Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

This week we were asked to explore the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) website and list three new ideas that we gained from analyzing this information. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are known for the global good of children and families. “UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programs that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children’s holistic development.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.1) Throughout this website I found that they acknowledge the connection between education and poverty. Their motto is “Building peace in the minds of men and women.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.1) They are working within the mass to close the gap to poverty.  

“The Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000, are the world’s quantitative targets for addressing extreme human deprivation in its many dimensions.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.1)

“Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and “second chance” education can create employment opportunities for marginalized groups and at the same time integrate relevant learning skills. TVET can help youth find employment in “green jobs” in alternative energy supply, recycling, agriculture, construction and transportation.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.1) This opportunity is life changing for people within this area.

UNESCO (2014). Poverty reduction. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/poverty-reduction/

Sharing Web Resources

As a Professional we need to continue learning about ways to improve methods within our teaching. Sometimes that means we have to venture and look outside of the box. For this assignment we were asked to research resources that we have not yet looked into. The first resource that I looked into was a website entitled Zero to three. This website contains detailed information about children ages zero to three. “ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and the know-how to nurture early development.” (ZERO TO THREE, 2013) Some of the link contains information about Literacy, behavior, and development. This website contains a blog and multiple podcast with vast information. I found many opportunities through this website; however, I did not find a place to get newsletters. I did see where you could get alerts when additional information was added. There were 12 podcast which included a lot of valuable information. I think that this would be a great resource to use for a workshop.  

Week 5: Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

I unfortunately was not able to reach my international contact. I was really disappointed by this because it could have been a really great learning activity for me. I have been following the save the children podcast and The Global fund for Children podcast.

Part 1: The Global Fund for children

This week I analyzed the blog article, “Protecting the Unprotected.” (Bednarek, 2014) This article is about migrants in Serbia. They formed a group called the Asylum Protection Center (APC). “The Asylum Protection Center (APC) to serve this often intentionally forgotten and misunderstood community.” (Bednarek, pg. 1, 2014)  “The APC team conducts a range of workshops for the migrants, tackling cultural differences and stereotypes, issues of identity and violence, and health issues. The team also often tries to include local Serbian kids at the workshops in order to stimulate dialogue and interaction with the local community.” (Bednarek, pg.1, 2014)

The Global fund for children is always doing taking care of concerns and needs around the world. Their works are very inspiring and lead many to want to do more for their community and as well as around the world. This semester I have learned so many things about this program. It makes me want to find more ways to help around my neighborhood.

Part 2: This week we were asked to review the Global Children’s Initiative website and note my findings.

The Initiative is “reframing the discourse around child health and development, supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects, and building leadership capacity in child development research and policy.” (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, pg 1, 2010). “They support three groups guided by these domains, early childhood development; child mental health; and children in crisis and conflict situations.”  (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, pg. 1, 2010).

The article that I chose to analyze was, Studying the Effects of Global Adversity, Two Generations at a Time by Millicent Lawton. “We know from the science...that these investments in early childhood and in healthy life trajectories for young people in adversity have a social and an economic impact,” says Betancourt. (Lawton, pg. 1, 2012) The research in this article is on two generations of people with HIV. They have been trying to see the outcomes and struggles with this situation and how it has affected families and development.

The second article I read was the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project. The Zambian Early Childhood Development Project was launched in 2009. One of their goals was to create the first comprehensive assessment in Zambia. “Seven fundamental domains of child development were identified for measurement: fine motor skills, language (expressive and receptive), non-verbal reasoning, information processing, executive functioning, socio-emotional development and task orientation” (Günther, Matafwali, Moucheraud, & Zuilkowski, 2012, p.6). It was truly amazing to read about all the assessment and technological strategies used within these assessments. I learned a lot from reading this article.

 Bednarek, Joseph (2014) Protecting the Unprotected. Global Fund for children. Retrieved from  https://www.globalfundforchildren.org/protecting-the-unprotected/

 Fink, Gunther Ph.D. (2012 , Zambian Early Childhood Project. Child at Harvard University. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/zambian_project/Center on the Developing

Lawton, Millicent. (2012) Studying the Effects of Global Adversity, Two Generations at a Time. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/faculty_and_staff/faculty/faculty_spotlights/theresa_betancourt/

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I have been observing for this assignment is Save the Children. There are so many aspects of this organization that is relevant to my current professional development. Everything I do is about children or helping others. This week they had an article on supplying coats for children during the winter. At my school we are actively taking donations for this cause. We have made sure that every child in our school has a heavy coat and a light one and then we started donating to other places in our community.

               Every organization that is online that asks for money or donations tend to make people have questions in the back of their head. They tend to wonder is this legit? Am I getting scammed? Through readings and research, I found this organization to be 100% accurate and trustworthy. In one portion of this website they have a link that discusses how every new budget cycle our leaders have to resign agreements in the help our children stay strong campaign. This is program that helps invest in keeping children in America healthy and strong. (Save the Children, 2014) I have learned so many things from this website. I enjoy learning about all the new causes and ways that people advocate to help out more.

2014 Save the Children http://www.savethechildren.org/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6217027/k.5398/Advocate_for_Children/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=8rKLIXMGIpI4E&b=6217027&aid=520535