The goal of the conference was to offer a platform for all those involved in ICDP in China to share their resources and establish a nationwide network.

The ICDP China webpage is almost ready for launching. It is prepared as a simple and user-friendly webpage that can function as a source of information to those who wish to learn more ICDP. The webpage is expected to be up and running sometime in February 2018. There will be an option for both English and Mandarin and the webpage will be divided into five sections:
• News and information about ICDP China – videos and photos
• List of verified facilitators/trainers
• Upcoming events – a calendar that shows planned activities and training schedules
• Information about ICDP international
• A research section where people can log in and post articles, share stories etc.
• Future plans for expansion, including a map of areas of the country where ICDP trainers and facilitators are already in operation

ACARI, a private development organization based in Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil has been working with the ICDP programme since 2010.

Currently ACARI is carrying out a project  in cooperation with KINDERNOTHILFE to combat domestic violence against children – this work will continue until 2021.

The objectives of the project include the elaboration of a self-protection methodology for children, family orientation work, network coordination and institutional strengthening.

As part of this project the ICDP trainers at ACARI formed 15 new ICDP facilitators. The ICDP booklet for caregivers was especially produced and published for use by the 70 families that have been attending ICDP sessions. Over the next three years the ICDP facilitators will be reaching out  and training new families in the community of Juazeiro.

In addition to this project, ACARI have prepared three new ICDP project applications, still in the pipeline:
1. An ICDP project  in partnership with the Petrolina Education Department, training teachers
2. ICDP as part of child protection initiatives of the Social Assistance Services
3. ICDP for families and children at risk, in partnership with the NGO in Fortaleza, called IFAN

ACARI website: www.acariong.wixsite.com/acari

The ICDP methodology “I am a Person too” is still going strong in El Salvador, thanks to the continuous support from UNICEF and the commitment from the Salvadoran Institute for the Integral Development of Childhood and Adolescence (ISNA). 

Marta Navarro, from UNICEF El Salvador sent ICDP a report in Spanish.

You can read it in English below:

METHODOLOGY ” I AM A PERSON TOO” OF ICDP IN EL SALVADOR
IMPLEMENTATION YEAR 2017

INTRODUCTON

El Salvador has made important advances in the institutional strengthening of the methodology “I am a person too”, which has allowed a greater expansion, guaranteeing awareness raising of more families in the country.
After the institutionalization of the methodology by the Salvadoran Institute for the Integral Development of Childhood and Adolescence (ISNA), “I am a person too” became consolidated as one of the methodologies that El Salvador is making available to strengthen the capacities of families and early childhood caregivers.

IMPLEMENTATION 2017

During 2017, the “Territorial Strategy for comprehensive early childhood care, with a focus on social inclusion” was consolidated in five municipalities in the country: Sonsonate, Santa Ana, Mejicanos, Ciudad Delgado and Soyapango. The strategy seeks to universalize training programs for families and caregivers of young girls and boys, through methodologies implemented by different government institutions. The ISNA joined this strategy and made the “I am a person too” program available to different agents at the local level who are working with families.

Within the framework of the Territorial Strategy, the ISNA managed to train 104 facilitators (85 women and 19 men) from government institutions (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, National Institute of Youth, National Council of Children and Adolescents, National Civil Police, Municipal Mayors, Rights Committees), NGOs and Foundations (International Plan, Salvador del Mundo Foundation-FUSALMO, Foundation for the Integral Development of the Family-FUNDIFAM, Asociación Nuevo Amanecer-ANADES and Asociación CINDE), University of El Salvador, Churches and community leaders. These trained facilitators used the program “I am a person too” in their work with families, and during 2017 managed to raise awareness of 253 families (233 women and 80 men participated), and 343 of their children (163 girls and 180).

In 2017, “I am a person too” was also included in the planning of a new project as a strategy for the prevention of violence against children, which aims to strengthen the work of the National Civil Police (PNC) . The plan is to build the capacity of the PNC personnel in ICDP, and include the program as one of the methodologies offered by this institution in relation to their work with families (both families of police officers and families of the communities they serve).

In addition to the above, ISNA has also implemented “I am a person too” in two of its institutional programs: 
1-. Strengthening of family relationships, where 1,889 families were sensitized (1,486 women and 403 men)
2-. Change Your Life Program, which sensitized 306 families (206 women and 100 men).                                   The total number of families reached: 2,195 families (1,692 women and 503 men) .

At the end of 2017, conversations began with Nicoletta Armstrong and with ISNA to adapt the methodology “I am a person too” for families with teenage children, as well as for adolescents (adolescent facilitators to deliver the program to other adolescents).

