Written by: PR officer Yang Jiqing

The children's center has only recently become popular in the village. 

The ‘GenWell-HPP ECD library’ project was just launched, the mothers and grandmothers of the village came to visit and found out: the children's center is a good place to take children. 

Based on the implementation of the Preschools of the Future program in the local area, we found that the awareness of early development education of 0-4 year old children in rural areas was weak, and most mothers knew little about the early responsive care, upbringing and education of infants and toddlers. They explored their own model of raising babies by relying on the experience of the older generation. Some parents go out for work and leave their babies less than 1 year old to be taken care of by their grandmothers, who follow the same old methods on how to raise children.

For example, the regular parent-child interaction is missing, grandmas might not know how to correctly add complementary food, and daily care routines and guidance education for infants and young children are often unclear.

To this end, HPP began to focus on early development education for 0-4 years old children. With the support of GenWell Foundation and HPP member Planet Aid, HPP cooperates with Tengchong Women Federation and Education and Sports Bureau to implement the GenWell-HPP ECD Library project.

Through the allocation of children's centers and the training of ‘Librarians’ (child development workers), an ECD development model suitable for rural children will be explored. 

At present, six children's centers in Tengyue, Wuhe and Puchuan townships have been put into use, and many mothers and grandmothers come to play with their babies every day.

In the children's center, children are equipped with play focused teaching aids according to different age groups. With the company of mother or grandmother, children can obtain comprehensive development of language, cognition, social emotion and other aspects. Under the guidance of the child development librarians, parents can also master the knowledge of child rearing and education.

Compared with the toys at home, the children's center is like a big play-family playground. When asked where to take the children to play, everyone said "children's center". 

In addition, child development librarians are required to make regular home visits to children's homes, provide in-home guidance, and regularly assess the development and influence of children and parents. 

Facing the new wave of raising children in the village, this is a new beginning and exploration for HPP. This is not only about improving the capacity of rural caretakers to raise children, this is as much about providing better development opportunities for rural children aged 0-4. 

Project introduction:

ECD TC is funded by GenWell Foundation and Planet Aid Inc. and implemented in cooperation with Tengchong Women Federation and Tengchong Education and Sports Bureau. By setting up a library or children's center, the project carries out a variety of interesting activities, trains child development librarians, and visits families regularly to help parents improve their knowledge of child rearing and education, master the skills of parent-child interaction, and promote the early education and sustainable development of rural children aged 0-4.

The project is funded by the GenWell Foundation and Planet Aid Inc.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and have nothing to do with the position of the funder.