~Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 2~

As part of the alternative assignment I explored Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative" website @ http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

While exploring the website I learned  Global Children’s Initiative is
focused on three strategic objectives:

• To reframe public discourse about the early childhood period by educating high-level decision-makers about the common underlying science of learning, behavior, and health;

• To support innovative, multidisciplinary research and demonstration projects in selected countries or regions to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and

•  To build leadership capacity in child development research and policy among individuals and institutions in low- and middle-income countries in order to increase the number and influence of diverse perspectives that are contributing to the global movement on behalf of young children.

The Center's Global Children’s Initiative has begun to build a portfolio of activities in three domains: early childhood development; mental health; and children in crisis and conflict situations.

EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT

"The first priority in this area is to adapt the successful work the Center has conducted in the United States for a broader range of strategically selected audiences, in an effort to energize and reframe the global dialogue around investments in the earliest years of life".  

"The second priority is to generate and apply new knowledge that addresses the health and developmental needs of young children in a variety of settings". Some of the projects include:

•  Assessing quality in early childhood environments and programs in diverse global contexts;
• Piloting assessments to measure child development outcomes linked to malaria control strategies in Zambia; and
• Expanding effective interventions to improve preschool quality in Chile.

 CHILD MENTAL HEALTH

In the early childhood field mental health concerns are very issues that are not given enough light.  "There is an urgent need to identify the scope of the problem within and across countries and to develop evidence-based approaches in policy and service delivery that are responsive to diverse cultural contexts."  In an effort to meet this challenge the following three projects have been selected:

• Assessing the state of child mental health services in China;
• Developing and evaluating family-based strategies to prevent mental health problems in children affected by HIV/AIDS in Rwanda; and
• Addressing child maltreatment and mental health outcomes in three Caribbean nations (Barbados, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname).

CHILDREN IN CRISIS & CONFLICT SITUATIONS

The Global Children’s Initiative is currently exploring potential synergies with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, both of which have extensive experience working in emergency situations across the world. The goal of this effort is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration that incorporates a science-based, developmental perspective into the assessment and management of child well-being in a range of natural and man-made crises, focusing on both immediate circumstances and long-term adaptation. Two issues are the initial focus of activity in this domain: 

• Exploring comparable approaches to surveying child status in post-earthquake Haiti and Chile. 
• Bringing the science of child development into strategies for addressing acute malnutrition. 

From exploring the websites of different organizations, and viewing the different podcasts I have realized that children all over the world are experiencing some of the same dilemmas and hardships.   However, the degree of development and resources makes all the difference when it comes to coping with these stresses.  This is why it is extremely important for educators around the world to advocate for the well being of our children.