What do former president George W. Bush, Prince Charles and country singer Garth Brooks have in common?
All have become first-time grandparents since we celebrated Grandparents Day last September.
They have joined a club — a grandparents club — that is already an estimated 65 million strong and growing. By 2020, the number of grandparents in the United States is expected to top 80 million. And who knows how many millions more older adults are great aunts and uncles, mentors and caregivers of young children?
Mirroring the general population, our political leadership is awash with older adults. The average age of a U.S. senator is 62, meaning the chances are very good they, too, are either grandparents or play some other significant role in the lives of their younger relatives. And over in the House of Representatives, the average age is 57. Continue reading →
Over 500 children celebrated the opening of our office on Lange Houtstraat in The Hague on 15 June in musical style. At the New Media Music experience, organised with Cinekid, children learned about making music on five high-tech interactive installations, all through play. They proved that any space, even an office space, can become a stimulating learning environment. Watching these children was truly breath-taking. Their imagination was the final ingredient in a recipe for fun for both the adults and the children who attended our opening.
Get a glimpse of our New Media Music experience by watching this video.
It was also great to watch the employees of the Bernard van Leer Foundation learn how to juggle and co-create a beautiful symphony on the social sound machine. It was ultimately very difficult to wrestle the staff away from the toys. However, thanks to fellow Augeo and LEGO foundations, we now have some new toys permanently installed in our office that can keep our creativity flowing.
We sponsored the Family Programme of the Festival Classique in The Hague, held in our neighbourhood. This music festival makes classical music accessible to all. The Family Programme included a huge water concert for children literally performed on and in the moat surrounding the Dutch Parliament. There were also baby concerts, toddler concerts and an interactive story-telling of the musical fable Peter and the Wolf.
To welcome school children to celebrations, we had the wonderful Bart Meijer from Klokhuis, the most widely watched children’s show in the Netherlands. Unaware of his popularity I thought he was just a nice young man. But when the kids showed up and started mobbing him I realised we were in the midst of a genuine TV personality. Bart and two members of our Board of Trustees acted as jurors for an interactive story telling of Peter and the Wolf. They awarded the most enthusiastic school a music workshop for the whole school. While only one school got the workshop, all the kids were winners and Bart made them feel that way, signing each and every one of their BvLF caps.
In June we heard that the President of Brazil launched a € 3.7 billion federal programme to scale up services for young children in poverty, including a combination of cash transfers, health and education services, home visiting and childcare. This is the wonderful result of the National Network of Early Childhood (RNPI), a country-wide network initiated by the Foundation. Congratulations to RNPI for their work!
As you might know, we like to make young children everybody’s business, everywhere we operate. We therefore also expect the private sector to commit to young children and that happened at the first ever “Investors for young children in Brazil” gathering. Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, the Bernard van Leer Foundation and Fundação Orsa put the event together and were thrilled to have 30 private and corporate foundation participants.
As we slide into summer, when in Europe everything grinds to a halt, I hope that you will have the opportunity to take time out and play with your kids. See you in September!
Speech to European Parliament March 6, 2012
Lisa Jordan, Executive Director
At Bernard van Leer Foundation we believe that young children are everybody’s business. To achieve change for children we focus on opportunities that show the greatest potential for impact. Today I am going to talk about the business with maybe the greatest potential for our youngest citizens, one of the only growth markets in our shrinking global economy, and an industry in which young children are increasingly consumer and producer, new media.
But first a bit about Bernard van Leer Foundation that was created in a time that researchers were just beginning to think of the learning potential of the new media of that age, TV. When I tell you that research we supported resulted in Sesame Street you may understand why we feel researching the potential of our own NEW media is so important.
Ollanta Humala’s election July 2011 as the new president of Peru represents the latest step forward in a BvLF-backed campaign to improve opportunities for Peru’s youngest citizens. Over the last three years BvLF has invested nearly a million euros in the Grupo Impulsor “Inversión por la infancia” (GIII), led by a Peruvian communications expert recruited from UNICEF, and we are now seeing results as early childhood rises up the political agenda from local to national level.
Peru’s problem is not that it lacks resources – it has substantial oil and mineral wealth. Rather, the problem is that this wealth has not so far made enough of an impact on the lives of its poorest citizens, notably indigenous groups in rural areas and the nearly half of all city dwellers who have practically no access to basic services. Young children need support if they are to have a chance of escaping poverty and overcoming their disadvantaged start to life.
Is it a kite, is it a toy, is it a compass… It’s the new logo of the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
During the course of 2011 the Bernard van Leer Foundation made the decision to develop a new logo. Our old logo was developed in the pre-digital age and therefore not designed to work well on-and offline. In addition there was a sense that after sixty years the branding of the Foundation could use a facelift. When it was clear that the Foundation was going to move to a new physical home we felt the time was right to change our logo as well.
Nysha who lives in the village of San Andres frequently takes her bait and tackle and goes fishing next to the river. It is dangerous work since the riverfront is muddy and not developed at all. Daniel helps his family by sitting in front of the small boat used to carry passengers from one side of the river to the other. As the boat approaches to the shabby docks, he guides it by grabbing the edge of the dock while risking crushing his fingers. Nysha is three and Daniel is four years old. While presenting their research findings to us, children from this community repeatedly stressed their right to work in order to contribute to the livelihood of their families.
Strengthening BvLF’s partnership with the Voices of Africa Media Foundation (VOAMF)
A workshop at BvLF on 17 June brought together three young journalists from Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania escorted by the senior coach and manager of the VOAMF. Three Dutch journalists were present, also in their twenties, rounding off their degrees in journalism at the University of Groningen while working with popular Dutch television programmes (Jeugdjournal, Hart van Nederland and Man Bijt Hond).
Bernard van Leer Foundation funds and shares knowledge about young children.
This Blog is a place for staff from the Bernard van Leer Foundation to share their personal experiences and lessons they have learned from field visits, events and conferences
To welcome school children to celebrations, we had the wonderful Bart Meijer from 
Bernard van Leer Foundation Blog 