Week 5

I have learned a lot from the Global Children's Initiative website.  One thing that stuck out to me was the areas that the global program focused on:

• reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life;
• supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and
• building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children.

I was unaware that there were so many organizations and projects that are specifically centered around children. For example, the Un Buen Comienzo is a project in Santiago, Chile which means, "A Good Start". Its focus is to improve the quality of early childhood education through teacher professional development.

Last, but not least,  the Global Children's Initiative is building portfolios, with the help of faculty, that focus on early childhood development, mental health, and children in crisis and conflict situations.

Resource:

 Article: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). Global children’s initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/