ICDP began to develop in Chile in late 2019.
In April 2020, ICDP signed the agreement for cooperation with the Fundación Eika, whose leader is Ann Vestheim.
The foundation is establishing contacts and operational structures, as well as seeking funding with the future aim of implementing the ICDP programme in local pre-schools and later on with caregivers of older people.
During 2020, a group of professionals linked to Fundación Eika has been receiving training in the version of the ICDP programme that is being used widely in Latin American countries. This version was originally developed by ICDP for large scale implementation of the programme in Colombia, in 2001. It was later approved by UNICEF and as a result a set of ICDP materials was published in 2005, known as the “ICDP Mochila”.
In 2021, the team focused was on training caregivers of older people and for that purpose a project proposal was prepared aimed to better the care and working conditions of 50 caregivers in homes for older people. This work involved an interdisciplinary team, including 3 psychologists, who were going to do the research and evaluation. The proposal had 3 key areas:
1. Group therapy with a psychologist
2. ICDP on communication and developing better relationship with the elderly: training of 6 facilitators and workshops with the caregivers.
3. Entrepreneurship – how to set up and find funds to initiate a small home-based business.
Anne Vestheim explains: “Sadly, our project proposal was not accepted. In the category we participated, 85 projects were presented and we came as number 11 – which was a good result when observing that many of the winners were well established institutions and that several other also well-established institutions obtained less points than us. It could also indicate that the project proposal could have been viable. Even though we didn’t make it, it was a great learning experience. The pandemic situation has put us back on our plans and at the same time, it gave us the opportunity to work on the development of a better working document. We are focusing again on ICDP for children’s caregivers, which is close to our heart. In 2021 we expanded our working team with an educational psychologist and an accountant with significant experience of working with foundations and organizations. At the same time, I am a bit concerned with so many of the organizations turning over to digital platforms. We are not able to match that change at this stage and it feels as we are getting very behind. But once the crisis due to the pandemic is over, the country will find itself with higher poverty level and even wider differences in social, economic and educational levels. Therefore, we are doing what we can now and preparing for the introduction of ICDP for those times if not before. “