First Steps - Maldives

A central strategy was building the capacity of local ECCD initiatives to advance positive and non-stereotypical images of children and their caregivers that were developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive. To this end, First Steps sought to reach directly into the household (rather than depending on already-burdened service delivery channels). To initiate the project, a baseline Knowledge/Attitudes/Practices (KAP) survey was conducted. (Click here for the full survey in PDF format). After a number of briefings, field visits, and an ECCD workshop, a set of 12 core ECCD messages was developed:

1. Babies communicate from the day they are born. They are born with the basic capacity to learn, see, touch, smell and taste.
2. The most important thing a baby needs is love and attention from key people in her or his family.
3. It is important for both fathers and mothers to nurture their babies and to take part in caregiving practices. There are many simple ways a father who works away from home can show his child how much he loves her or him.
4. Everyday routines can be learning experiences for a child.
5. The habit of looking at and reading books can be beneficial even to the youngest child.
6. Self-esteem usually refers to a child or adult's sense of value and worth as a human being. The best way to help build the self-esteem of children is to make them feel loved, challenged and competent.
7. Both girls and boys are born with the same potential to develop skills in language, music, arts, sports, science, etc. Girls and boys deserve equal importance, encouragement and opportunity.
8. Children learn best through play. Forcing children to learn reading or writing before they enter first grade can impede their natural love of learning.
9. Disabled infants and children can learn and be a joy to a family. Children and adults who are disabled have a right to be included in every aspect of family and community life.
10. Older sisters and brothers can help their siblings in many positive ways.
11. Most injuries to babies and young children are preventable.
12. Children learn best through modeling.

The Institute for Health Sciences (IHS) and Institute of Teacher Education (ITE) were trained in ECCD, which equipped them, in turn, to train local educators and media in sessions that emphasised these programme messages. This local team then designed a core curriculum for a proposed 52-week multi-media campaign and developed a wide range of prototype materials for and about children.

More specifically, these prototype materials included posters, books, and wallcharts. The majority were based on photographs or drawings designed to allow Maldivian children and adults to see themselves and their situations. For example, the book "Look at Me" portrays young children learning simple tasks and taking pride in learning and achieving. A book for adolescents features simple, fun, educational activities they can do with their younger siblings. Wallcharts and posters designed for caregivers (both men and women) give concrete details about nurturing a child and stimulating his or her brain; these materials also communicate why this effort is beneficial to the child.

People with disabilities are featured in these materials as much as possible as part of an effort to help address the absence of images of disabled persons and accompanying feelings of shame. For example:

• Information about detection of disabilities, intellectual and social stimulation of those with disabilities, and inclusion are included in several of the caregiver-oriented materials. One of the 12 core messages is devoted entirely to infants and young children with disabilities.
• One poster emphasising steps fathers can take to nurture their infants features a man in a wheelchair.
• In the book series "Everybody Loves Me" about the importance of play in the life of a young child, one book features a boy with Down Syndrome.
• Another book features examples of older siblings with mental and physical impairments caring for and teaching their younger brothers or sister.
• The multi-media campaign integrated numerous implicit and explicit messages about disability.

A multi-media campaign was launched on Maldivian Children's Day (May 10, 2001). Weekly ECCD radio and television spots featured caregivers in short dramas or simple stories demonstrating practical interactions and activities with children 0-3 years. For example, one radio spot emphasised the importance of saying "I love you" to a child. These productions represented people all over the Maldives and for the most part, used everyday families as opposed to actors.

In the final phase of the project, a group of preschool teachers was trained to educate parents. Curriculum developers, textbook writers, and producers of non-broadcast educational media were also trained.

Early Childhood Development, Children, Rights, Disabilities.

The Maldives is comprised of approximately 1200 islands, 200 or so of which are inhabited. Almost 40% of the islands have a population of fewer than 500 people. These isolated islands are scattered across an area of over 90,000 square kilometres of ocean. Although much progress has been made over the past decade in areas like universal child immunisation, providing education, health, and other services to these areas can be a formidable challenge. All educational material, most food, media hardware and software, and building materials must be imported.

In the Maldives, one sees very few children or adults with disabilities portrayed in the media. Anecdotal information from a variety of sources indicates that some parents feel ashamed if their children are disabled, and that there are virtually no trained persons to assist these families with children. Programme organisers' efforts to include children and adults with disabilities in as many products as possible proved difficult. Identification of disabled people was a challenge; further, many parents and grandparents were not comfortable with the idea of having photographs of them or their children taken for any publication. Organisers explain that, for the most part, disabled women and/or mothers declined to be photographed. Their reasons ranged from personal shyness and fear, the fact that their husbands or parents were not cooperative or, their doubt that the images would truly be portrayed in a positive light.

UNICEF has defined Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) as one of its global priorities. This work is guided by the pursuit of "infants and young children nurtured in a caring environment, physically healthy, mentally alert, socially stimulated and able to learn". First Steps was part of the "Master Plan of Operations (MPO)" between UNICEF and the Government of Maldives. Directed by a five-member National ECCD Council formed by the President of the Maldives, First Steps was inter-sectoral in that it existed under the joint auspices of the Ministries of Education and Information/Arts/Culture but was represented and supported by the Ministries of Health, Atolls Administration, External Affairs, Planning, Women's Affairs and Social Security.