Early Childhood Development for Ethnic Minorities

Main activities

1) Health, nutrition, and sanitary interventions

Strengthening the health services in the district and communities:

- All children between 0 and 2 years old should be vaccinated against principal child illnesses

- Prenatal consultations (objectives: 2 medical exams during the pregnancy for at least 80% of pregnant women; detection of risky pregnancies.)

- Medical visits in preschools and primary schools (objectives: monitoring growth and parasitic removal every 6 months for children between 0 ad 8 years old.)

 

Including health and hygiene education in primary schools include themes such as bathroom use, feces and animal feces, and practices adaptable to the cultures of each ethnicity.

Nutrition : Including protein and green vegetables in meals in preschools (provided by parents) from poultry farms and vegetable gardens. Varying meals are equally possible through proposed food exchanges between villages (soy milk, tofu, papaya, rabbit, and goat meat in some homes.)

Supporting the informational health and hygiene activities conceived and put in place by the villages: construction of a water tank for access to clean water, building enclosures for animals.

2) Education

Creating preschools in villagers' homes or in a centre, depending on the preferences of each community (example : The Hmong and Dao mix meeting places between them and prefer to accommodate the preschool classes in their homes whereas the Nung and San Chi prefer community structures that are separate from those of families or clans). Parents and village groups participate in the construction and equipping projects of schools.

Opening primary school classes for children between 6-8 years old living far away from existing schools.

Introducing new teaching materials (other than the traditional notebook and chalkboard) made locally and at a small price paid by the parents.

3) Extra-curricular activities

Groups working for early childhood team up with parents, teachers, local policy makers, etc. Identifying the desired games and activities, the local moderators are trained, and the games are built or put in place with the participation of the families (manual skills to build the playground equipment.)

4) Psycho-social development

Parent education: According to a survey in target villages on parental beliefs, values, and customs, "good practices" of parents are defined with the parents and the activities put in place.

Carrying over traditional experiences to children is (ex: In Hmong families: embroidery for girls, agricultural techniques, etc.) by creating "peer groups" according to the "Child-to-child" method that will become key agents for spreading information on early childhood to the rest of the village.

Stimulating and encouraging village initiatives destined to improve the psycho-social environment of children. Example: organizing activities for the youngest children after class to go in the fields with their parents during planting or harvest time.

Bringing consciousness to the values of ethnic minorities and the specific politics of Early Childhood Development by:

Creating a forum on Early Childhood Development involving working groups but also national Vietnamese authorities, other NGO's, and community representatives.

Spreading information and training tools (video, multimedia.) about Early Childhood Development in ethnic minorities.