PROJECTIONS FOR 2018

The plan for 2018 is to implement the “Territorial Strategy” in six more municipalities, apart from the five in which it is already intervening, expanding coverage to more early childhood families and strengthening the development of more young girls and boys. The new municipalities are: La Unión, Conchagua, San Luis Talpa, San Miguel, San Pedro Masahuat and Santa Cruz Michapa. The aim is to form 240 new facilitators, and for them to raise awareness of 2,400 families.

Within the framework of the project to train the National Civil Police (PNC) in the methodology “I am a person too” as a strategy for the prevention of violence against children, the goal is to train 100 people (50 agents of the Prevention Division and 50 psychologists and social workers of the Police Welfare Division) who, in turn, will sensitize a total of 1000 families (both families of police officers as well as families from communities where these agents operate). The duration of the project is from December 2017 to July 2018 and, at the territorial level, it will focus on the 26 municipalities prioritized by the El Salvador Seguro National Plan. The objective of this effort is that the program “I am a person too” becomes institutionalized as a methodology of prevention of family violence and can be replicated by the trained agents with the families living in the territories they serve.

A new ICDP project has recently started in South Africa.

ICDP has signed an agreement for the development of an ICDP project in cooperation with the non-profit organization in Johannesburg, called Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust (https://ububele.org/about-us/). The new project involves training of a group of professionals to become ICDP facilitators. ICDP trainer, Silje Bjørnstad Holter, is carrying out this work as a volunteer. She has already conducted the first workshop for Ububele staff and will be working in Johannesburg until May 2020. Silje is experienced in running caregiver groups and has written her thesis on ICDP, as well as a couple of evaluation and research reports.

The ICDP programme has been well received by the Ububele organization who now appear keen to integrate ICDP as one of their activities to strengthen child and family mental health in the township of Alexandra. On 22 of January 2020, Katharine Frost, the Director of the Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust wrote a letter to Nicoletta Armstrong, ICDP chair, in which she made the following statement:

“The Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, provides therapeutic services to the community of Alexandra – a densely populated, impoverished community with a myriad of challenges. The addition of ICDP training, extends our offering so as to affect change and provide support for the families we serve. The ICDP appears to me to be a good fit with the principles and values of our organization. In particular, the emphasis on culture is resonant and appropriate. We are hoping that a total of 14 practitioners will be trained (a combination of psychologists and community counsellors) and we intend offering 7 self-training parenting groups within the coming months, so as to complete the training of our staff.”

ICDP training is going to be offered at a pedagogic university in Russia.

At the end of February 2018, Dr Oksana Isaeva, ICDP representative for Russia, had a meeting with the Chancellor of the Minin University (Pedagogic University) in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia.

It was an important meeting for ICDP and as a result it was agreed to start working on incorporating ICDP at the University. This would be achieved by offering ICDP training to professionals involved with the master programme – starting from next year. The long term plan is to form groups of ICDP facilitators at the university who would subsequently work with parents and specialists in pre-schools, schools and social centers.

There is also great interest in organizing international meetings (conference and education sessions) together with ICDP.

In addition, Oksana would like to invite academics worldwide who are working with the ICDP programme at different universities to link up with the Minin University. Her idea is to establish collaboration in order to explore some scientific questions relevant to the ICDP parenting programme.

Oksana M. Isaeva and Elena N. Volkova wrote a article on ICDP: “Early psycho-social intervention program WHO/ICDP as an effective optimization method for child-parental relationships”.  

In 2018, ICDP has become part of the “Programme of integration for refugees and migrants in Quito of the University of the Two Hemispheres”.

The programme seeks to promote learning of the Spanish language, lessons and practices of entrepreneurship applied to gastronomy, education of migratory law, learning of Ecuadorian culture and history and this year for the first time there is a psychosocial component represented by the ICDP Programme.

This is a complex project which is characterized by an intercultural approach. Students participate from different faculties that make up the University, such as political and legal sciences, pedagogy, business, gastronomy, communication, among others. Many of the beneficiaries of this project come from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as from other regions. The aim is to improve their quality of life within a framework of inter-cultural and social inclusion.

The ICDP programme will be implemented with caregivers, i.e. the ICDP workshops will be developed for refugee parents. Refugee children are often facing situations of discrimination because of their culture, especially in their schools, which poses a great challenge and requires cooperation with educational institutions. The promotion of inter-culturalism leads to respect and true integration, by recognizing differences and valuing them to generate a new learning space. ICDP will put a special emphasis on this and will be working in cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), NGO called “ RET” (Specialized in education issues), the Mennonite Church, The International Organization for Migration (IOM). The overall implementation of the different components of this programme of integration for refugees and migrants will be coordinated by the University of the Two Hemispheres.